Turkmenistan, for us just a transit country and surely not more. No need to elaborate around the none-existing democratic structures of this country and the life the people do have (we did so already in the related blog). We never felt too much welcome in Turkmenistan, only in the far North that changed, far away from the capital we could get a glimpse of the real Turkmenistan, but otherwise it is just a show.
If you get here, we would recommend to spent your time in the North. People are warm and welcoming and the atmosphere is much more relaxed than in the capital Ashgabat. Unfortunately you are not very free in your route options as it is provided to you by the customs officers, but that is part of the game when you travel with a transit visa.
Here some details to provide you an overview…
- Distance in Turkmenistan: 620 km
- Diesel consumption total: 100 liters
- Average cost per liter Diesel: 0,08 €
- Nights on official campsites or hotels: 0
- Days in Turkmenistan: 4
- Total costs including fuel: 200 €
- Border crossing experience: Well, what to say?! It took us about five hours to cross the border. All officers were friendly, no demand for any payments or such you might hear about, all very correct, but slooooow. In the end they checked the whole car in very much detail, but as mentioned, all very correct. But also annoying as they have for example a lunch break in-between.
- Car maintenance: 40 € for standard maintenance including parts, means changing oil and diesel filters, grease here and there, so nothing special.
Want to know more about our time in Turkmenistan? Just check out our related blog posts, well in this case only one as we had just four days in Turkmenistan.
Next country on our list after our time in Turkmenistan will be Uzbekistan, so a lot of culture and history ahead of us.