Kazakhstan Road Conditions
 

I just crossed Kazakhstan west to east, was surprised by how good the roads are compared to 2007.

Entered at Taskala, due east from Saratov.

*Road to Oral is good.
*Oral to Aktobe is mostly excellent, maybe 100km is good or OK.
*Aktobe to Kostanay is mostly perfect, maybe 100km of good road and 50km OK.
*Kostanay to Astana (via Esil and Atbasar) is mostly perfect, but 50 to 80km just before Astana are really bad at present.
*Astana to Karaghanda is excellent.
*Karaghanda to Bayanaul is OK
*Bayanaul to Ekibastuz is half OK, half bad.
*Ekibastuz to Pavlodar is good.
*Pavlodar to the border at Sharbakty (near Kulunda in Altaiskiy Kray) is very good.

I would desribe 'good' as a road which can be driven on at normal speed, but with bumps. 'OK' as a road which will slow you down slightly and require some swerving round potholes. 'Bad' as a road which will have you constantly swerving, swearing and shifting gears, and 'really bad' as the type of road that makes you want to go home.

Daniel

Further South the road from Shimkent to Almaty is good as in a 'oh-my-god I've seen bowling lanes rougher than this good'. Compared to other parts of central Asia I found KZ to have ace roads, low objective dangers and thought EM and CB made a big song and dance about nothing. Really good petrol as well compared to the Uzbek 76 Octane Yaks piss, which admittedly the bike ran fine on (I should have re-jetted in the UK!)

Is Aktyubinsk (Aktobe) to Kustanai now asphalt?

Yes, Aktobe to Kostanai is perfect for the first 400km or so, then deteriorates, but it's never very bad.

On this three year trip, I remember the worst roads being in Kazakhstan, in the east of the country. Also, the roads around the Caspian region are meant to be bad. They're not much worse than those elsewhere in Central Asia, but they're much longer!

Daniel

Pretty true! I found they were long, very very very long too...
Beware of the road going from Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan) to Aktau though, for those who plan to go to strange places. 150 uneasy km.

Many thanks to Daniel and other contributors! :D

the road passing through Igriz is terrible, 150km is actually off road, my Cg barely handled it

Hello there,

Reporting from Almaty. I've done Kaz north to south: I've entered the country in the Troitsk border, and went all the way down through the M36 to Almaty. I have to say the tarmac is fantastic most of the time, you'll even find a pretty impressive 3 lane highway near Astana, and only around 70km or so of bad-bumpy roads, but accesible for most bikes and cars. Things do get complicated if you exit the main road, though.

Hi, first time post so if in wrong area please be patient!

Planning trip 2011 to Oz including Vladivostok via Mongolia. Entering Russia from Latvia and wonder why do so many seem to go through Kaz rather than straight across Russia? (Have spent long time on HU website!) Is this an issue with driving in Russia - road conditions / police / other ? Visa agency said they very strongly advise against traveling alone with own vehicle in Russia.
Is alone through Mongolia foolhardy?

Hi CeeGH
What time of year do you plan to travel? I plan to be riding through Russia and Mongolia mid-June to July. If the timing works, maybe we could link up.

2011
 

Hi Paul,

Plan to start June 11th and travel 3 months targeting Oz. Hope we can meet up. Will forward further details to your mail.

Chris

We just came from Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia.

Astkrakhan-Aturay-Maqat-Baughanin - Shubarduqudug-Quandyaghash

Eastern part was very bad condion asphalt. In some parts it was more just a track of holes and some asphalt between holes. This road part also destroyed suspension in one of the bikes as part holding suspension in dogbone broke.

Quandyaghash-Embi-Shalqar was if i remember correctly quite good gravel-asphalt road. There is road from Aqtobe to Aral but some locals said there is part of it missing so we chose this Quandyaghash-Embi-Shalqar part as we were driving to Aral.

In Shalqar we were told road going to Aral from there through Köktumaktu and Shilikti unaccessable now because there are floods and you cant drive on the road. So we head to "main road" near Yrghuz.

Between Yrghuz-Aral there were during july 2010 big road building projects going on. Road was going mainly side of the road being constructed and was everything between stonehard asphalt to very loose sand. It was in some part very hard to drive mainly due extreme heat (well over 40C).

