Mary Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Mary is 3½ hours by car from Ashgabat and two hours from Turkmenabat. Marshrutki also run this route (US$3, four hours and US$2, 2½ hours respectively). There are a couple of bus departures to both cities, but these leave early in the morning. There are also one or two morning buses to Serkhetabat, on the Afghan border. The rest of the day you can use shared taxis and marshrutki, which leave from a lot next to the bus station.

Mary’s revamped train station (9 22 45) has night trains to Ashgabat (kupe, US$1.50, eight hours). There’s one night train to Turkmenabat (kupe, seven hours, US$1.50) and one that runs the whole way to Dashogus (kupe, US$2, 24 hours). There is no left-luggage facility, but the station does have an international phone office.

Turkmenistan Airlines (3 27 77; Magtymguly köçesi 11) has at least two flights per day to Ashgabat (US$11). If time is short, you could even take the morning flight, visit Merv and return on the same day to Ashgabat. The airport is 8km east of the city, on the road to Merv.