Driving Nukus - Kungrad - Beyneu - Aktau

[travellingmusician]

Hello guys,

some fuel/road updates for usbekistan:

nukus: there are about 3 places near the airport wich sell black market fuel. i only got the price down to 4500 som/litre. the benzin seems to be octane 80, but was clean.
the direct road from nukus to khiva is bad. lots of roadworks, potholes, missing parts, gravel. maybe the A380 via urgench would be a better choice.

khiva: there are about 3 places near the roundabout before taking the road to urgench. black market 80 octane fuel. 3600-3800 som/litre.
road from khiva to bukhara is still as discribed before. 300km perfect 2 lane motorway, then pothole misery.

bukhara: driving to bukhara on A380, about 5km before the city i got benzin 91 at a gasstation for 4100 som/litre.

greets

[jornk]

I had the same experience as described. Especially the part from Beyneu to the border was hard with our 2wd car. We filled up in Beyneu with a lot of spare petrol and got 40 litres of black market fuel in Nukus through the Jipek Joli hotel. The price was 4000 for octane 80 or 5000 for octane 91.

[nhutchings]

My wife and I, both citizens of Armenia (visa-free - woot!), are doing a grand tour around the Caspian and through Central Asia in our 2000 Audi A6, and have just arrived in Bishkek. We started in Yerevan, but for this topic, I can report the following:

(KZ) Beyneu - Tejen / Karakalpakiya (KZ-UZ Border): Very bad, original surface was reinforced concrete slabs which now have exposed rebar spikes waiting to puncture tires, dirt track alongside road is smoother but with deep grooves (we bottomed-out and severely damaged our engine, causing a delay of 6 hours to get it fixed at the tiny border village), average 40km/hr due to road condition. Note: Picked up two cans of octane booster and two 20-litre jerry-cans of good Kazakhstani A-95 petrol before leaving Beyneu. Border was busy and very slow-moving for local Uzbeks, but having Armenian plates and Armenian passports, we jumped the person-line and car-line both leaving Kazakhstan and entering Uzbekistan - 1 hr

(UZ) Tejen / Karakalpakiya - Jasliq: Rough asphalt with regular potholes, two police chekpoints, average 80km/hr due to potholes and traffic.

(UZ) Jasliq - Nukus - Turtkul: Rough aslphalt, no more potholes, average 100km/hr due to potholes and passing through towns, three police checkpoints. Only black market petrol in Nukus, found with help of hotel reception; clean, A-80 for 4500 UZS per litre, with unofficial exchange rate of 1 USD = 8000 UZS (saving our Kazakhstani A-95 for when we really need it), added octane booster.

(UZ) Turtkul - Gazli: Fantastic, Kazakhstan-quality pavement, two police chekpoints, average 160km/hr as that's the max I feel comfortable driving the Audi.

(UZ) Gazli - Bukhara: Rough aslphalt with potholes, one police checkpoint, average 80km/hr due to potholes, traffic, and passing through towns. Black market petrol in Bukhara, found with help of hotel reception, again clean A-80 for 4500 UZS per litre, mixed with one jug of Kazakhstani A-95 plus octane booster.

(UZ) Bukhara - Samarkand: Moderately good aslphalt, no potholes, three police checkpoints, average 100km/hr due to traffic and passing through towns. A-80 available at petrol station in Samarkand for 2800 UZS.

(UZ) Samarkand - Tashkent: Good aslphalt, five police checkpoints, average 100km/r due to traffic and passing through towns. A-80 available at petrol station in Tashkent for 2800 UZS.

(UZ) Tashkent - Chernayevka/Gisht-Kuprik/Zhibek-Joly (UZ-KZ Border): Good aslphalt, average 100km/hr due to traffic. Border was fast, no line for cars - 20 min.

(KZ) Chernayevka/Gisht-Kuprik/Zhibek-Joly - Kordai (KZ-KY Border): Kazakhstani aslphalt - what more can I say? Average 140 km/hr due to traffic and intermittant construction work. Border was fast, quick-moving lines for cars and people - 20 minutes

(KY) Kordai - Bishkek: Good aslphalt, no potholes, average 90km/hr due to traffic.

