COUNTRY GUIDE
Darvaza - The Gates of Hell
BEST TIME TO GO - March - June and September - November.
-
July - August are very hot and Winter is very cold.
STAY - If you are on a Transit Visa you can stay where you like. There are cheap US$10 places up to US$200 a night. Booking.com is not available. If you are on a Tourist Visa you will be on an organised tour spending around US$150 per day. Check here for options.
-
This trip is done as a bonus extra to add on to the Uzbekistan trip. It is also part of the Silk Road trip that is coming one day. You may find that there are too many hassles getting a transit visa or you might just jag it and get lucky. to save a lot of hassles your best bet is to build your own custom tour with these guys. Have someone waiting for you at the border, spend a night at the Gates of Hell staying in a yurt then a few days in Ashgabat and a side trip one day. Fly out of Ashgabat or cross into Iran.
BUDGET -
-
On a transit visa everything can be quite cheap. On a tourist visa the government forces you to pay for expensive hotels, tours and personal policeman. Food and transport are cheap. There aren't many good value hotels. If you are on a tour you will spend US$150 a day or more.
TIPS -
-
All prices on this trip are in US$
-
Bring plenty of US dollars
-
Get rid of any manats before you leave
-
Get a VPN on your phone before you go
-
Download the MAPS.ME and Google Maps apps on to your phone
FLIGHTS -
-
Tashkent International Airport (TAS) - has direct flights to 68 destinations in 32 countries including New York, Europe and Asia so it should be easy to find a connecting flight.
-
Taxi's are cheap and a good way to get into the city. Buses are even cheaper.
-
Ashgabat Airport (ASB) - if you choose to continue on through Turkmenistan you can fly from Ashgabat to 11 destinations in 4 countries. You should be able to connect with the rest of the world through Frankfurt or Dubai.
-
Mashhad International Airport (MHD) - has direct flights to 33 destinations in 9 countries. The most useful connection points will be Istanbul, Doha and Dubai.
Avenir Light is a clean and stylish font favored by designers. It's easy on the eyes and a great go-to font for titles, paragraphs & more.
Once you have paid for your flights get some travel insurance to cover yourself
Avenir Light is a clean and stylish font favored by designers. It's easy on the eyes and a great go-to font for titles, paragraphs & more.
POPULATION - 6,006,065
CAPITAL - Ashgabat (City of Love)
RELIGION - Muslim (mainly Sunni) 89%, Eastern Orthodox 9%
ETHNICITY - Turkmens 85%, Uzbeks 5%, Russians 4%, + Kazakhs, Tatars, Ukrainians, Kurds
LANGUAGE - Turkmen
NATIONAL DRINK - Chal (fermented camel's milk)
NATIONAL DISH - Ichlekli (Turkmen Shepherd's Pie)
GOVERNMENT - Presidential Republic / Top 2 weirdest with North Korea
MINIMUM WAGE ANNUAL IN $US - $3960
CURRENCY - Turkmenistani Manat TMT 1 TMT = 28c
BORN - 27th October 1991
BIG MAC IN $US - Not Here
LITERACY - 99.7 %
LIFE EXPECTANCY - 68
TOURISTS PER YEAR - 105,000
NO.1 TOURIST SITE - Gates of Hell
CHEERS - Saglyk
TURKMENISTAN No.2 ODDBALL 4N
HIGHLIGHTS - Gold, Marble & FIRE
(Kow Ata)
Ashgabat 3N = 4N
-
Free Gas
-
Personality Cults
-
Vodka Terrorism
-
The Ruhnama
-
Odd things banned
-
Dental Dictator
-
The Gates of Hell
-
Neutrality Arch
-
Ashgabat Circus
-
Turkmenbashi Cableway
-
Theme shaped buildings
-
Largest architectural star
-
Jack Nicholas golf course
-
Kow Ata Underground Lake
-
The Walk of Health 36 km path
-
Ahal Teke the world's rarest horse
-
World's largest enclosed Ferris Wheel
-
Most fountain pools in a public place
-
Largest hand-woven carpet in the world
-
This trip is for a custom made short tour of Turkmenistan coming from Nukus in Uzbekistan and flying out of Ashgabat or crossing into Mashhad in Iran. If you can get a Transit Visa (50% get rejected and it will take 2 - 4 weeks to get from the Tashkent Embassy) it will still be difficult organising transportation and accommodation. The visa process for this country is notoriously fickle. If you come in on a Tourist Visa with a tour company you are much more likely to get a visa but it can be expensive. There's no hard and fast rules, it comes down to a matter of luck on who's processing your visa and how they feel on the day. See the VISAS section above.
