Karkara valley (Kegen – Tup/Kensu) border

[Koen]

why not post these details here?

[Sefti]

I really appreciate you posting the information thanks

[duffajfka]

Quick report, crossed the border from KG to KZ a few days ago. Hitched a taxi from Tup to Santash, then a car going across the border directly to Almaty. The road on the Kyrgyz side is under busy construction, supposed to be finished in one year. There is some costruction going on the last bit of the Kazakh road too. On a spring weekday, we were the only car at the crossing, but it is supposed to get busier and thus a long wait in the weekends and in summer.

[Toosiu]

03.06.2023:
Crossed from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan.
From Kegen hitched a ride to Karkara village (paid 1000tenge/2people)
From Karkara after 4pm there is very low traffic, but the second passing car took us to the border for 500t (first one wanted 5000).
The last 4km on KZ side are under construction.

Passing the border went smooth, guards are very friendly. On KG side guard sells sim cards (2000 KZT/ 7 days unlimited data; 4000/4 weeks unlimited data).
There are no facilities whatsoever.
The border closes around 6pm.

On KG side the road is under construction for about 30km, but the road surface is not so bad.

Around 5-6km after the border the road connects to the bigger one with some traffic; we've seen a minibus coming from Karakol there.

After refusing some short-distance ride offers we got a free ride directly to Karakol.

[rsdk]

I crossed this border two weeks ago from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan. We hitchhiked from Saty to Kegen, then to Qarqara, the nearest village to the border. We were told the border closes at 6PM. We tried to hitchhike the last part but there were no cars passing from either side. Eventually we found a man who would drive us to the border in Qarqara, but we had to pay 3000t for two people.

The border crossing itself was really easy, our bags were checked on the Kazakh side and half-heartedly on the Kyrgyz side.

We tried to hitchhike a ride from the border to Karakol but for about an hour no car passed at all. Eventually we got lucky and a small van passed which brought us straight to Karakol. This is a really remote area and few people seem to use this border crossing, but on the Kyrgyz side it was possible to get a taxi.

[samsung]

Crossed with KG plated Landcruiser, from KZ to KG Thursday 6th of July. Left Almaty 1145 and arrived at border 1600 due to lunch and fuelstops.
Got confirmed the above that border closes at 1800. Given I counted 115 cars in line ahead of us, mostly KZ plates/tourists, plus another 40+ spread within the actual border area we considered our options given we had no guarantee to pass same day. The first cars in line to be let into the border area before any formalities had waited 6 hours from 10 in the morning. Sleeping in car vs some guesthouse in Kerkera/Kegen were as little appealing as going back around Korday.

There were talks about extending opening hours, but would require consent from both sides. We then decided to send 2 kids + 2 adults walking across which took 15 min+. Of course no buses/taxis on KG side but plenty of traffic that direction. Most cars more than full but they were lucky to get a ride all4 in the backseat of a sedan quite quickly. They had left Almaty 06 am. By luck they were going the excact same place as us, Bosteri on north shore of Issyk Kul just in the middle, and they offered the ride free. I +1 stayed behind, but the borders worked together to get all across and we were the third last car to cross at 9 pm. Another 3h with rough&tough driving to Bolseri in the dark. Didnt see any mountains or even the lake so we missed out on the scenery. Actual crossing and checks was pretty smooth. Maybe 30 min. It was mentioned extra KZ holiday due to presidents birthday making the line longer than normal.

[guybatt234]

A couple of days ago I made the crossing from Kazachstan to Kryrgzstan via the Karkara border crossing.

I got a shared taxi around 8am from Almaty to Kegen. (Cost 4000t )
This taxi wasn't so easy to find, as the bus station seems to have become a building site. The taxi drivers hang around in a unpaved side street near to where the bus station used to be. It took me a lot of asking around to find them! The taxi filled up in around 40mins.
At Kegen, the same driver agreed to take me to the border crossing for a further 4000t.

I crossed the border on foot, there was no security to speak of, I didn't have to open my bags. Staff was friendly on both sides.

After the border, I started walking. I was there about 1400, and there was a car passing every 15mins or so. The second car passing picked me up. The road on the kyrgz side is fairly bad. The Chinese seem to be working on an asphalt road here, but it's very far from completed. The scenery however is absolutely beautiful, mountains hills and yurts. I absolutely recomend it. They took me to the crossroads at Tiup. I was then able (within 30seconds) to find another ride the final distance to Karakol.

I arrived in Karakol around 1700.

Overal the experience was supprisingly easy, smooth, and very scenic. I would recommend it to anyone traveling between Almaty and Karakol. However bear in mind if you cannot for some reason find a ride from the border, there are no facilities, and it's a very long hike, without shade, to the nearest place.

[Lagerfeld]

@ gaybatt234: Thank you very much for your report - very interesting.

How is the street from Almaty to the border Karkara? Asphalt? Pavement?
Can I use this street with a bigger motor home?

Thank's a lot, L.

[TheNonFlyingDutchman]

As I remember it’s asphalt which is fair to ride for motorbikes. Even the Kyrgyz side as I remember is fine. Maybe not the newest, and some chinese workers on some parts, but nothing compared with Uzbek/Karakalpak roads. No holes or anything.

Great trip report btw! Glad it went better than my experience, which I typed down in another thread.

[dina.lowe]

Hello,
if anyone is wondering this border is still open even though many tour agencies i called told me it had been closed since october 10. i crossed it on october 28 very easily, hitchhiking from karakol to kegen (my experience was very slow and i wasn’t sure i would make it all the way but i got lucky) and then taking a shared taxi from kegen to almaty.