Aktau

Aktau (Kazakh: Ақтау, Russian: Актау) is a city of approximately 200,000 citizens on the banks of the Caspian Sea (Kazakh: Каспий теңізі, Russian: Каспийское море) in Kazakhstan.

Understand
Aktau means "white mountain" in Kazakh, and the city is the capital of the Region of Mangystau. While the city itself is relatively young, there is a number of ancient historical and nature sites of significance that can be visited in the area.

Mangystau translates roughly from Kazakh as "eternal mountains", although the region is actually home to the Karagiye Depression - one of the lowest points in the world at 130 meters below sea level. The region is also home to Sufi-pilgrimage sites such as Beket-Ata, Shakpak-Ata, Shopan-Ata and Masat-Ata, which exist due to Mangystau's location on ancient, but minor, land trading routes around the Caspian. The region is also home to some minor, albeit beautiful, natural attractions such as "Fire Mountain" (Kazakh: Отпантау), oases Tamshali and Saura, and Radon Hot Springs and Mudbaths. The Mangystau region is principally populated by Kazakhs of the Aday Tribe, which is one of the "little brother" tribes in Kazakh history.

Aktau was created as a uranium mining town in 1961 and was named Shevchenko, after the Ukrainian national poet Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (Ukrainian: Тара́с Григо́рович Шевче́нко). The Soviets built a major nuclear power plant and desalinization plant and the desert was transformed into a livable city. After independence, the Kazakhs renamed Shevchenko, and the city has become Kazakhstan's only port. Due to the large amount of oil and gas exported from Kazakhstan, the city has boomed and is now home to many new developments, which have stretched the infrastructure to its breaking point.

If you come to this city, you will be able to experience the paradox of large supplies of hydrocarbons, uranium and seawater coupled with frequent brown-outs and water shortages.

People
The Aday people are the overwhelming majority of Kazakhs who live in or near Aktau. This tribe of people usually describe themselves as fierce and prone to fighting while at the same time friendly and generous to guests.

Ethnic groups from across the Caspian populate Aktau as well. Most of these people were born in violent areas of Dagestan, Ingushetia, Chechnya or Ossetia and have wild stories if you are willing to listen. Groups here include Chechnyans, Utis, Lezgins, and Ingush. Many taxi drivers are Azeri or Georgian with a handful of Russians also present. People whose parents were born in other parts of the former Soviet Union live here. These groups include Koreans from Vladivostok, Ukrainians and Belarussians. The largest expat community are Italians due to the presence of Agip and Saipem.

By plane
Most people fly to Aktau Airport, 24 km north of the city center. Taxi drivers usually wait for arriving passengers in the arrivals area of the airport. Haggle and a taxi should cost no more than 2000 tenge one way. It may be worth organising a pick-up by your hotel, ensuring the taxi driver knows where he's going and at a set cost.

Public buses go from outside the airport terminal to the centre of Aktau and are a cheaper alternative to taxis. The fare in March 2024 was 70 Tenge. Timetables and the route map are available on Yandex maps, and you can also pay using the Kaspi pay app.

The cheapest way to fly to Aktau is with the SCAT or Azerbaijan Air from Baku or Tbilisi. Prices (June 2022) are about US$100 one way. Also weekly flights from and to Gorgan, Iran. Direct domestic flights include: Atyrau (SCAT and Astana Air several times per day), Almaty (Astana Air or SCAT once a day) and sometimes Aktobe (SCAT).

SCAT airlines also offers direct flights from Shymkent for $75 USD (booked December 2019).

Direct international flights include Moscow (Transaero), Istanbul or Tbilisi (SCAT). Air Astana has a service to Amsterdam through a partnership with KLM. In addition to these regular flights, there are sporadic flights with SCAT and other local airlines to Makhachkala, Yerevan and Astrakhan. There is a direct charter flight to Urumqi departing on the 15th of every month and returning around the 20th of the same month.

By train
All trains arrive and depart from the Mangyshlak/Mangystau (Мангышлак) Station, about from central Aktau. There is a regular 24-hour train service to and from Atyrau. There is also the option of a two-day-long train service from Astana, and a three-day-long train service from Almaty, passing through Shymkent two days after departing Aktau.

Plentiful taxis are available right outside the train station to take you to Aktau. Alternatively bus #105 leaves from the main road outside the station. The bus fare to Aktau is 95 Tenge. Be aware the bus is slow, has no air conditioning, and is likely to be absolutely packed with passengers and luggage, making the taxi a vastly superior option in all aspects except price.

By ferry
The 'Baku-Aktau' ferry in fact travels from Alat to Kuryk -- both ports a considerable distance outside their nominal city.

Get around
Aktau is the type of city U2 may have been talking about when they sang about a place where the streets have no names. The city is divided up into largely unlabeled and chaotically numbered districts (including district 9). These are called "micro-raion" in Russian, which even Kazakhs use to describe them in Kazakh.

