Turkmenbashi

Introducing Turkmenbashi

Turkmenbashi isn’t quite the Mazatlan of the Caspian Sea but there is a certain relaxed air about the place, with a few nice beaches and some surprisingly good cafés. There is no reason to come all this way for the city itself, but it makes a useful base if you are catching the Caspian ferry to Baku or heading into Kazakhstan through the backdoor.

The first settlement here, Krasnovodsk, was established when a unit of Russian troops under Prince Alexander Bekovich set ashore in 1717 with the intention of marching on Khiva. They chose this spot because it was close to the place where the Oxus River (now the Amu-Darya) had once drained into the Caspian Sea, and the dry riverbed provided the best road across the desert. But the mission failed, Bekovich lost his head and the Russians didn’t come back for more than 150 years. In the late 1800s, Krasnovodsk grew in importance with the arrival of the Trans-Caspian railroad. Thousands of Japanese POWs were dumped here after WWII and ordered to construct roads and buildings. Since then the town has become somewhat cosmopolitan, with a mix of Russians, Turkmen, Azeris and a handful of Western oil workers.

Last updated: Mar 24, 2009