🇹🇲 Desert, ruins and marble
Turkmenistan
Karakum sands, ancient Silk Road ruins and the strange white symmetry of Ashgabat. The least-visited country in the region.
- Typical length
- 5–9 days
- Difficulty
- Easy to moderate
- Best time
- March–May, September–November
Highlights
- Karakum Desert
- Darvaza gas crater
- Ancient Merv and Silk Road ruins
- Ashgabat architecture
- Desert camping
- Carpet and craft traditions
Practical information
- Getting there
- International flights to Ashgabat; overland entry from neighbouring countries.
- Entry requirements
- Entry to Turkmenistan is tightly controlled and documentation lead times are long. Plan well ahead.
- Guiding
- Most itineraries require a licensed local guide throughout.
- Climate
- Extreme desert heat in summer.
Availability of specific sites, including the gas crater area, can change. We confirm what is currently possible before any booking.
What you can do here
Experiences in Turkmenistan
Example itinerary
One clear way to see Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan Desert and Ruins
The Karakum desert, the burning Darvaza gas crater and the vast Silk Road ruins of Merv and Konye-Urgench.
- Length
- 8 days
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Best time
- April–May, September–October
- Day 1Arrive Ashgabat — Airport transfer, paperwork check and an evening orientation walk.
- Day 2Ashgabat and Nisa — The marble city, then the Parthian fortresses of Old Nisa on the edge of town.
- Day 3Into the Karakum — Drive north into the desert; dune walking and a night at the Darvaza crater camp.
- Day 4Konye-Urgench — Continue north to the minarets and mausoleums of the old Khorezm capital.
- + 4 more days
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