Pedalling Prescotts
This page is intended to give some facts, figures, and useful resources for cycling from Beyneu to Nukus. We cycled this stretch in mid-January 2015 and due to the winter cold it was important (for us) to find shelter (not our tent) every night. There is not a lot out there in terms of shelter but what we used is outlined below.
1. The cycle from Beyneu to Akzhigit (the last town before the border) is roughly 60km;
Road out of Beyneu towards the Kazakh border
2. The town of Akzhigit is located on both sides of the main road, if you need supplies or shelter you need to enter the town on the left side of the main road (set back roughly 1km from the main road);
3. If you are only in need of supplies then the first two buildings on your right as you enter town are shops;
Akzhigit town entrance (the buildings on the right are the shops).
4. If you are in need of shelter then go past the shops and take the first right;
This mosque is on the corner where you need to turn right
5. Proceed down the road until you see the following shop on the left hand side;
Akzhigit shop
6. Ask the people in this shop for accommodation (it is out the back door of the shop). The eldest girl speaks reasonable English. Initially they asked for $50 USD for the night, but we paid just 3000 Tenge (basically no negotiations required, we just said we would not pay $50 USD but would happily pay 3000 Tenge and that was the end of the negotiations);
The excellent accommodation
7. The cycle to the border is roughly 25km. We have heard of people camping at the border and we are sure it would be fine (just not in the depths of winter);
Kazakhstan border
8. The border crossing is quite easy, but be prepared on the Uzbekistan side to list out the foreign currency you are taking into the country. You will need clean, crisp, new USD for changing money as there are basically no cash machines in the entire country. We managed to go to the bank in Nukus to get extra money out, but needed the help of our hotel manager (not a simple process). The border guards will also want to see any medicines you are carrying (we were prepared for this and the border crossing went very smoothly);
9. As you leave the border area you will be approached by someone selling Uzbek Som. We got a rate of 2500 and changed $100USD. We were certainly happy we did not change anymore as it is a very bad rate (better than bank rate, but worse than black market rate). Later in Uzbekistan we got rates of 3300, 3600, and 3800;
10. The first cayhana is roughly 20km from the Uzbekistan border (just past the first police check point), at the outskirts of the town Qaraqalpakstan. We stayed here for free;
Qaraqalpakstan cayhana
11. The next building of any note is 140km away just past the turn off to the town of Jasliq (well maybe 5km past the turn off). This cayhana is excellent. It has beds for $10 USD and you can pay in dollars as well. It also has a great selection of food (the plov was outstanding) and you can stock up on chocolate, bread, water, vodka, etc… at the shop there;
11b. You can register your stay here as well. This is important. You need to register at least every three nights in Uzbekistan and can be checked on exiting the country
Sign for Jasliq cayhana
Jasliq cayhan
12. The next place you are able to stay and resupply is the Bon Voyage cayhana, which is 130km from the Jasliq cayhana. The cost of a room here is $20 USD per person, they have wifi, you can pay in dollars, but they won’t register you. To be honest, the showers alone are worth the $20 USD, or at least we thought so at the time. We have also heard of people staying for free but sleeping in the actual cayhana;
12b. Like the Jasliq cayhana there is all manner of food and supplies to stock up on;
The bar at the Bon Voyage cayhana
The hotel associated with the Bon Voyage cayhana
13. Nukus is a further 140km, but once you reach Kungirot it will feel as though you are back in civilisation as there are farmers herding all manner of beast as well as frequent cayhanas;
The following map shows the locations of where we stayed each night on our journey:
View Beyneu to Nukus in a larger map
Note: Clicking on the blue markers will bring up the related photo
We found the following blogs useful, and the authors were always happy to help with any questions we had:
a). Journey to the east
b). Riding round – Adam has a lot of details about this route, as well as a “guide to Beyneu”
Please let us know (via our Contact Us page) if you have any questions, we will answer them as soon as we can.
Happy cycling 
Latest Tweets
Hi guys (my friend and I- fellow cyclists!-bumped into you in China, not far from the Kazakh border!) Just came across your website upon doing a bit of research about the coming leg of my trip. Currently in Nukus, heading for the caspian sea- you have been a great source of information! Thanks! Hope you’re getting on ok through China!
Posted by Katherine | May 4, 2015, 2:33 amHi Katherine,
Great to hear from you, and really pleased we could be of some assistance. Glad to see you have made it to Nukus… hopefully you have not had too much of a tough time out there in the desert with headwinds?!
We are currently in Ludian, just south of Zhaotong and on target to make it across with one (possibly two) day(s) to spare on our visa.
Good luck with getting on a ship in Aktau; word of advice about the ships… take plenty of food and water. We didn’t have enough food or water, but thankfully the ladies on board sold us food (not sure if this is always available).
Let us know how you get on.
Kind regards,
Steven and Katie
Posted by Steven | May 7, 2015, 9:12 pmHi Pedalling Prescotts! Thanks for taking the time to write up all this info. We’re currently in the Bon Voyage chaihana and have followed all your tips.
It looks like we set off a week or two after you also heading for New Zealand, but we took the long route to avoid the worst of the winter. It was 35 degrees today, so a bit different to your experience!
Good luck getting through China before your visa expires.
Kirsty
Posted by Kirsty | May 10, 2015, 2:47 pmHi Kirsty,
The Bon Voyage brings back a lot of great memories. Not too sure if I would want to be cycling that part of the world in the heat you are having to deal with, must be very tough indeed.
Really glad you have found the pages useful
We have just got out of China and it was truly epic (but incredibly tough).
Good luck with your cycling and fingers crossed for tail winds
Regards,
Steven
Posted by Steven | May 20, 2015, 9:42 amHi,
Just wondering if you could tell me about the road conditions between Nukus ans Beyneu.
I am hoping to cycle that route in a couple of weeks, but after 100s of km of utter awful roads in Kyrgyzstan i am a bit worried how long it could take – and overstaying my Uzbek visa.
Thanks,
Chris
Posted by Chris holt | August 17, 2015, 6:03 pmHi Chris,
The road conditions are not great. In Uzbekistan they are mostly sealed, although the seal is broken in a lot of places; this said, they were doing a lot of work on the roads when we were there in January.
The road from the Kazak border to Beyneu is horrible… nothing else to say about it really.
I genuinely doubt that the roads will have a detrimental impact on you doing the distances though; the thing you will need to worry about is the wind. I think that we could have done 200km per day if we had had good wind, although we easily managed 140km per day in Uzbekistan in that stretch.
Give us a shout if you need anything else.
Cheers,
Steven
Posted by Steven | August 18, 2015, 2:26 am