Aktau Getting there & around

Getting there & around

Aktau’s airport (46 85 73) is 23km north of the centre (around 1000T by taxi). There are flights six or seven days a week to Almaty (from 23, 250T), Astana (18, 000T to 25, 000T), Aqtöbe (15, 250T), Atyrau (12, 000T to 14, 500T) and Uralsk (17, 250T). SCAT also flies to Kyzylorda (19, 250T), Shymkent (21, 250T), Astrakhan (Russia; 16, 000T), Baku (Azerbaijan; 13, 550T), Yerevan (Armenia; 21, 550T) and Tbilisi (Georgia; 24, 350T). There are five flights a week to Baku by Azerbaijan Airlines (14, 000T to 27, 000T) and three flights a week to Moscow by Transaero (32, 000T to 62, 000T). You’ll find air ticket offices at the airport (46 82 25; 24hr) and Ardager shopping mall (42 71 71; 9am-1pm & 2-9pm). Alban Avia (42 74 00; Mikrorayon 14, Dom 59) specialises in Baku flights and onward connections.

Aktau’s train station (46 52 50), called Mangyshlak, is 12km east of the centre. Trains leave daily for Atyrau (2700T, 20 hours), Aqtöbe (3100T, 26 hours), Astana (5500T, 50 hours) and on odd dates for Almaty (7000T, 67 hours) via Aralsk and Shymkent. There’s a train ticket office (Mikrorayon 2; 8am-1pm & 2-6.30pm) outside the Hotel Aktau. A taxi from station to city centre costs around 600T.

The bus station (Mikrorayon 28), in the north of town, has no bus services but marshrutkas leave when full to Zhanaozen and Shetpe (both 300T, two hours). There are also taxis to Zhanaozen and Fort Shevchenko (both 500/2000T for one place/whole cab, two hours).

A sea ferry to Baku, Azerbaijan leaves about every seven to 10 days from the seaport in the southeast of town. Cabin fares for the scheduled 18-hour crossing run from 7800T to 10, 000T. Information and tickets are available from Tagu (51 39 89; cs-kz.narod.ru; Mikrorayon 7, Dom 12; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm Mon-Sat, 10am-3pm Sun). Take some food.

Bus and marshrutka 3 run from Hotel Aktau up Kazakhstan Respublikasy Prezidentininy dangghyly as far as the main Qazaq­telekom office, then east to the bus station, and vice-versa.