URGENT: Money in Central Asia
 

hey folks, i am in iran and running out of money!

the route from here is:
turkmenistan
usbekistan
kirgistan
kasachstan

in wich of those countries can i get money at an ATM or in a bank?

thanks a lot!!!
flo

Uzbekistan- definitely cash machines in Bukhara and Samakand
Tajikistan- yes in Dushanbe
Kygyzstan yes in Bishkek..

where are you that has no cash machines? Iran?

yes, iran... what about turkmenistan? thats the next country on my way...

hi

you can get money in Iran if you go to a fairly big city and look for a tourist carpet shop or similar that take visa/mastercard/etc. normally this is for people buying stuff but you can still ask for cash without buying something. this will cost you a heavy commission though.

we did it this way in esfahan.

greets
Neil

I would say it quite hard to find any ATM in Uzbekistan. I dont know about Samarkand but i saw none in Dushanbee (which dont mean naturally they dont exists :) ) and i spend many hours in the morning trying to find one from Bukhara.


All OSM map icons which indicated ATM seemed to be something else than what is considered in europe as bank. They adviced me to go one hotel in edge of old town. Some company has office there where you can get money with credit card. I waited guy over two hours as he was always coming in 10 minute or so. Finally i got tired of waiting and speed off from Bukhara and Uzbekistan into Kazakstan. In Kirgistan you can find ATM from banks from bigger cities and in Kazakstan there are plenty of ATM's.

I would definately stack myself with enough euros or USD if i ever go again to Uzbekistan. Even in Mongolia it was easier to find ATM's and it is very barren country. In Uzbekistan problem is high inflation so ATM machines would need be size of small truck to hold enough cash.

ATM Turkmenistan
 

I haven't seen ATM in Turkmenistan. If exist will be only in Asqabat.
They have visa/master card ports in hotels so you can try the same like creazymanneil but it will be expensive.
I even have doubts if they do that.
Bartosz
[url=http://www.wyprawy4x4.com.pl]Wyprawy 4

Your going to want to take a stack of USD $$$ into UZB or you will get a bad exchange rate, change these up on the black market for the best rates.

I would think Ashgabat would be your best bet followed by Bukhara.

Bukhara, Samarkand, Dushanbe ALL have ATM's

G

Uzbekistan
 

Hi Flo,

In Uzbekistan you should look for Kapitalbank. It seems to be the only bank at which you can get US dollars.

In Bukhara there was an ATM in a window close to the Kalyan Minarette in the pedestrian area. It worked about half of the time.

In Samarkand there was only one branch of Kapitalbank (location is approximate, but it should be the right street):

Kapitalbank
Mirzo Ulugbek Street, Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Latitude 39.66129621969761 (N 39° 39' 40.666")

Longitude 66.93152189254761 (E 66° 55' 53.478")

Hope it helps,
Joe
THIS WORLD AHEAD | The story about two motorcycle enthusiasts and their journey around the world.

How much is a stack of USD for such a thing? Going budget?

Depends what you ride or drive, fuel consumption and where you like to stay. Budget $20-30/night for accommodation and you should be ok

thanks to all of you for the tipps!

i managed to get through iran with what i had and found a cash machine in ashgabat where my VISA card worked.

also, in bukhara i found an atm that gave me dollars!

thanks again and save travels!
flo

Good that you had manage it, I wish you safe travels!

Generally you often can find ATMs in 5 Star Hotels in bigger cities. They should have an ATM in the Hotel lobby.

5 Star hotels usually privide that kind of service (ATM), too they offer money exchange service...

Example:

International Hotel Tashkent
Amir Timur Street 107A, 100069 Tashkent
Booking.com: International Hotel Tashkent , Tashkent, Usbekistan - 44 Gästebewertungen . Buchen Sie jetzt Ihr Hotel!

You can see that in the Hotel detailed Hotel description.

Surfy

just came from Bukhara, currently in Samarkand. In Bukhara all just shook head when we looked for visa/MasterCard service. Nothing we could find. Now in Samarkand "Askabank" are supposed to support MasterCard but their handheld machine is currently broken so it seems no MasterCard in Samarkand. Will try Kapotalbank for Visa today.

Maybe some 4star hotel could work. Our last option.


I don't understand the comments in this thread abut "definitely ATM in city x, y, z in Uzbekistan". I haven't seen a single proper ATM machine in UZ.

In UZ there are many money exchange places and black market gives a high rate. No proper Atms so get USD where u can. Where ever I had stopped in UZ be it a shady place I had some locals come to me and asked me if I needed money exchange service. I was lucky.

Actually Masterchiefflo, OP on this thread, wrote just two days ago he found ATM in Bukhara: I don't think he's lying:-)

You probably just didn't found it...