Things to do in Turkmenbashi
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Turkmenbashi
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months overall, with highs around 26 to 30C, long sun, a swimmable sea and bearable canyon country.
The window for Yangykala, Gozli Ata and Dehistan. In high summer the same days are endurance events.
Beach and aquapark season, peaking in July and August when Awaza is least empty with domestic holidaymakers.
Winter birding season in Turkmenbashy Bay, with the flamingo spectacle, short days and highs around 7 to 9C.
Worst window for desert excursions, with heat at 34C and above before the plateau wind.
What's on
- Nowruz 21 March
The spring new year and the country's biggest food holiday, just as canyon season opens.
- Turkmen Racing Horse Festival Last Sunday in April
The national celebration of the Akhal Teke horse, centred on Ashgabat but felt countrywide.
- Caspian Sea Day 12 August
Awaza hosts the Caspian states environment conference and festivities, the resort's one guaranteed international crowd.
- Melon Day Second Sunday in August
The national holiday for the Turkmen melon, with displays and tastings in melon season.
- Independence Day 27 September
Parades and official celebration countrywide, in the best weather window of the year.
- Neutrality Day 12 December
The second great state holiday, in deep winter birding season.
Best things to do in Turkmenbashi
Awaza National Tourist Zone
A 16km strip of white marble resort hotels and a canal, built for crowds that never came and best walked early and empty.
Turkmenbashi History Museum
The Balkan region in miniature, housed in the one surviving blockhouse of the original Krasnovodsk fortress.
Kenar Bazaar
The town's living market, where the fish section sells dried sturgeon, sprats and caviar from the Caspian.
Turkmenbashi Railway Station
The handsome 1895 Russian built terminus of the Trans Caspian Railway, still sending the overnight train to Ashgabat.
Old Church of Archangel Michael
A small Orthodox church moved here in 1895 from a drowning peninsula settlement, near the town's main mosque.
Gateway to Asia
Two white pillars in open ground between city and port, marking Turkmenbashi as the country's western door.
Cemetery of the World War II Prisoners of War
A quiet graveyard for Japanese prisoners who died at Krasnovodsk after building the roads out of the city.
Shagadam Street
The seafront walk past the Anchor Monument to the fisherman and sturgeon statue, the town's real evening street.
Where to stay in Turkmenbashi
Awaza
the resort, the sea and the spectacle
White marble hotels, pools and beaches on an empty strip, with a checkpoint between you and the real town.
Turkmenbashi city
the town, the train and the port
Shabby, walkable and real, with the station, bazaar and ferry port on your doorstep and simpler hotels.
Think twice about
- Awaza as a sole base
Beautiful, empty and controlled. Foreign guests cannot simply take a taxi into Turkmenbashi or walk to anything that is not a hotel.
- Turkmenbashi port and refinery perimeter
Working industry, not a neighbourhood. No hotels of note, nothing to do after dark, and the most photography sensitive ground in the destination.
- Balkanabat as a coastal base
A fine transit bed on the Yangykala road, but well inland. The sea is over 100km away.
Best restaurants in Turkmenbashi
Altyn Chag
The town's top rated restaurant, a full Turkmen and Russian menu in a proper sit down room.
Yelken Yacht Club
Awaza's best kitchen, Turkish run, with the breakfast buffet travellers rate the finest of their Turkmenistan trips.
Tolkun Restaurant
A well reviewed independent restaurant on the Awaza side of town, popular for lunch with outdoor seating.
Ak Altyn
A town restaurant cafe with a broad menu and high marks from a small number of reviewers.
Zemin Cafe & Restaurant
The everyday town table for kebabs and pilafs, open daily from morning to 23:00 with terrace seating.
ARABICA kafe
The town's coffee shop of record, for Turkish leaning cafe food and real coffee in the middle of a town day.
Altın Asır
An unpretentious neighbourhood restaurant for soups, grills, bread and tea at local prices.
Kenar Bazaar
Dried and smoked sturgeon, sprats and caviar at the fish stalls, plus a cheap sit down plate at the bazaar cafe.