-
Turkmenistan comes in 2nd on the weirdness scale after North Korea so you have to expect a few visa dramas. Get the tour company to pick you up at the border for Konye-Urgench and have you booked in at the yurts by the Gates of Hell for one night. The next day go to Ashgabat where they can organise your accommodation for a few days. You could do a city tour with them and also a side trip to Kow Ata. You might even do a trip out to Yangykala Canyon. The weird city of Ashgabat is the star and you want to make sure you have enough time here.
-
Your first stop the Gates of Hell at Darvaza was caused by a Soviet drilling crew setting up a rig looking for oil here in 1971 (see tour below ⬇️). They punctured the roof of a large underground cavern and the entire rig fell in. Poisonous fumes and gasses started escaping at a worrying rate so they set them on fire fearing they might reach the nearby town. They thought it would burn out before too long but over 50 years later they are still burning. In fact it's their number one tourist site. It's best to get there for sunset and see them at night for full effect. Being out in the middle of the desert means the star gazing is fantastic as well. The combination of the two is quite magical and completely unique. There are yurts nearby that you can stay at with a BBQ dinner. The current President is talking about closing the site down so get their soon.
-
If you had flown into Ashgabat one of the first things you would have noticed was that the airport was shaped like a bird. This is a technique they use with many other government buildings around the city. The Ministry of Education is shaped like a book, the Ministry of Gas is shaped like a cigarette lighter, the Ministry of Dentistry is shaped like a tooth, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a globe of the world on top, the Central Bank has a large golden coin on top, the Wedding Palace has a huge mirror ball and another building has been likened to a toilet plunger. And we haven't even started on monuments, statuary and other bizarre edifices.
-
There are more white marble clad buildings here than any other city in the world. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1948. So gleaming white marble and gold is everywhere. Streets are wide and free of people, litter and advertising. Old Ashgabat is a lively Soviet style town. It was a former part of the USSR until that fell apart in the early 1990's.
-
The original leader Niyazov a school teacher / soldier changed his name to Turkmenbashi which means Father of all the Turkmen. He also changed the names of months, days of the week and even bread (which is almost sacred) after himself, his mother and family. He created a cult of personality with gold statues of himself everywhere. He also banned an extraordinary range of unusual things. Such as music in cars, advertising, beards, make up on TV hosts, long hair, lip synching, smoking in public, the opera, the ballet, the circus and gold teeth. The weirdness goes on and on.
-
He died in 2006 and was succeeded by his dentist Berdimuhamedow who is just as strange and into creating a personality cult too. His portraits can be seen everywhere and he sees himself as a sportsman extraordinaire often with comical results. Nobody at the events are laughing though as Turkmenistan remains a tightly controlled police state.
Photo by Kalpak Travel
Ashgabat - Gold & White Marble
Avenir Light is a clean and stylish font favored by designers. It's easy on the eyes and a great go-to font for titles, paragraphs & more.
Avenir Light is a clean and stylish font favored by designers. It's easy on the eyes and a great go-to font for titles, paragraphs & more.
Image by hanmuhado0 from Pixabay
Wedding Palace
-
They have the fourth largest gas reserves on the planet but not much of the wealth trickles down to the ordinary people. Some people leave their stoves on because gas is free but matches and lighters aren't. They claim to have the world's best horses which are related to Alexander the Greats famous steed. As so little is known by most people it is a real mystery destination with so much to discover. The Circus is open again. There is a brand new Jack Nicklaus designed golf course and he was personally on hand to congratulate Berdimuhamedow when hit a hole in one to open the course. Kim Jong Il of North Korea shot 38 under par in the very first round he ever played. It included 11 holes in one. Talk about a natural.
-
You can visit the "Heavenly Horses" at the Akhal Teke Horse Stables. Do a night tour of the various LED light shows around the city. Including one of the Akhal Teke horses racing. Ride the world's largest indoor Ferris wheel, visit various museums including one housing the world's largest hand made carpet. Go for a hike on the Walk of Health. The local cuisine is very meat-centric. There are bars and clubs where you can meet some of the westerners and locals living here.
-
A daytrip you can do is out to Kow Ata Underground Lake about 93 kms away. A long stairway leads 200 meters underground to a cave with a lake with 35 degree water containing various minerals and salts. There is also a very large colony of bats that live here too. An amazing place for a swim in the middle of the desert and another unique Turkmenistan experience. Then there is Yangykala Canyon, Turkmenistan's greatest natural wonder.
-
It might take a bit off effort to get here but you will be repaid in spades with never to be forgotten memories in this strange and barely known land. The locals are very friendly and keen to help you out. There is far more to this ancient land than just the recent lunacy. You could do it as part of the #1 Silk Road epic (Coming) or tack it on to #21 Iran (Coming) or #51 Uzbekistan.