I got feedback from the ferry company a couple of days back saying that they are actually NOT transporting tourists due to COVID regulations.

Will wait for someone to actually make the crossing.

Cheers,
Benjamin

FWIW, I've talked by WhatsApp with a Swiss guy who sailed with his defender from Aktau to Baku just 2 or 3 weeks ago. He said that was dead easy, no issue.
I called a representative from the ferry company (in Aktau), he said go ahead, you can book and take the ferry with your car.
For Azerbaijan, the e-visa is available online in 3 days.
So make what you think of this. We're running out of time, so we won't take the ferry right now, and I have no idea if it's different sailing from Baku to Aktau.

Oh yeah: Kazakhstan needs a PCR test to enter, so that's what we're waiting for right now..

__________________
2- and 4-wheeled explorer and photographer
Overland Aventure

That's good to hear the ferry across the Caspian Sea seems to allow tourist vehicles.

Are Kazakhstan land borders open?

I want to repatriate my stranded bike back to Europe from Kyrgyzstan this year by riding west through Uzbekistan/Kazakhstan etc.

__________________

Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Yes, Kazakh is open, overland too. Just need a PCR test (nowadays).
Watch out if you have an expired TIP getting out of Kyrgyzstan, they’re very strict about it (now). That was our case (1 month late) and we spent the good part of the day running from over place to another to pay a fine. Which was only 10$ !
Happy riding !

__________________
2- and 4-wheeled explorer and photographer
Overland Aventure

Thanks for your confirmation of my query. Which border crossing did you take from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan? Thanks also for the heads up about the Kyrgyz/Eurasian Customs Union TIP.

Please send an update on how you get on getting to Azerbaijan/Georgia and beyond.

Bon route!

__________________

Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Ferry goes from Alat, Azerbaijan to Kuryk, Kazakhstan so Turkmenistan is not critical. Yes the ferry route is impossible until Azerbaijan lifts restrictions and borders are open.

As for Russia I have called embassy a couple weeks ago and they told me that land border with KZ is open but the one with Georgia is closed due to ongoing SMO. I haven't asked about Belorassia and Baltic I would recommend to call and ask if you are looking at this option.

Hearsay is that you can cross belo/russian border in the bus but would need to ship bike across; at least how it was a couple months ago. Apparently there are also restrictions on which border x-ings foreigners can take; I ran into similar situation on UZ/KZ (or TJ?) border could only use the 4th one and that was before pandemic.

BTW expect this be the case on any border; many small border x-ings which I like take so much on US/CAN border went the way of dodo.

Not sure if the below/russian border is even open for EU/UK/US citizen but from what I was told there were no additional restrictions from russia due to recent events.

My ukrainian contact said that ukrainians can leave russia for belorassia through any crossing but have to go through the "three sisters" (one where russia/belo/ukraine come together) to enter back. I'm not planning to go in that direction anytime soon so it didn't pick my interest.

Another option worth investigating is entering russia from poland and taking ferry from Kaliningrad to St Petersburg.

There’s only one border open afaik, which is Dostuk near Osh.

We won’t go to Azerbaijan or anywhere else this year, we’ll store the car here and until the situation is better.

__________________
2- and 4-wheeled explorer and photographer
Overland Aventure

On Caravanistan people are saying LAND borders into/out of Azerbaijan are still closed. This is also mentioned in this article: https://eurasianet.org/two-years-on-...-remain-closed

A good German friend just told me that Swiss passport holders seemingly have some sort of "magical" dispensation to travel... Even in 2021 a Swiss truck was able to travel Kyrg/Uzbek/Kaz/ship/Az and further westwards. Their German truck/German passports wasn't allowed to do this.

I will see how the situation develop over the next couple of months and maybe try a late summer/ early autumn "breakout". I'm already busy in early summer.

__________________

Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

You can get PCR test at the border there were several places doing it (and also guys selling counterfeit certificate if you don't wanna wait). This was a couple days ago when I crossed to KZ from Tashkent.

Not sure what is latest with Azerbaijan but this was available for a while you could ship across the border and fly in. The issue was that land/ferry x-ings were only open for trucks so you couldn't take a ride on the ferry.