Outdoor things to do in Turkmenbashi
Yangykala Canyon
Banded pink, red and white cliffs of a former seabed, seen from two empty rim viewpoints after a long 4x4 drive.
Gozli Ata Mausoleum
One of Turkmenistan's holiest pilgrim shrines, a Sufi tomb in a vast tribal cemetery below the canyon walls.
Dehistan
A Silk Road city abandoned to the steppe, with two tall minarets and the oldest preserved mosque in the country nearby.
Hazar Nature Reserve
A Ramsar wetland where hundreds of thousands of waterbirds winter, with flamingos as the emblem species.
Awaza Beach
Long, sandy, gently shelving Caspian shore with maintained hotel frontages and usually almost nobody on it.
Yelken Yacht Club
Awaza's watersports base for sailing, jet skis and windsurfing on a bay with serious wind.
Avaza Aqua Park
The resort's big slide and pool complex, the centre of a family day in Awaza in summer.
Awaza Corniche
Flat, empty, well surfaced resort roads and seafront, ridden at sunrise or evening on a hotel bicycle.
Best hotels in Turkmenbashi
Yelken Yacht Club
The one Awaza property run like an international resort, with villas, a marina, a spa and the zone's best kitchen.
Rowaç Cottage Complex
Awaza's newest flagship, 48 cottages for some 900 guests with pool, spa and restaurant, but no review base yet.
Hazar Hotel
The popular Awaza workhorse, a big state resort hotel with managed beach, pool and one of the zone's better restaurants.
Berkarar Hotel
A newer Awaza hotel whose few reviews praise spacious rooms, good food and the Caspian view.
Charlak Hotel
The tour standard city base, a decent sized clean hotel a short walk from the station and bazaar.
Serdar Hotel
Awaza's original hotel, big and sea facing with retro charm, but with a serious record of maintenance failures.
Turkmenbashi Hotel
The city's namesake hotel, all chandeliered lobby and tired rooms, acceptable for one night in transit.
Is Turkmenbashi expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | TMT 550 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | TMT 900 a person |
| Splurge | TMT 1,800 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Awaza Canal: weeks ahead
- Yelken Yacht Club: weeks ahead
- Yangykala Canyon: months ahead
- Gozli Ata Mausoleum: months ahead
- Dehistan: months ahead
- Hazar Nature Reserve: months ahead
- Yelken Yacht Club: weeks ahead
- Ashgabat Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Start one to three months out. The trip exists when the visa is approved, not when the application is sent.
- Agree extra stops and early starts with your operator before the itinerary is filed, not on the ground.
- During state events and peak domestic weeks Awaza fills and the best rooms go to delegations first.
Is Turkmenbashi safe?
- Desert legs run at 34C plus with no shade, facilities or phone signal. Water, hats and a trusted vehicle are safety equipment.
- Clay tracks to Yangykala turn treacherous when wet, and night driving outside cities is to be avoided.
- Do not photograph the port, airport, refinery or any uniform. Do what your guide says.
- Balkan Province medical facilities are basic. Travel robust and insured.
Turkmenbashi travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Awaza five star billing. Ministry hotels often deliver grand lobbies and tired rooms, so pay for Yelken or pay town prices.
- There is no refinery tour for tourists. The refinery is strategic infrastructure in a photography sensitive state.
- Town monuments are 10 minute stops. Turkmenbashi rewards texture, the bazaar, station, church and seafront, not a checklist.
- Caviar and sturgeon products carry strict export controls. Eat them in town unless your operator confirms otherwise in writing.
Getting around Turkmenbashi: public transport and more
- Your operator's car and driver handle everything, including the Ashgabat flight or overnight train and all desert legs.
- There is no visitor self drive and no assumption a taxi will carry a foreign guest between Awaza and the town.
- The Baku ferry has no timetable, sails when full, takes about 17 hours, and can wait a day or more to enter port.
Who Turkmenbashi suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | OK |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Turkmenbashi your trip
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