How to get from Almaty to Bishkek

You’re in Almaty and you’re heading to Bishkek! Cool! We spent a year in Bishkek and travelled frequently between the two capitals. We thought this post might be useful for anyone planning to make this trip for the first time. We prefer to go by marshrutka (shared minibus) and recommend this way because it’s easy, inexpensive (about 1,300 KTZ) and it’s pretty quick (about 5 hours).

In Almaty, how do I reach the long-distance bus station from the city center?

You'll need to take public transportation to get to the international bus station

You’ll need to take public transportation to get to the international bus station

Marshrutkas to Bishkek depart from Almaty’s long-distance Sairan bus station (международный автовокзал Сайран). The bus station is located some 7 km west of the center so you’ll need to take public transportation to get there. From the center you can take bus number 45 from along Dostyk Ave or the metro and get off at Moscow subway station (Москва“) and walk about 20 minutes (but it’s a nice and easy walk, and you can get your last fix of cheese samsa on the way because they’ll be tough to find in Bishkek). Public transportation costs 80 KTZ, so save some change for the bus or metro.

I’m at the bus station! What now? I don’t see any marshrutkas anywhere…

Sairan International Bus Station in Almaty

Sairan International Bus Station in Almaty

Great job! You made it to the bus station. Marshrutkas depart from behind the bus station, so head inside and walk straight through to the back, towards an exit that resembles the picture below. It might look like you need to show a ticket to get through, but you don’t–you’ll purchase your ticket directly from the driver.

gostraight

Inside Sairan International Bus Station

Marshrutkas to Bishkek leave from the first platform. When you exit the bus station, turn right and walk all the way to the end–you can’t miss it.

marshrutka

Marshrutkas to Bishkek depart from platform 1

The waiting area--you might be here a while if you just missed the last marshrutka!

The waiting area–you might be here a while if you just missed the last marshrutka

As of January 2016, the ticket price was 1,300 KTZ or 400 KGS (you can pay in either tenge or som). Marshrutkas leave constantly from early morning until evening. They go when they fill up, so you might get lucky and leave in 10 minutes, or you might wait an hour.

Purchase your ticket directly from the driver. You might pay the driver in advance to reserve your seat, or you may be asked to just get on and pay when the marshrutka is full and about to leave. Sometimes, on the good marshrutkas, they play movies or Russian television series! You might be in for a treat, or you might arrive late and get stuck with a broken seat and have a sore butt for the next five hours…

Is there a bathroom break?

Yes. And before we forget, there’s a bathroom right in front of the marshrutka waiting area, too.

From our twelve or so experiences taking the marshrutka between Almaty and Bishkek, it stopped at the same spot EVERY time, so there’s a good chance yours will, too. The “Cafe Eurasia” (see photo below) is about 2 hours outside of Bishkek. Located in middle-of-nowhere-Kazakhstan, here’s your chance to use the toilet (40 KTZ or 5 KGS), grab some snacks, and appreciate the endless and featureless Kazakh steppe.

Cafe Eurasia

Cafe Eurasia

Ahhhh, beautiful Kazakhstan!

The delightful panorama of Kazakhstan from Cafe Eurasia

Ok, time to cross the border! What can I expect?

The Kazakh/Kyrgyz border is just 21 km from Bishkek, so you’re almost there. At the border, you’ll have to take out all your luggage and take it through the border crossing yourself. Make a note of the number of your marshrutka and/or the appearance of a few of your fellow travelers–this will come in handy a little later.

There might be a lot of people going through the border, or there might not. If there are a lot of people, you may see a lot of lengthy and disorganized queues and experience a lot of pushing and shoving. Just stand your ground and don’t let (too many) people cut in front of you, because they’ll definitely try. Sometimes the sweetest looking grandmas are the worst offenders. We haven’t had many really hectic experiences ourselves and actually it’s usually been pretty quiet and quick when we have crossed. You’ll have to show your passport twice–once exiting Kazakhstan and again when entering Kyrgyzstan. 

Approaching customs--there might be a lot of people or there might not, depends on the day

Approaching customs–there might be a lot of people or there might not, depends on the day

Many citizens including those of the EU, USA, New Zealand and Australia can travel visa-free to Kyrgyzstan for 60 days. Once it’s your turn at the Kyrgyz immigration booth, don’t be surprised if an official asks you if you need a visa to enter the country; this has happened to us many times. Just politely inform them that no, you don’t need a visa, and they’ll believe you. Next you’ll probably be directed towards a room behind the immigration booth with mirrored glass, where you’ll have to give your passport to an official. They do the stamping inside there. Don’t worry–it’ll take a few minutes but it’s part of the official process, and you’ll get your passport back soon enough.

You made it! Hello Kyrgyzstan!

You made it! Hello Kyrgyzstan!

I’m on the Kyrgyz side. Now what?

Marshrutka drivers make a very good effort wait for the all the passengers to return. From the immigration booth you’ll need to continue walking straight about 100 or so meters, past all the men shouting “taxi! taxi!” at you, and you will see a bus stop. This is where the marshrutka will stop to re-collect all the passengers. Here’s where you look for the marshrutka number you came in (you remembered it, right?) or one or two of the people who were on the car with you. When you get back on board, you’ll head straight to the Western bus station (западный автовокзал).

What if my marshrutka leaves me behind? Is there an alternative option for getting to the center of Bishkek?