From Aral to Baikonur road was also under constuction and some was asphalt with holes but slighly better than roads in Caspian sea regions. Rest of the Kazakhstan roads toward Shymkent, Almaty and from Almaty to Semey were i would say reasonably good condition and quite easy to ride with motorcycle.

Hi there,

Thanks a lot for your up-to-date info!
i'm now in Irkoetsk, baikal lake, and plan to go to kazachstan.
Have to take the semey border, and still in doubt to take the troisk/chelsabyinsk oblast border, or the samara border (the one you took? east from saratov?).

Depends on visa conditions which I have to extend in astana, but furthermore: I understand the entry road to semey is bad, but the rest is quite good? You tell me the road from astana to the samara border is also +/- ok?

I'm however not riding a motorcycle, but a jeep. Uses diesel. Seen that on your trip or could that be a problem?

Many thanks in advance!

Cheap accomodation Almaty
 

Hi there,

It's not really about a question about bikes, but i like to know or someone knows cheap accomodation in Almaty? As i hear from different people that it's an expensive city to stay. And i need to stay there to organize some visa.
Thank you guys!

Bossit. :-)

Ok, arrived in astana right now. I'll answer my own question:
- road from barnaul (Russia) to semey is Mint: very, very good. some potholes in the 2 "cities" you cross in russia, furthermore, no problems.
> obvious country crossing could be quite crowded. Consider taking the next one (50 km east). However: easy crossing. They'll take the same customs document as the russian one you got last entry into russia, so should be quite smooth once you get in.

- Road from semey to pavlodar is good, however, crossing trucks in rain or night is trickey. Corresponds to your definition of 'good'.

- road from pavlodar to astana is partly good, partly perfect. Not a lot of potholes, it is bumpy sometimes, though. Just did it in some stormy weather, and crossing trucks is quite tricky, but in fact, road is fine.

My standards are however affected due to mongolian roads, which aren't roads, in fact.

I will continue to the samara border now. I'm looking forward to it!

Take care,
Lennert.

Some new infos??
 

Hi folks
We will start to Kazakhstan and Kirgistan in July 2011 (Defender and 2 bikes).
I need info about road conditions from Russian border in Astrakhan-Atyrau-Magat-Shubarquduq-Aqtobe.
Is is still bad or maybe is improved from last time?
Next we will drive from Qandyagnash to Aral (I think this is better than M32)
Than all the way to Kyzylorda Shimkent and Taraz is fine, I think so?

Thanks

Bartosz

Some more roads:

A344 Kyzylorda to Zhezqazghan. First 130km good asphalt (with 20km good dirt), then about 200km good dirt (mild corrugations but a nice drive at 80), then last 100km-ish is asphalt which varies from very bad to OK. This is total wilderness, a nice drive.

A344 Zhezqazghan to the turning 30km-ish past Atasu is good.

Link road to the M36 is 200km of pretty bad asphalt.

If you want to drive a really BAD road, try the Shauldir - Koksaray - Sardara stretch! It's amazing that a road can get this bad without prolonged aerial bombardment.

A nice alternative to the M32 between Taraz and Turkestan is to head up to Asa, then Karatau, Zhangatas, Sholqaqurghon, Kentau, Turkestan. It's mostly good asphalt, with the odd bad patch. Zhangatas is a virtual ghost town with dozens of derelict apartment building, then there is a stretch of real wilderness, then the road crosses the Karatau mountains. Some nice untramelled backroads.

Daniel

Daniel, you are real roads bible.
I think that I will enter in Astrakhan, than Atyrau-Aqtobe-Aral-Shymkent-Taraz and 7 days visit in Kirgistan (Song-Kol Lake, Issyk-kul).Next back througt Karakara Valey and Sharyn Kanion.
Almaty-Balchas-Astana and Russia.
24 days is not so many but it is possible to drive this area and see some interesting place.

Thank you

Bartosz

Hi all,

Im not sure what the done thing on here is, get involved with a existing thread or start a new one.

This is the second attempt at this message - i realised that asking for bad roads was a bit stupid for kazak

What i mean is, where are some goood 'pistes' if i can call them that, which take you to good scenery, off whatever form of beaten track may exist in kazak (i dont know!). We will be entering from Uzbek and leaving into Russia, probably through NW kazak.

