Border crossing reports: Tajen (UZ - KAZ)

[Ian5spot]

Hi, I came through the border crossing from Beynau, Kazakhstan into Karakalpakstan two weeks ago and was pleased to be able to exchange US and Kazakh currency for SOM at a kiosk at customs on the Uzbek side. Exchange rates are posted on a notice bord and much better than those offered by the touts bearing large wedges of SOM once you get across the border.

[ajtyndall]

Nukus to Aktau by train (November 2018)

- Direct train leaves hideously early so we decided to break up the journey as follows.
- We took a shared taxi from Nukus to Kungrad, checked into Family Guest House (~100m east of the train station on the south side of Utilisa Uzbekistanskaya). Bargained down to $10pp. Indoor toilet and shower. Breakfast included (and willingly served at 05:30). Registration provided on a post-it note. Then got another shared taxi to Muynak for a few hours. Back to Kungrad for dinner.
- 06:29 Kungrad-Beyneu departure. Ticket bought in advance in Nukus.
- Border crossing easy. Cursory glance into our luggage. Customs official had only been working for two months and hadn’t heard anything about registration slips even existing!
- 3 hour wait in Beyneu for the Aktau train. Some small restaurants around the train station for dinner.
- Sleeper train (e-ticket, bought from tickets.kz) was good and arrived in Mangyshlak just before 7am. Plenty of taxis into Aktau for 500 tenge per person

[Greg]

I (British national) crossed this going westwards with a bicycle in early April 2019.

There is a truck stop on the Uzbek side that has a canteen, and basic rooms available for 90,000 Som. Everyone gets up before 6am to be first in the queue for the border.

When I rolled up at half nine, the guards spotted me, invited me to the front of the queue and chaperoned me through the entire process. This happened at both the Uzbek and Kazakh frontiers.

At the Uzbek side I had to open my bike bags for a cursory search, and I had to present my hotel registration slips - this is the third time I've left UZ and I'd the first time I've had to show these. I had slips for about half the nights I'd been in UZ, this was enough to satisfy the guy.

After I got through, the queue of lorries on the Kazakh side stretched back 3/4 of a mile.

All in all the process took half an hour.

[Julieeugenie]

Crossing of the uzbeque border to Kazakhstan on 30/04/2019

We (2 French passports) crossed the border in half an hour, tourists are called in front of locals. We were asked for the registration slip and had them.

The road is really bad on both sides for the 80-100 km around the border. We were hitchhiking in a truck and it took us hours for a few km. choose wisely your vehicle if you plan to hitchhike. On the kasakh border they are currently building a new road, so in a few months it will be ready !

[murg]

We crossed the border today, German passport/2 motorbikes.

Kazakh Side: Arrived at 9:30, passed the long queue of locals straight to the front of the gates. At 9:45 the guards opened the gates and waved us into the border complex.
One of us had no Immigration stamp in the passport, was No big Deal. He was Led to passport Control by a guard, where both of us got the emigration stamp.
The motorbike papers where checked. The temp. Import document from Russian (!!!) Immigration had to be shown and was kept by kazakh customs.
We had to go to the motorbikes and waited for half an hour 'til the 'inspection' happened. In fact, we where waved to the Exit... And left Kazakhstan.
NO ONE ASKED FOR ANY REGISTRATION, we where in the country 3 nights/4days
The Emigration took about an hour

Uzbek Side
We where waved to the front, showed passport & Bike papers.
Had to do an u-turn so the license Plateau could be photographed.
At passport control we had to pass the locals.
At the custom areas (10 metres down the road) the same as at the kazakh side happened, but we had to wait for 15 Minutes only.
When entering the border the guards forgot to give us a paper.
You need this to leave, with 4 stamps on it. The guards realised this on their own, have us the paper.
We entered Uzbekistan after 45 Minutes

People spoke some english and where helpful in both sides.

[nielba]

successfully crossed from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan.

first, road to the border:
from kuryk/aqtau to beyneu the road is smooth and nice, kind of interesting for the first part, extremely boring the rest. immediately after beyneu there are around 20km of no road, just few sandy routes mixing eachothers, then it goes better until the border.

second, border and crossing:
just before the Kazak border the road disappears again.
it is open 24h, at least during this period of the year, and when we arrived around 11pm there was an huge amount of people and cars around, dust everywhere and in general a lot of confusion.
the process was very easy, as a tourist u skip the line, in total around 15 minutes, at the Uzbek control they give u a tiny little brochure about the registration duty.

third, what to do after:
even during the night bars are opened and a bunch of people trying to sell you whatever they can.
regarding money the exchange rate they offered us was actually even worse than the official one, we didn't have small bills and we didn't want to count a bunch of sums being super tired, so no money.
the plan was to keep the road with our drivers the next day and sleep somewhere together, but we immediately understood it would have taken way more time for them to cross (at the end we crossed after midnight to get the next day stamp, them at 7 in the morning).
sleeping is possible in one of the bar but at the end we found this very nice place on the right side just 100m from the last checking. it is a bar, with a small truck loading/unloading area outside where u can just throw yourself and even a tent if u feel, quite hidden and inside a small court. just politely ask and they won't say no.

forth, how to leave and Uzbek roads:
I would say every car crossing is packed, completely full of people and stuff, very hard to hitch a ride. I guess taxi are available but the first village is kungrad at 300km. Best option probably a truck, but as long as I noticed in the morning there were way less traffic than during the night.
the road for the first 60km is incredibly bad, hard to drive faster than 30km/h, then it goes slightly better but with still a lot of bad spots. literally nothing between the border and kungrad, just one service station and bar on the left side.

[globetraveler]

July 25, 2019 Started from Kungrad early in the morning, 7am. Luckily found a ride directly to border, didn't even pay. Was there by 12, noon. Border is chaos, people are all around. But crossed quickly. Uzbeks asked me for registration slips, I had 3 nights covered (out of 8). They didn't check photos, camera or phone. Nothing, super easy. Serbian passport, visa free both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Kazak side was also easy, 30min maybe. Hitched a car to 90km Beyney, another one to Atyrau, and another one all the way to Astrakhan in Russia. 20hours, 1300km hitched.

[FreddiWoomba]

So, I am in Almaty, missed my big tour around the sub continent last summer and determined not to sit around in KZ any longer... with Uzbekistan open I woul dlike to go up to the Caspian then back down into Uzbekistan through Tazhen.... I would really like to know if that border is open. WOuld be a shame to go all the way up there, to that border then have to go all the way back down to Tashkent. I've aske my Canadian EMbassy (no reply) also asked the Uzbekistan Consulate, no reply... help. please.

[mazeno]

only for cis citizens
(with restrictions of course)

[FreddiWoomba]

Hello, thanks for the reply... So... I'm curious, why would that border only be for CIS citizens... I mean, I imagined it would either be open or closed. The borders around Tashkent are open to all (with a PCR test at the border) apparently. So, why would this particular border only be for CIS citizens only.. I mean if they are allowing these people it means there is a chance to take PCR test at the border. And thus, no reason not to let other people into Uzbekistan.?
Thanks for responding.. please, it would be great to hear your feedback in detail.