Don’t worry if you miss your minibus–in fact, if you’re going to center of Bishkek, an alternative option might be more convenient for you!

If you check out the map below, you’ll see that the Western bus station is actually pretty far from the center:

Map with Western Bus Station and Tsum Center (Bishkek Center)

Map with Western Bus Station and Tsum Center (Bishkek Center)

From the border, it takes quite a while for the marshrutka to finally get the to the Western bus station because it stops constantly to allow passengers to get on and off, and it does not pass through the center at all. So once you get to the bus station, you’ll likely have to take another marshrutka to get to the center (or a taxi, since city marshrutkas don’t have space for luggage). Of course it may feel easier and less stressful to get back on the same marshrutka from Almaty, but the alternative option is much faster and takes you right to the city center. (Also note that if you pass through immigration really quickly, you might end up waiting 30 to 45 minutes for all the other passengers to return! This happened to us on one of our first experiences returning to Bishkek and it’s what prompted us to find a more efficient option.)

Marshrutkas number 333 and 285 go the center of Bishkek, with the last stop being the Tsum shopping center. Look for a sign in the marshrutka window with red letters spelling out “ЦУМ” or “ТАМОЖНЯ – ЦУМ” (“таможня” means “customs” in Russian) and you’ll know you’ve got the right one. The price of the ticket is 30 som (about US 40 cents).

Quick tip: For an amazing public transportation resource, check out bus.kg–it shows all the marshrutka/bus/tram routes in the city. You can select a specific route to view the whole route, or put in start/end points on the map to see which public transportation options match your route.

Tsum shopping center is right in heart of the city. If you need some time to figure out where to go from here, there are some tasty coffee and pastry stands in front of the main entrance to Tsum center. There’s also a nice little concrete park right next to Tsum center with fountains and some benches. Welcome to Bishkek!

Tsum shopping center

Tsum shopping center

We hope you found this post useful! Don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions, and please let us know if there are any other posts about Bishkek or Kyrgyzstan you’d like to see in the future.

This article has 21 comments

  1. Tomas Reply

    Hi! Very nice text. Do you recommend any hotel in bishkek? Is it a save city? I will be there for some days in August.

    Thanks

    Tomas
    Lisboa, Portugal
    .

  2. KASIA&WIKTORYNA Reply

    Thank you very much for your effort! we feel much safer now planning our june trip to kazachstan :) best wishes from two girls from Poland !

    • admin Reply

      That’s great news–I’m sure you’ll have a great trip. June is a great time to go. Let us know if you have any questions along the way!

  3. Dziuta Reply

    Update April, 11th

    I followed all your tips and made the trip (Almaty-Bishkek) today. It’s worth noticing that the first marshrutka departs around 7AM (when it’s full, for me it was 7:25AM) and the ticket sale begin at 6AM.

    Good luck for you all

    • admin Reply

      Basically, yes–you want to start from the Western Bus Station in Bishkek, where you’ll buy a ticket to Almaty from the ticket counter and wait for the next minibus to fill up. From there on out, it’s essentially the same process.

      • Tom Reply

        Thanks for all the help! When the last minibus goes back to Almaty?

  4. christoffe Reply

    thanks for the insights…it a great help to record your trip as i`m planning to travel in may. more power! cheers!

  5. Adriana Reply

    Thanks for the comprehensive post ! Tried and tested in May 2018 and for those coming from ALA airport, bus 92 takes you straight though slowly to Moskva metro stop

      • Sarwar Reply

        Hi,
        I am an Indian and have one Q boggling my mind about the 4 countries (KAZAK, UZBEK, KRGY, TAJI)
        Does the immigration require you to show a CONFIRMED EXIT ticket from the country.?
        I plan to enter KA and then travel using land transport and exit TAJIKSTAN via air back to India?

  6. chris Reply

    hi, thanks for the detailed info which really help me planning my trip.

  7. Stephanie Reply

    This post was so helpful!! I just arrived in Bishkek and your directions were very helpful. The only changes I can note to help future travelers is that to pay for my ticket in Almaty, I had to pay at a ticket booth, not the driver. The booth was located right before the door to go out to the platforms with the buses. The other change is that my bus didn’t stop at all before reaching the border so no toilet break. Thanks so much again!!

  8. Lisa Reply

    Thanks for the great description, and the photos made it really easy for us to find ????! We made the trip today and everything was just like you described it! Think we were lucky as well because we didn’t have to cue at all and made through custom super fast ????

  9. Nick Wael Reply

    Hi there,

    I read on another post the border side in Kyrgyzstan not very safe. Is it true?
    Please let me know.
    Thanks

    • admin Reply

      I’ve never experienced anything that felt unsafe on either side of the border. The lines can be a bit disorderly when crowded, but as long as you keep an eye on your belongings (as in any crowded place) you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

  10. Aaron Reply

    Thanks a lot for your help. I am planning my trip through the stans in March 2019 and this has come to great use already.

    Do you know if I can go to Tashkent from Bishek by a straight bus, or would it just be simple to take the shared taxi back to Almaty and then catch a 12 hr train straight from there?

  11. Jo Reply

    Hi we atrive at 4am to almaty and want to go straight to biskhkek. Any ideas?

    • admin Reply

      I think your best bet would be to wait in the bus station until the first marshrutka leaves for Bishkek. It shouldn’t be too long–they usually get going around 6:30 or 7am.

  12. Yasir Reply

    Can I rent a driverless car and travel from Almaty to Bishkek?

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