Cheers

Pete

Bartosz - thank you for your comment. Just to repeat what's posted on the M32 thread, the Atyrau - Aktobe road is not good, if you're looking for a smooth drive it's better to go on the new asphalt from Atyrau to Oral (Uralsk) and then to Aktobe (Aktyubinsk) and onwards.

Pete - Kazakhstan is almost entirely flat steppe. The only places I can think of where you could poke around off-road and see anything different from the normal nothingness is the mountains (though there are all dead end drives), and Manggystau (Aktau) Region. For a real challenge you could head past the Kokaral Dam on the Aral Sea and follow desert pistes for about 1000km of nothing to Aktau (let me know if you do this!). There's also a piste along the northern shore of Lake Balqash which may or may not be interesting. Otherwise just play Kazakh-Roulette, pick a back road on the map and see what you get, perhaps a decent asphalt highway, perhaps a cratered wasteland.

Daniel

Hi Daniel,

Thanks again, much appreciated

I think well stick to west kazakh but the mention of a 1000km desert route has got my spider sense tingling - ill have to check it out at least!

Cheers

Pete

Kazakhstan is a pretty big country with relatively few roads in it, I'm sure there are plenty of long (and useful) desert routes there. I did that Beyneu/Aktau - Aralsk route when I was there in 2009. A completely different ball game to just travelling through on the roads.

hey guys

thanks for the informations! does anyone know whether there has been road work between atyrau and Quandiaghash? Or can someone give us some Informations how long we should schedule for it?

We are now in Atyrau and want to head to the Aral Lake.

Thanks
Thomas

Hi there
Going to Stans this year from Slovenia and one option is
Astrakhan A27 - Atyrau A110 - Beyneu E40 - Nukus, Uzb.- Samarkhand -Pamir
Anyone knows about the roads in this directions
Driving motorcycle.

thanks
sasco

Astrakhan - Atyrau was awful in 2014, huge craters in the asphalt from the border most of the way to Atyrau.

Atyrau - Beyneu is excellent asphalt (2014).

Beyneu to the border is quite rough and unpaved.

Border to Nukus is OK asphalt, not a problem to drive on (2011).

Nukus to Samarkand was recently repaired, but I have not driven the main route (through Bukhara) since 2007, when it was OK. There is an alternative road through Uchquduq and Zerafshan to Navoiy, nice desert drive but the road is OK asphalt (2011).

Samarkand - Dushanbe is fine.

In 2015 it was ok, some parts in Usbekistan have been under Construction and I think from 2016 on you can expect good road.

Some short parts after Atyrau have been unpaved, but nothing really spectacular for a bike.
Worse for cars and trucks, but ok for bikes.

Astrkhan it is
 

Thanks for info, that is the rout I'll take.
departing on end of june...hope it's not to hot then

bibi sasco

Same in Oct 2015, especially awful during 60 km after the border.

RR.

Rode Samarkand to Khiva in august 2016 on a motorcycle rented in Almaty.

I can say that the A380's tarmac from Beruniy to about 20 km southeast of Gazli direction Bukhara is in excellent conditions, but take care of fuel consumption, as there's no fuel stations for a very long stretch, I mean about 250-260 km (you can find some places with emergency fuel, anway, it's what saved me because the motorcycle I rented had a small tank not suitable for a long desert ride).
Did not go north of Beruniy, so I can't know how the road conditions of the A380 are in direction of Nukus (but I think they were still extremely good).

If you plan to go to Khiva, the 6-7 km stretch from the exit of A380 to the bridge on Amu-Darya is in terrible conditions, full of potholes as if it was bombed by F-16's, but after the bridge it improves immediately up to Khiva: not in perfect conditions, but you can ride with no problems.

From 20 km southeast of Gazli to Bukhara, the A380 becomes quite bumpy but you can still ride 75-80 km/h with no major problem (don't do it at night like I did, there's many potholes even if not so deep).

Bukhara to Samarkand is again excellent and with fuel stations.

Hi Sasco! Planning something similar from Croatia. It would be great to exchange information before the trip. My trip was planned for June as I will have some fixed dates in Kyrgyzstan. As I will have 4-5 weeks for the whole trip, the idea is to come to region as fast as possible and then have more relaxed scehedule mainly focused on Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. I have found many useful information about roads in Kazakhstan here