Just public transports and taxi.

how would you rate the public transports?

3.5/5
I can reach most tourist places with public transport.
But it requires a lot research.


1. Other than airplane, train is the main tourist transport in this region, and not bus, due to the vast area some countries cover.

2. My trains are all on time. Although I can imagine a slight delay at one stop will have huge domino effect to the schedule.

3. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan trains are pretty new and fast. There are slower train with cheaper price. Tajikistan still use old train.

4. You can book Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan train from their official website.

5. There are two kind of bus size: a normal bus like the one in Malaysia; a marshrutka like a van-bus. In some places, like in Tajikistan, they only have marshrutka. Some marshrutka work like a normal bus which has fixed schedule. Some marshrutka only depart when the bus are fully filled, unless you are willing to pay extra to cover the empty seats. It depends on which route you take. Most popular route will have fixed schedule marshrutka.

6. Very rarely, you can book bus ticket from internet. One example is busses departing from sayran bus station in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Side note, they have bus to China Urumqi departing from this bus station.

7. In some cities, there might also be private pool car transfer. For example, I took pooled car with local for Bishkek-Osh.

8. Use yandex go for intracity travel.

9. Not all information are in English. You need to have some ability to read Cyrillic alphabet. Or use the translate function comes with Chrome, or Google lens.

This post has been edited by Sycamore: Feb 17 2025, 03:36 PM

https://imgur.com/a/lBeMD4U

This is live city bus in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The app is yandex map.

I didn't take city bus in most countries cause it involves too much research as my trip was 26 days.
Except for Tajikistan where the government banned yandex go, I have little choice but to take bus after a little struggle.

oo thanks for the info man. i think central asia remains underrated for tourism IMO.

Want to trip make a trip report of my 9 days trip to Almaty and surrounding

Date of the trip: 2nd half of October 2025
Length of trip: 9 days
Pacing: Very chill
Number of pax: 2
Flight: On AirAsia X direct to Almaty. KUL-ALA --> Advanced normal seat selection paid. ALA-KUL --> Flat Bed

Total cost per person including transport to KLIA and back, and insurance: RM8,700 per pax
Hotel stayed in Almaty:
1) Holiday Inn Express (hotel is newer, good breakfast)
2) Hotel Uyut (hotel is slightly older, good breakfast, location is better, i think this is better than holiday inn express for the $ i paid for)

I paid for a private tour with a local link --> TripAdvisor page

I think it is easy to plan for a trip in Kazakhstan. You can do a faster pace trip, doing a 4D or 5D trip with a private guide, driving around the key sights like Kolsai Lake, Kaindy Lake, Charyn Canyon, Altyn Emel National Park, Issyk Lake, Assy Plateau. Thereafter, you can do a 2D 1N trip to Turkistan. I didnt go to Turkistan.

There's nothing too interesting inside Almaty city to be honest. What you see online is mainly taking picture next to the yellow building church. What i did like was Almaty had alot of different cuisine, I tried georgian food, russian food, Kazakh food, really enjoyed it.

Some Q&A

Question: Do you need to pay for private tour?
Answer: No. Not really. I paid 1700 for 2 person for my itinerary, which yours could be different. There are places that require a 4WD drive to get there hence the private tour comes in useful. I remember when i was in Altyn Emel National Park, there's no pave road and i am pretty sure Waze not working there, hence the importance of hiring the tour guide. But i did see other people driving a normal car there but HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED to do that. it's foolish.

You can drive a normal car to visit Kolsai Lake and Charyn Canyon. All paved road. Kaindy Lake is about 15km from the Saty village, where most likely you will stay there. That 15km is unpaved road. You can get a ride from Saty village but i dont know how, you need to google this.

Question: What is the more interesting place to visit?
Answer: I didnt go to Issyk Lake, Assy Plateau. to me, Charyn Canyon and Altyn Emel NP was abit more interesting. Desert like but not really. The ride in/around the Altyn Emel was interesting, it's really the steppe that makes it looks different. Granted the Lakes were scenic, and beautiful, but just feel like the lush and green can be obtained in Malaysia. Maybe if you visited in winter, there could be a different vibe.

This post has been edited by adele123: Yesterday, 05:05 PM