The Cost of Travel to Turkmenistan: My Real Experiences

Turkmenistan is expensive to travel to. It cost me just over $840 for a 3-day trip, and that’s a fairly standard price. I’ll break down the costs and dig into the finer details later, but the bottom line is that I spent $700 on a 3-day tour, and $140 for the visa and associated costs.

Getting the Turkmenistan visa is notoriously difficult, and you have to have a mandatory guided tour for your application to be successful. That’s where the majority of your expenses come in.

I was hesitant about visiting, especially after getting used to budget-friendly travel across Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. But I have a dream, and the name of this blog tells you exactly what that is. Adventure to EVERY country. Not just the easy, cheap and safe ones.

So I sucked it up, splashed the cash, and ultimately made it to this weird and wonderful destination which is like no other I’ve visited to date.

The capital is full of white (and only white) buildings, with dozens of bizarre giant monuments spread across what seems like every corner. Then you have a giant hole in the desert that’s been burning for over 50 years, surrounded by nothing but yurt camps, similar to those in Mongolia or Kyrgyzstan.

There’s no denying that Turkmenistan hammered my bank account. But it was worth it for one of the most unique travel experiences I’ve ever had. Read on and I’ll dig into all the costs you can expect to pay here.

A Breakdown of my Costs in Turkmenistan

The bad news? Turkmenistan is expensive. The good news? Your tour at least covers virtually EVERY cost outside of the visa and associated fees. Here’s what I spent

• Mandatory tour: $700 for 3 days, 2 people
• Visa: $80 + a $4 payment processing fee
• PCR test: US$29 + a $4 payment processing fee
• Registration fee: US$10 + a $4 payment processing fee
• Sticker: US$5 + a $4 payment processing fee
• Souvenirs: $1 (optional)

This doesn’t include the $15 I spent taking a taxi to the border from Urgench in Uzbekistan. There’s also a 5,000 Uzbek som ($0.50) fee to take a bus between the Uzbek and Turkmen sides of the border, although that certainly wasn’t the expensive part.

All of my accommodation, food, transport and the tour guide were included in the tour costs.

Now, whilst you may be able to find a slightly cheaper tour than I did, it may not be in English, it may not include all additional costs, and unlike my tour with Murad (who was fantastic by the way, and even sorted me out with my own train carriage after buying all four tickets for me), it may have a lower rate of success when it comes to obtaining the all-important LOI.

Why is Turkmenistan so Expensive?

The tour. It’s literally just the tour.

Yes, the $140 entry costs aren’t the cheapest (your visa could be up to $25 cheaper than mine if you aren’t British), but it was the tour that really nuked my budget on this trip.

Accommodation in Turkmenistan isn’t particularly expensive (under $20 for a half-decent place to stay), food is super cheap (I ordered steaks for under $5… although I’d be lying if I said they were good steaks), buses cost peanuts, and general expenses are no higher than in other ex-Soviet “stan” countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

Doing a longer tour will (obviously) cost more, but it will at least knock down your average daily costs. If I did a 5-day tour instead of 3 days, I would’ve “only” paid $200-$300 more. Only…

How to Cut Costs on a Turkmenistan Trip

In the past, tourists would use the cheat option of entering Turkmenistan on a transit visa (where a tour isn’t necessary) and squeeze in as much sightseeing as possible. You can’t do that now.

Authorities got wise to it, and transit visas are reserved almost exclusively for truck drivers these days.

The only good way to make Turkmenistan cheap-ish is to go with many people.

As a solo traveller, I was quoted $800 for my 3-day trip. It turned out another tourist was visiting at the same time, so my share of the trip was cut down to $700 as we went together. Bring a bigger group and your costs will come down further.

Now, there are other tour guides available, but I’ve been told of guides who don’t speak English (not a bad thing if you’re fluent in Turkmen I guess), tours that don’t cover all expenses, and poor-quality tours.

That’s why I will always recommend Murad. He sorted out my LOI (needed for the visa) flawlessly, arranged how I would cross the Turkmenistan border, and handled all logistics to make this a stress-free and enjoyable trip.

If you get another guide, at best you’ll save approximately $200. If you’re spending hundreds anyway, then you want to have a great experience in the country.

Do You Need to Exchange Money in Turkmenistan?

No. Your tour should cover virtually every expense, unless you want to buy souvenirs or splurge on booze.

One US dollar is officially worth 3.5 Turkmen manat. But due to the black market exchange there, you should actually get 19.5 manat per dollar.

I asked our guide where I could do this, but ended up exchanging just $1 directly with her so I could buy souvenirs. Any reputable guide will take care of money changing for you, so don’t worry about the complexities of the Turkmen currency markets.

Foreign cards are highly unlikely to work here.

Is Turkmenistan Worth the Extra Costs?

I’d say yes. For a once-in-a-lifetime trip, it definitely felt worthwhile, and Turkmenistan will live long in my memory.

But you should think about your reasons for doing this before going.

Want to visit every country in the world? Explore an offbeat destination with few tourists? Deep dive into the history of a fascinating ex-Soviet state?

Then I’d say Turkmenistan is worth visiting, despite the high costs involved.

If you answer any of the above questions with “no”, then you need to think about why you really want to come here.

Turkmenistan isn’t a relaxing holiday, it’s not a place for resort lovers, it’s rugged and uncomfortable, and you can trust me when I say that sipping on a can of Zip lager in the Turkmen desert isn’t the same as enjoying an Aperol spritz whilst overlooking the Colosseum of Rome.

Zip doesn’t even taste great if I’m honest.

I loved my time here, but I’m also the guy who eats ice cream with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and stays with Mongolian nomads. If that’s your style of adventure, then you will probably enjoy Turkmenistan too.

If however you’re primarily a Vienna-loving culture vulture, a Benidorm beach enthusiast, or a pro-Parisian city breaker, then you should think twice about whether this is a good use of your money. Remember than you’d need to get to Turkmenistan too, and unless you’re already overlanding the ‘stans, then it will cost a fair bit to get here.