Addresses in Aktau are generally written as follows: 14-42-30, where 14 indicates the district, 42 indicates the apartment or commercial building and 30 indicates the apartment number. House numbering is not sequential. Building numbers are marked based on history of construction or clockwise around the block.

City bus fares: 50 tenge (routes available here). Flag fare for taxis should be 200-400 tenge to anywhere within the city center, but this is often 300 tenge for foreigners. Most cars in Aktau will stop and pick you up informally and there is no need to wait for an official taxi to pass by. Official taxi drivers are usually from the Caucasus, and they rarely speak English or any other Western European language. Locals driving newer cars are a better bet if you aren't comfortable communicating in Russian or Kazakh. When you get in the car, you can simply say 'micro-raion' and then state the district's number in Russian. Afterwards, say the building ("Zdanie" or apartment building "Dom") followed by the number.

If you should choose to experience a decrepit form of transportation, you can pay 50 tenge for buses. You will see them plowing their routes on the three main roads in Aktau (north and south coastal, middle north and south road, and the eastern north and south road).

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, plain & train tickets etc.

See
There is a Soviet-era plane on a pedestal just down the hill from the Asian-themed World War II memorial. At this memorial, an eternal flame (Russian: Вечный Огонь) burns under a circle of partial-white arches, which are reminiscent of a yurt. Across from the memorial, there is a drama theater with regular productions in Russian.

Just south of these structures, on Aktau's middle north-south thoroughfare, you will find a collection of restaurants, night clubs and shopping centers. A well-appointed grocery store (Ramstor), movie theater and night club are in the Ardager shopping complex (district 9). Beyond that, in the furthest shopping center to the south is "Shoom" (ШУМ) (district 4), which has a large variety of low-quality stores.

To the north, in district 16, you can find Aktau's new mall. The mall includes a very small ice-skating rink, movie theater and a number of low and high quality shops (low quality children's clothes on the top floor, Hugo Boss on the main floor). The mall includes arguably the best deal in town for food at Asorti on its top floor.

District 10 has little of note, but it serves as a great viewing point of the huge frescoes, which cover one side of decrepit Soviet apartment buildings across the main street in district 9. The frescoes depict various "national fathers" of Kazakhstan, and rumor has it that current president Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev is keen to have his picture painted in a similar fashion. For now, there is an enormous banner draped over an apartment building on that row.

Do
The beaches of Aktau have nice water, and you are allowed to swim anywhere. However, the amount of glass on the beaches can make your beach experience dicey in many locations. Watch out for water snakes in the more rocky parts. Usually, the locals stick to the beaches below the Renaissance. Behind the beach-side grills and clubs there, the beaches are fairly clean and sandy.

Unfortunately you cannot kick back just anywhere on the edge of the Caspian, or around the town for that matter, and down a sunset drink. You are not allowed to drink alcohol outside of these beach-side bar and grills, although there are absolutely no signs to warn you otherwise. The local police take advantage of this situation and the general fear that many tourists have are the corrupt policemen. If you are caught drinking, they only want 1000 tenge as a bribe, even if you don't speak Russian or Kazakh. Most of the locals drinking on the street are ignored by police or pay the small bribe.

Bowling and pool are very popular in the city. There are at least 2 bowling alleys of good quality: just down the steps from the Soviet plane is Alia Bowling Hall (in between districts 7 and 9) and in Aktau Mall (district 16). Pool is available at those places and in Elite Alliance (building 38 in district 8) in two places: near the corner of the main road in the small Baiterek Center and one directly behind the building in between Elite Alliance and apartment building 7. Nautilus Restaurant also offers pool.

Beach volleyball is available in the summers at Aktau Mall sports center in district 16 and on the beach near the Renaissance Hotel.

Grand Hotel Victory will let you use its saunas, gym, Turkish baths, etc. for one day for 4000 tenge.

Buy
The prices in Aktau are high even by Western European standards. Quality electronics, clothes, western-style foods, hotels, entertainment and gyms are readily available. However, all of these are marked up anywhere from 100 to 300% above American or German prices. It is best to go local in Aktau and/or buy anything of any consequence before you come.

There are a few bazaars in Aktau. All of them have bad reputations for fleecing foreigners: Yellow Bazaar (Жёлтый Рынок) in district 31, Wave Bazaar (рынок Волна) in district 5, Old Bazaar (Старый Базар) in district 22, and White Bazaar in district 8 (Ак Базар).

Eat

 * Shwarma places behind Ardager (Ардагәр) Mall, near the eternal flame memorial. Ask for a 350 tenge shwarma without sauce ("bez sousa" or "bez mayonez") if you don't want it swimming in mayonnaise.
 * Japanese CIS style is available at Le Sushi Aktau at Astana Mall, the Jazz Club in district 5 or Restobar TOFU Aktau in district 7a. You should expect to pay at least US$10 to have a couple of small roleLls at any of those places.
 * Chinese is available at Steak House Napoli Chinatown (Napoli Rest) Restaurant at the Astana Mall for around 1500 tenge per person.
 * Korean is also available at Restobar TOFU Aktau in district 7a.
 * Italian also available at Napoli Rest, along with hookah (Russian: кальян) available.


