Karkara Valley Border Crossing between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan

As of early September 2014 the border is firmly opened. Opening hours on both sides are from 09.00h to 18.00h.

Here is the story crossing from the south to the north:

Took 13.30h marshrutka (150 som) from Karakol's Ak-Tilek Bazzar's SE side towards Char-Kuduk. Got off at junction and trekked to the border (about 5-6km). As the marshrutka was quite slow we reached the border after it was closed at 18.00h. You can camp by the border or hire a bed at the 'stationary train carriage' there. You need to bring your own food and water.

Next day crossed the border and walked 13km to the next village Kapkapa to catch a taxi to Kegen.

It was early September, for some reasons there were significantly more south-bound traffic than north-bound so our hitching opportunities were not great. From 08.30h to 13.00h that day we saw 3 north-bound vehicles (cars and jeeps, no trucks) and none stopped for us.

On a side note there are frequent fast shared taxi from Karakol to San Tash village at 100 som.

Happy travel!!

A group of 4 of us shared a taxi from karakol to kegen (4000 som for the whole taxi, get your guesthouse owner to book if you can't speak Russian). It was a slow bumpy ride but pretty, took about 2.5 hours to the border. Kyrgyz side was pretty quick (make sure the taxi driver has a permit to cross the border as you don't want to be left here). I left Kyrgyzstan on my Australian passport and entered Kazakhstan on my Italian passport (as some European countries have 15 days visa free in Kazakhstan) so I was nervous as Kazakhstan for not recognise dual citizens. However once seeing the stamps in my Australian passport (my Italian one was suspiciously empty) the gaurd let me though. The whole border crossing for 4 people took 50 minutes. One guard looked in 2 bags but not that thoroughly, either he thought it looked OK or he saw we were freezing as the weather was bad and we had gotten quite wet!
In kegen we got dropped at bazaar. We had wanted to stay and do some travel in the area but the weather was bad so we layer for a taxi-car to Almaty -8000KZT per car or 2000 each. No seatbelts, fast on potholed road, got to Almaty in 3.5 hours.

The metro is 15 minute walk from the bus station and got value at 90kzt to get into town. We tried catching a taxi but for quoted 2000 and were unsuccessful as lowering it.

Hope this helps. Please check that the border is open as it closes in winter.