Useful tips for travelers in Aktau, Kazakhstan

This is a page with quick tips for those who traveling in Aktau, Mangystau. Firstly it was a short info block on our couchsurfing profile (and then not so short) but since CS is not a place for such info we decided to place it here, on our travelblog (only in Russian).

Well, this page on wikipedia is clearly describes the city (optional). Also this article on wikivoyage has very useful tips about the city despite being just a bit outdated. It’s definitely worth the read.

Useful map of Aktau available here: http://www.aktau-business.com/gmap/. Map includes a lot of helpful marks like hotels, cultural centres, markets, cafe, restaurants, tourist’s companies, air &
train tickets etc.

Transport

  • Taxi from airport to city costs 2000-3000 KZT (its sad, but there is not any public transport).
  • Taxi fares inside the city: 200-300 KZT
  • Taxi from city to seaport (ferry) costs 1000 KZT
  • City bus fares: 50 KZT (bus routes)
  • Bus num 105 goes to the railway station

Accomodation

The cheapest option to rent an apartment from private owners (although we doubt you can get cheaper price than a hostel but maybe more space). It’s possible to do at district 11, nearby building 24 (on a map). Usually there are noisy crowds of women that rents an apartments for locals (you have to ask them for accommodation straight on the street (not any office), better ask your Russian/Kazakh-speaking friend to help you).

  1. Mini-hostel (1500-3000 KZT per person)
    • mobile phone num: +77013334442, +77753631907
    • address: мкр 30 здание 133/2 (suitable for locals), on a map
  2. Cheap Hostel (1200 KZT per person) (We haven’t any information about service level in this hostel so you have to make them a call first)
    • mobile phone num: +7707 222 0630
    • address: 21 мкр., автомойка Куан (suitable for locals)
  3. B&B Aktau (6000 KZT per person, 1 room)
    • mobile phone num: +7701 960 7979
    • address: 3-20A, 1st floor (suitable for locals), on a map
  4. Shams hotel (7000 KZT per person, 1 room) (in Russian: Шамс)
    • city phone num: 500 736
    • address: 2-70 (suitable for locals), on a map
  5. Green hotel (8000 KZT per person, 1 room) (in Russian: Гостиница Зелёная)
    • city phone num: 503 002, 503 006
    • address: 3 мкр. (Russian name is suitable for taxi drivers), on a map

If all of this variants are not suitable check this links (also map of the city includes a hotel marks):

What to do in Aktau

In our opinion, best part of our city is a seashore. You can take a walk on the coast from 4th to 15th microdistrict; there are some wild places, but mostly it is a pleasant pavement.

There are several places in the city when you can meet foreigners if you are interested in nightlife (again, check map for the marks).

What about culture and outdoor trips? There are truly lot of sacred places (362 sites in sum) like ancient mosques and immemorial necropolises. Besides this, there are many nature beauties like oasises, canyones, and great-looking places on the seashore.

Main challenge here — all of this sites pretty far from the city. You have to rent a car (mostly SUV) or/and hire a guide to visit that places.

List of sites and more information:

Maybe you would find some interesting tours here (no ads, also we haven’t any information about service level in this companies):

Camping

We have not any reports about such episodes, but we are pretty shure that it’s a bad idea to do camping inside the city. It’s always crowded and moreover, there are police patrols that can catch you and provide some troubles. Try to find free places on the beaches like here: first point, second one, another or outside the city.

Hitchhike

In two words: it works. First you have to reach suburbs and then catch a car to the right direction. You can use buses: bus number 3 roughly goes towards the airport (but stops somewhere in the city end), bus number 2 or 3 goes towards the seaport (again, it stops somewhere nearby beach at district 1 (not 2nd bus, it goes further)). Be careful: buses goes in both directions (to and from).

Feedback

We created this page only for improving travel expirience in our city, not for any commercial purposes.

Feel free to leave feedback about your own expirience in Mangystau. Contact us if you able to correct our English text or make it better.

Edit this article on GitHub: https://github.com/8kto/useful-info-for-travelers-in-Aktau

Have a nice trip!