Safe travels, yall!

[PIE]

We drove from Aktau to Samarkand the past week, on 2 motorcycles, and can confirm most of the above.

Aktau-Beyneu is generally good road, except for some short gravel parts due to road works.

Beyneu to the border is a very bad road. Luckily the concrete slabs only persist for 10 km, after which completely degenerated tarmac (read: very bumpy gravel) awaits (40-50 km/h). After the border is pothole misery for 50 km (50-60 km/h), after which the road gradually improves (100 km/h). Take care when the road surface changes though, as some large potholes that you do not wish to cross at 100 km/h may suddenly appear. Kungirot to Nukus is highwaylike. We left at 9:30 in Beyneu and arrived at 20:30 in Nukus. The border crossing took about 2 hours, nothing remarkable; guards looking for medicine, guns and nudes - so better delete those Game Of Thrones eps

Nukus - Urgench - Khiva is ok, bumpy, but 80 km/h is possible.

Turtkul to Gasliq is fantastic highway (most welcome in the desert). Afterwards 40 km bumpy and 60 km potholes to Bukhara.

Bukhara to Samarkand is mostly 2x2 lanes, average 90 km/h due to traffic and limited potholes.

Last KZ petrol station is 20 km before the border. We only found 1 petrol station in UZ that actually sold petrol - certainly not for a lack of trying. Black market fuel is available in Nukus, Urgench, Bukhara and Samarkand though. Often they are also visited by the locals who did not get the memo about the change to methane/propane. We paid 4000 UZS per litre except for 4500 UZS in Bukhara. Nukus petrol was dirty (some sand), so you may wish to bring a separate filter. Most of the time we were told we received 91 octane, but chances are it was all 80 octane. Bring octane booster if you want to be sure - our 20 year old Hondas did not seem to mind.

[Jula]

Dear PIE!

Thank you for such detailed report. Me and my wife are leaving home (Europe) tomorrow on a (one) motorbike and we will take the route you described above. Our plan: https://goo.gl/maps/HowMpJ2hs8N2.
If you don't mind, I would like to a question: Is there any fuel between KAZ-UZ border and Nukus? I am not sure that I can do 500km with one tank.

Best regards

[PIE]

Hi Jula,

This page mentions there may be fuel every 150 km, but we did not check this.

According to iOverlander, there may be black market fuel in Kungirot, which is about 100 km before Nukus.

We simply filled up some 5 L water bottles with petrol in Beyneu just to make sure we could make the 500 km to Nukus

Good luck, and enjoy your trip!

[Jula]

Thank you and you too have a safe trip!

[Jula]

Hi. Can anyone confirm border crossing at Beyneu - Kungrad opening hours? Is it true that it opens at 9am?

Because of the heat ( we are riding a motorbike) we would like to cross it at dawn...

[marten568]

Drove from Beyneu to Nukus in one day in May 2018. Left around 07:30 and arrived in Nukus just about 12 hours later 19:30. As described above definitely fill up on as much fuel as possible in beyneu. The drive from beyneu to the border is still in awful condition. Looks like they are in the process of building a new road right next to the current one but still very much in process. On the Uzbek side the road starts off awful but eventually turns into respectable asphalt. We had some confusion at the Kazakh side but were eventually let through, and the Uzbek side was super easy. Limited English on the Kazakh side, pretty good English on Uzbek side. Overall the whole border process on both sides took 2 hours total.

I will note that we were able to find a gas station with petrol just before entering Yelabad (144 km from Nukus, on the main road left side going towards Nukus) but I'm not sure if it's only sporadically available so wouldn't bank on it.

[hartmonster3]

Hey all, writing from Atyrau! I must say we were really expecting absolute hell for the Astrakhan to Atyrau stretch of road. In the end, it's maybe a little overhyped (?). Took us and our 20-year old Honda CR-V (that probably has its original shocks) about 5.5 hours after we crossed the border and got insurance. Mostly nice stretches, around 60-80km/ph depending on if you drive like the locals. A few really awful spots where you just have to crawl over the potholes or take the gravel shoulder. Just be alert and it's fine! Onward to Beyneu today and then hopefully Beyneu to Nukus in one really long day. Cheers!