Route Germany - Central Asia Loop - India
 

Hey all HUBBers,

I am planning to leave Germany mid-June with a car and trying to put together a nice route to India. What I came up with so far is the following: https://goo.gl/maps/652Q7Axz1aC2


(Route starts in Georgia. I am planning top get there via the Odessa fery from Ukraine.)

Any experiences and suggestions?
Good parts to be included or bad parts better to be left out?
Is this doable in a non-winter climate?
Anyone having tips/waypoints (apart from the awesome HUBB Waypoint database) for this route?
For applying for the transit Visum through Turkmenistan I need to have an Iranian and Uzbek Visa already I was told. Uzbek Visa seems to be an eVisa, while I would need to get the Iranian Visa in the Iranian embassy in Bishkek (most likely) because it is only valid for 90 days from date of issue. Anyone experience with that?

And if it works out to India, anyone experiences with getting rid of a Carnet de Passage registered car and not loosing the deposit?

Thanks for your tips and hints!

Best regards! :cool4:

Thanks, I got these already!

We did the first part of your route up to Atyrau in 2014 on our way to Vladivostok, except the part through South Ossetia. I think you need a special permit to go through South Ossetia. We did the Georgian Military Road from Tbilisi to Vladikavkaz. Very nice road, beautiful scenery, easy border crossing, and not as crowded as we thought it would be. From Vladikavkaz to Astrakhan, we did it in 14 hours because there were a lot of police blocks on the road, some of which were causing problems, in reality asking for bribes. For example, in the Ingushetia- Chechnya block, they did an alcohol test on us at 10 in the morning, insisting the driver was drunk. Of course, he only had coffee, so we insisted also and we left without paying nothing. The usual bribe game, if you insist you win. Only that in the particular area it is a little bit intimidating, as it is heavily armed. Nothing however to really worry about. The road to Astarakhan was closed, because of impassable parts, so we had to go through Komsomolsky and Yaskul, which is a big detour. From Astarakhan to Atyrau, the border crossing was easy, but the road after the border was really bad. Paved, but it would have been better if it wasn’t, huge potholes, we could only go 20-30 km. After Atyrau we went to Beyneu and then into Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is fantastic, with lovely people and beautiful towns, it is worth spending some time in Bukhara, Samarkand and Khiva that are on your route. The rest of your route to Kazakhstan, we did not do back then, but we will this year, so as far as I looked it up with regard to the roads, it seems to be very good tarmac.

Josephine