Khiva, Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan – Uzbekistan border crossings
Farap – Alat
Connecting Bukhara with Turkmenabat. Opens at 8.30 am, closes at 6 pm. Lunch break between 12:30 and 13:30. Shared taxis are available on both sides of the border. Updates posted in the Farap – Alat forum topic.
On the Uzbek side, money exchange services with very bad rates are available. There’s also an office where you can buy vehicle insurance. On the Turkmen side, there are no services. To cross the distance between the border posts, you need to get in a minivan twice, once for 1 manat, another time for 1$.
UZ -> TM: A taxi to the border from Bukhara costs 100 000 sum, or you can take a marshrutka to Alat for 15 000 som from here, where you need to negotiate with the taxi mafia for the final marshrutka price. Taxis cannot drive up to the gate, and you need to take a marshrutka for the last kilometer (1000 sum).
Between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan there is a long hot walk, about 1.5km – no transport. On the Turkmen side it’s another 1.5 km taxi ride (1 manat, try to keep your $ away if you do not have manat) to where vehicles are allowed to pick up people. From there to Turkmenabat, a taxi costs 5$, a seat in a shared taxi 1$.
TM -> UZ: It’s about 1 hour from Turkmenabat to the border. The pontoon bridge that used to cause delays is gone. If you don’t want to spend the night in Turkmenabat, you can sleep at the border (some pay, others manage for free). You can cross when the border opens at 9 and be in Bukhara well before noon.
A taxi to Bukhara from the border will cost around 25$ for the whole car (you can share this with others). Or you can take a marshrutka to Alat, and continue from there.
One backpacker in 2018 reports: To exit Turkmenistan, I needed to pay 19 USD “processing fee”, only payable in USD. Other travelers do not report paying anything.