Turkmenistan

Getting around

Car & motorcycle

Driving through Turkmenistan is perfectly possible, but expensive and full of hassles. A carnet is not needed, although you’ll need to pay the following: US$30 transit fee; US$50 obligatory third-party liability insurance; US$2 bank fee; US$5 documentation fee; and US$10 for disinfection of your vehicle. Significantly, there’s also a road tax calculated by the kilometre for your route through the country. Usually this totals around US$75 for cars and up to US$250 for larger vehicles. This effectively raises the cost of petrol (gas) from US$0.02 at the pumps to around US$1.50 in reality.

Driving in Turkmenistan is a veritable freestyle sport, with drivers weaving indiscriminately through traffic and drag racing off green lights – you can do nothing but adapt. The drivers of Mary are notoriously bad – even Ashgabat drivers avoid cars with Mary tags. One last warning: fines can be imposed if you enter a city with a dirty car; make sure your vehicle is spotless after hauling it across the desert.

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Air

Turkmenistan Airlines serves most main cities with a fleet of new Boeing 717s. As the main hub, all flights go in and out of Ashgabat, with the exception of a four times weekly flight between Dashogus and Turkmenbashi. For locals, ticket prices are absurdly cheap, around US$1 to US$2 to fly anywhere. These prices also apply to Peace Corps volunteers, diplomats and anyone else with local residency. Tourists and non-residents, however, must pay for tickets using the official rate of 5200M = US$1 (you’ll have to show a bank receipt showing you changed money at the official rate).

Because seats are in high demand and sell out weeks in advance, you’ll probably have to buy a ticket from a travel agent anyway. Agents will hold onto tickets until the last minute, knowing some foreigners will have no choice but to pay the inflated prices.

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