Kirghistan, Tajikistan, China, Pakistan, India border crossing
 

Hi everyone,

I would like to go by motorcycle to the countries as in the subject starting from Kirghistan. My plan is to do this somewhere in July, August 2022.

Is anybody of you aware if it is possible currently for EU citizens? Is border crossing permitted? There is a split in information - one saying it's not allowed to cross borders, other that you can. I would like to drive countries as per below:

Kirghistan >> Tajikistan >> China >> Pakistan >> India and return

Does anyone had a chance to cross borders of those countries last time?

Forget it. china wont open this year. India maybe but you will have to go from Pakistan.

It's not looking good.

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are having a small border conflict in the south-west, I am not sure how this affects other border crossings. It might be open to travellers.

China - closed, not likely to open any time soon in my opinion.

Pakistan - apparently open at the Iran - Pakistan crossing.

India - land borders closed.

In addition, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are also closed.

Not the time to plan a Central Asian journey.

EO

Seems I need to wait till 2023. Thank you for you swift replies, much appreciated!

I'm starting on a similar trip, soon. I got confirmation from several sources (including consulates, however reliable that is) that Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are open. EU citizens do not even need a visa.

Tajikistan has announced a new visa-free travel for over 50 countries but I am yet awaiting confirmation that the land borders are actually open.

As mentioned before, China is closed and I do not expect it to open up this year. Since Afghanistan seems risky and Turkmenistan is closed that means for me that I will loop back through Azerbaijan and Iran to Pakistan.

I know a few people who have entered Pakistan from Iran as recent as this month. I hope by the time I get there that the border to India will be open.

Cheers,
Benjamin

Not KZ land borders

Mean Kazakhstan border? Other two are open?

zorro moto have told me all borders between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are closed

Is that ecause of conflict or Covid regulations?
Cant't belive it...if this is true it's gonna be third year I need to cancel my adventure:mad:

Conflict, as stated above. But covid is still a problem, that's why KZ borders were closed and remain so. My 3rd year of cancellation also.

From what my sources are telling me Kazakhstan is opening up and Uzbekistan was opened for some time. As for Kyrgyz/Tajik conflict it is very localized at Fergana valley (it's really a mess there with villages incircled by other country) and that usually does not affect the crossing on M41 which travelers take on the way from Murgab to Sari-Tash. At least it wasn't an issue in 2019 when similar conflict was happening and we were there.

I'll be there next month so will give an update.

Can't tell anything about russia and china good luck.

Yes, I read that Kazakhstan is removing all covid restrictions and re-open borders with Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Uzbekistan:

https://astanatimes.com/2022/04/kaza...tan-next-week/

If Zorro Moto in Kyrgyzstan is saying the borders with Tajikistan are closed, I would consider that a very reliable source (maybe they have opened since).

But with Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and China closed, that still leaves no overland / ferry route into the region.

Interestingly, a member on here just secured a 1 year business visa for Russia. But whether the land borders are, or will soon be open is not certain. Hopefully we learn more in the coming weeks.

I met Dave/Zorro he is a good guy. Just asked my other contact in Kyrgyzstan what is going on.

Azerbaijan land crossings are only open for trucks but you can ship bike across across the border. This is from my contact at ferry.

From my contact: Kyrgyz/Tajik border is closed due to situation. Kazakh border is opening soon. Uzbek border is open.

Does anyone have a current update? Especially regarding AZ-KZ? My latest information is that KZ harbours are still closed but it does not matter as AZ is closed?

Quote from caravanistan
"I just got off the phone with Kazakhstan embassy in Azerbaijan. He said that the ferry never was stopped due to covid-19, even for tourists.

Earlier I spoke with Kazakhstan embassy in Norway, and he said I cant enter kazakhstan from sea port.

Probably Azerbaijan land borders will open 1th may."

the link https://caravanistan.com/forum/viewt...12644&start=60

So it seems the ferry is an option.

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.. beer

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.

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 !

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!

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.

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.

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.