Ferry across the Caspian Sea
 

Hello everyone,


I was wondering if there are any recent experiences for shipping yourself and the bike across the Caspian Sea from Baku to Aktau. We are two people on two bikes who would like to take this route in mid-July.

We figured that the weather should be okay, so the ships actually leave every 4-5 days. Is it reasonable to count on driving out of Aktau after latest 10-12 days after arriving in Baku?

We heard so much about the costs: If a bike costs 115 USD and a person 90 USD, can we count on not exceeding costs of about 250 USD (including "additional fees" we might have to pay).

Also we heard rumors about that there is an actual passanger ship now. Did anyone hear about that?

Kind Regards,
Saskia

Call Ismahel (+994 552861200), he can help.

I crossed the Caspian sea 2 weeks ago. I payed $120. Ferry Boat left in Alat, not Baku. Included in price was my passage, my bicycle, a bed in a 6-bed cabin, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The crossing took a time of 3 days and 2 nights, cause of strong wind and technical problems. Normally it should go within 26 hours.
Also I appreciate the help of İsmail, which cost $30. It will be a pain to get tickets on yourself.
Good luck
Helmut

Gesendet von meinem SM-G800F mit Tapatalk 2

No need to contact Ismahel...last year he wanted to charge me 500US for letter of invitation for Turmekistan....just get to port, and it is easy to bay a ticket...no need to use helper ....no regular time table for the ferry but it sails every 3-4 days.
Safe ride

Thank you all for the info!! :)

I'm planning on taking the same route myself. .
My Kazakhstan visa is valid from 13th July so anytime after that I'll be crossing the caspian

We did Baku to Aktau a couple of years ago. The best thing you can do is go down to the ticket office every day and ask or get someone to call for you. We paid around 200 dollars each including the bike.

We only had a 3 day wait before the boat left, and then it took 5 days to cross to Aktau. Beware of this, if the port in Aktau is busy there will be a queue of boats to dock - we were waiting for 4 days at the port which was not nice. On top of this, not all the boats are passenger vessels so I would strongly advise bringing your own food and drink on board.

Our story is just one - there are lots of people that had no problems at all and were across in a day or 2. The road from Aktau (Shetpe) to Beyneu is 300km of total shit.

Anyone else in the area in mid July?

I'm in Baku now - back to the ticket office tomorrow to check for an update

I will be doing this return leg next month so interested to hear how you get on with timings and cost. Hope it goes well for you!

have a look at my blog for the low down on the ferry trip.

Lots of running around sorting out ticket and boat availability.

My ferry eventually left from Alat, not Baku.

Interesting times!

Hello everyone,

We did the ferry ride 2.5 weeks ago and everything worked out well in the end. We got a ticket on the first day: boarding was at 17:00, but the ferry actually left later, then got fuel first, suvh that we arrived in aktau after two days at 15:00 in the afternoon. Apparantly we messed up some stamps and copies at the customs so that we were actually out of the port at 22:00.

We paid 220 usd per person (i think 110 for the ticket and 110 for the bike).

There are four different locations which we confused in the beginning:

1. When you navigate to "port baku", you see a fancy building which says "port baku", but this is not at all a point of interest. Its just an orientation point. I think it is actually a mall or so

2. in the actual port you buy the ticket, when you go by motorbike, no matter if you go to aktau or turkmenbashi. It is close to the "port baku" building (just turn right two times; if you end up in front of a closed gate, you are correct). The guards are very friendly and will help.

3. Only a few kilometers north of the port you find the port where the ferry to turkmenbashi leaves

4. The ferry to aktau leaves in alat! That is about 90 kilometers south of baku (on the main road there is a huge sign "international port baku", it is easy to find.


They didnt provide proper space or straps for the bikes on the ferry. Each of us got a pole/pipe assigned to whivh we fixed the bikes with our own luggage straps. They charge a small amount of dollars for different stuff (getting bed sheets, food, bringing the tickets to the captain,....) if it gets too much, its no problem to refuse (theoretically everything is included in the ticket price).

If anyone wants more information, i can always give more details.

Best regards, saskia