Korday border crossing reports (Almaty-Bishkek)

[jvjjjvvv]

There are many buses but you have to find the departure station. I went from Bishkek to Almaty by public bus.

As of today, the only way to go straight from Bishkek to Almaty is by taxi. The direct buses/marshrutkas are not running. Only marshrutkas to the border and then you cross and you catch another one in the Kazakh side. Which I guess seems good enough for most people, but not really when you're carrying a huge box with a bicycle inside. I'm thinking now that the most reasonable way for me to go from Bishkek to Almaty will be via plane. Such a pain in the ass, honestly. Two major cities in Central Asia standing 200km from each other, and there is no direct public transportation between them other than the airplane.

[RollingTreeHouse]

We paid 5000 tenge each; I believe that this is an inflated price because we are clearly tourists, but I don't know!

5000 tenge for the ride from Korday Customs to Sayran Bus Terminal in Almaty seems to be the default price for anybody not living in Korday, no matter if you speak Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Russian or don't speak any local language at all. The same applies for the return journey for all of the taxis gathered near the bus terminal.
To me it seems like the drivers keep an eye each other to keep the KZT 5000 price, but you can usually negotiate some complementary extra services (e.g. drop-off anywhere in Almaty or even a ride to the airport for a couple hundred tenge) if you're paying for more than one person.

The situation on the Kyrgyz side is much more competitive, mentioning "marshrutka" or showing the booking screen of Yandex Taxi will immediately yield you reasonable offers during the daytime; at night the price will depend on your haggling skills and on how many people you can squeeze for the 30 min ride to town.

Which I guess seems good enough for most people, but not really when you're carrying a huge box with a bicycle inside. I'm thinking now that the most reasonable way for me to go from Bishkek to Almaty will be via plane. Such a pain in the ass, honestly. Two major cities in Central Asia standing 200km from each other, and there is no direct public transportation between them other than the airplane.

The most comfortable way between Almaty and Bishkek with a lot of luggage is the Novosibirsk-Bishkek train running every 8 days.
Yes, you'll spend 13 hours for what could be done in 3 to 4 hours and you pay more than double but you won't have to move an inch for customs and border checks and you'll likely have the compartment if not the carriage for yourself after Shu due to the comically long journey.

[elhabibi]

Hey guys, for anyone interested in taking a direct shared taxi from Bishkek to Almaty, here is my experience from 2 days ago:

- the shared taxis are available in the morning (go between 8- 9am) on the right side of the Western Bus station in Bishkek. You'll see a couple of cars going to multiple directions, just ask for Almaty. The car leaves when it's full, luckly we had to wait just 20 min.
- Price should be around 1000-1500 KGS. They asked 1500, negotiated to 1000 which I was told its closer to the correct price. If you don't have the cash with you, just ask the driver to stop at an ATM, there are no ATM's anywhere close to the bus station.
- at the border, the process was smooth: the driver dropped us on the Kyrgyzstan side and we waited for him on the otherside with our luggage. He came about 10-15 min after we managed to cross to the Kazakh side. Make sure to take a picture of the license plate to remember your car. He will drop you off at the Sayran Bus Station in Almaty.

[danwastaken]

I'm trying to order a Yandex from Bishkek to Korday, but it is saying that the route is not possible - probably due to it being on Kazakhstan side. Any idea what else I could type in?

[RollingTreeHouse]

Looking up "Ак-Жол" should give you the border post on the Kyrgyz side.

[themis80]

Our experience as a couple travelling from Almaty to Bishkek, crossing at Korday on July 28th 2022, speaking no Kazakh, Kyrgyz, or Russian:
Apparently there is no longer a direct bus to Bishkek from Sayran bus station. The lady at the ticket office said as much. There seem to be no marshrutkas to the border, either. We asked around in two separate occasions on two different days and got a negative answer from multiple persons. Either they are all in on the scam together or that's just how it is. Our last resort was a shared taxi. Perhaps due to the lack of other means of transportation the taxi drivers at Sayran have organized themselves into a nice little cartel and have fixed the prices at no less than 5000T (one asked us for 6000T). The first taxi driver we spoke to was completely uninterested in negotiating and didn't bat an eyelid as we left the scene. We ended up sharing a taxi with two local middle aged women who surprisingly paid the same price with us (5000T). They were either Kazakh or Kyrgyz. The trip to the border took about 3 hours.
Crossing the border on foot went as smooth as silk. It was over in less than 20' with almost no queues at around 2:30pm. All COVID-19 restrictions and precautions are lifted.
On the Kyrgyz side, we took a marshrutka for 35 Som each and reached Bishkek in about 20 to 30 minutes.

[themis80]

Our experience as a couple travelling from Almaty to Bishkek, crossing at Korday on July 28th 2022, speaking no Kazakh, Kyrgyz, or Russian:
Apparently there is no longer a direct bus to Bishkek from Sayran bus station. The lady at the ticket office said as much. There seem to be no marshrutkas to the border, either. We asked around in two separate occasions on two different days and got a negative answer from multiple persons. Either they are all in on the scam together or that's just how it is. Our last resort was a shared taxi. Perhaps due to the lack of other means of transportation the taxi drivers at Sayran have organized themselves into a nice little cartel and have fixed the prices at no less than 5000T (one asked us for 6000T). The first taxi driver we spoke to was completely uninterested in negotiating and didn't bat an eyelid as we left the scene. We ended up sharing a taxi with two local middle aged women who surprisingly paid the same price with us (5000T). They were either Kazakh or Kyrgyz. The trip to the border took about 3 hours.
Crossing the border on foot went as smooth as silk. It was over in less than 20' with almost no queues at around 2:30pm. All COVID-19 restrictions and precautions are lifted.
On the Kyrgyz side, we took a marshrutka for 35 Som each and reached Bishkek in about 20 to 30 minutes.

[elemolo]

Hi, did you manage to cross the border? We are planning to do the same in a couple of days and return back to Bishkek, but are unsure if we are elegible to use the Ak-Jol or the Ak-Tilek crossing on a visa free regime (we are two Spanish citizens).

Thanks!

[RollingTreeHouse]

You can enter via either border crossing, for a return straight back to Bishkek the Ak-Jol border is the more convenient one.

[elemolo]

Thank you! We’ll go for it tomorrow.