The Aktau to Baku “Ferry” Cargo Ship

For those looking to catch the ferry from Aktau, Kazakhstan to Baku, Azerbaijan, the only place you can get tickets from is Tagu, a travel agent located right next to the WWII memorial (eternal flame) in Aktau microrayon 7.

I arrived on a Sunday to find that the ferry left on the previous Friday and tends to leave roughly once a week. After checking with Alyona at Tagu every day, I eventually left on the following Friday on a cargo ship by the name of Dagestan. The cheapest ticket cost me 14,100 Tenge ($111AUD, $94USD). The cheapest plane ticket was 23,500 Tenge. Factoring in five nights accommodation and living expenses, the plane would be cheaper.

If you want a private cabin, rather than paying the extra 3,000 Tenge to Tagu, simply upgrade when you get on the ship, you can negotiate for 1,000 Tenge or you can just go into one of the unlocked cabins at night like the girl on the ship told us because she took a liking to us. I ended up sleeping in the shared seating area because it was comfortable enough.

The ship did have a cafe on board, though the choices weren’t magnificent. Though I’d brought enough food and water for two-three days like the lonely planet suggested, there were no delays in the trip. Speaking with a passenger that’s made the journey five times, he’s never experienced delays.

Alyona told us to get to the port at 6pm which we did, though it was 9pm before we started going through customs/immigration. There is an unsecured wireless access point in the terminal. Just after midnight, we boarded the ship but didn’t leave until close to 4am.

If you entered Kazakhstan by train from Uzbekistan (Kungrad-Beyneu), you should have two stamps on your migration card which will let you stay for thirty days without registering. If you’re from the SNG countries, former USSR, you need to register within five days (not five business days like in Almaty), the migration/OVIR office is in microrayon 3 right next to the hotel kerimet (the cheapest one in Aktau, shared room 1500 Tenge, single room 2000 Tenge).