 * Caucasian grilled meat (shashlik) is available at the beach-side grills below the Renaissance hotel. These are usually 800-1500 tenge per person.
 * Caucasian grilled meat (shashlik) is available at the beach-side grills below the Renaissance hotel. These are usually 800-1500 tenge per person.

Drink

 * The English Pub at the 5 Star Hotel "Grand Victory" in district 13 has a laid-back atmosphere and comfortable seats, but charges US$5-8 per pint.
 * The beach-side bars near Renaissance offer nightlife similar to that at Fuenta, but they mostly shut during the winter.
 * Restaurant Pinta has occasional ballroom dancing parties on Sunday evenings.
 * The beach-side bars near Renaissance offer nightlife similar to that at Fuenta, but they mostly shut during the winter.
 * Restaurant Pinta has occasional ballroom dancing parties on Sunday evenings.

Budget

 * A cheaper and more personal alternative to hotel accommodation might be renting a room or flat from locals. There should be listings online (in Russian). A tested option is offered by Viktor and Svetlana, a friendly middle-aged couple who rent out their spare flat in an aging but charming communist-era block in the 'historic' (1960s) part of the city centre. Basic facilities include a small kitchen (gas stove, pots, plates etc., but no fridge), warm shower, and a bed big enough for two plus couch. The price is only a few dollars per night. Located within walking distance from the city centre, at microrayon 2 (near Hotel Aktau). Phones: (+7) 7292 509276 (home) and (+7) 701 39665 54 (mobile). They speak Russian, very basic English and very, very basic French and Italian.

Connect
The local area code is (+7) 7292.

Go next
Other than buses to even more remote outposts in the desert, Aktau is an extremely out-of-the-way place, so getting out of town usually means backtracking in the direction you have just come. Also, the situation with Turkmeni visas has not been investigated well or at all by any of the travel agencies in Aktau. Therefore, you should not plan to come here first before getting a visa to continue to Turkmenistan. If you do have a Turkmeni visa that authorizes a crossing from Mangystau to Turkmenbashi, then you can make your way easily to the border. There are frequent morning buses to Zhanaozen (about 140 km east of Aktau) and then at least one daily bus from there to Turkmenbashi (about 300 km south).

Tourist agencies in town can make arrangements for visits to Suni shrines and very distant caravansarais.

The most famous of these shrines is Beket Ata - which is not very old - but already has many superstitions about magical properties of the site. Built into a cave, this shrine to an 18th-century Kazakh wise man is usually visited in groups. First, you will drive 3–5 hours from Aktau on poorly paved or unpaved roads to reach the shrine of Shapak Ata (mentor of Beket). After visiting Shapak Ata you will travel another 30 minutes to Beket Ata. You will need to take a live goat with your tour group that will be sacrificed later that evening. After consecrating the goat, you will feast on the meat and relax and pray in the dormitories next to the site until very early the next morning. At that point, you will get back on your tour bus with the leftovers and drive back to Aktau.

Radon Hot Springs offers a slightly radioactive relaxation experience. It is a very primitive location that is about 54 km south of Aktau, with 13 km of that journey offroad. The hot springs are free, but room or yurt rental will cost 500 tenge per hour. The facilities are very primitive (no electricity, no restaurant, no potable water nor western toilets or toilet paper) so you have to take everything with you. There are mudbaths about 3 km beyond Radon on a nearby dirt road. In both cases, you must have a local guide as the roads are completely unmarked and hazardous to drive on at night and there is no public transportation.

Samal/Sherkala, 150 km from Aktau, is an area formed by extreme geological instability. Although Aktau does not experience earthquakes now, it used to have extreme earthquakes millions of years ago. These resulted in the created of the big depression north of the city as well as the valley of Samal. This valley is under "Black Mountain" (Каратау) and "Fire Mountain" (Отпантау). The fire mountain has a natural eternal flame on top as well as a monument to wolves. Nearby, the holy mountain of Sherkala attracts the superstitious who believe circumambulating the mountain between 1 and 7 times will result in good luck. You will need locals to show you how to get there as nothing is signposted and there is no public transportation.

Fort Shevchenko has nothing of historical or cultural note save that Mr. Shevchenko stayed there during his exile from Ukraine. It is about 150 km north of Aktau and some buses leave district 8 infrequently to get there. This is one of the few signposted locations in Mangystau.

Two desert oases are within reach of Aktau by day trip. Saura is about 50 km north and Tamshali is about 130 km northeast. You will need locals to show you how to get there as nothing is signposted and there is no public transportation.

To travel further east to the Silk Road cities in Uzbekistan trains travel from the Mangystau Station through Beyneu and on to Nukus in Uzbekistan, taking around 29 hours. From there it is possible to travel on to Samarkand and Tashkent.