Bishkek to Barnaul in 5 days?
 

Hi

We're hoping to meet up with a friend in Bishkek on 23 August, but need to be at Barnaul airport to pick up another friend on the evening of 28th.

Not sure how good the main roads are in SW Kazakhstan? (They were a nightmare from Akatau to beyneu.
Do you think the 1800 km are perfectly do-able, plus 2 border crossings, in these 5 days? Will it be 10 hours+ deiving each day?

We are in a landcruiser and try not to travel in the dark.
Would prefer not to be rushing through, but if we want to hook up with our friend, we have to cut sth out.

Thanks for any short advice!
Wickychicky

WanderWheels | Helen & Jens on the road to Asia with Mighty Bruce

you can do it in 3 days if you really want.

Depends how you define a nightmare. I mean you dont come to Kazakhstan if you are hoping for silky motorways.

The road from Bishkek to Barnaul via Almaty and Semey is neither unusually good nor unusually bad. It's pretty much par for a Kazakh international highway.

3 Days
 

Korean rider ,, Double Pistol ,, did it in three days ,, just a month ago on a Honda motorcycle. Barnaul to bishkek,, he exports chickens to that country ,, so hes got an apartment ,, office with local staff. Beautiful he says. The lake!

5 days in a Landy... no problem at all!

Both borders will set you back one hour tops normally per border.
Road is not perfect but you will be able to maintain 80 to 90km/hr without to many problems, just watch out for speeding, at least 3 speedguns on that stretch at all times...

Brilliant, thanks for the responses! Last question, is it worth going the 400km extra via Karagandy on the M36, rather than the A350, which someone suggested to us yesterday?
Cheers!

If you go Via Oskerman rather the Semey the roads are better, the distance is not that much difference.