As stated by someone else, great spot with restrooms and a very nice restaurant (Астана I think it was called) and a service station if needed. Friendly people all round. I was pretty unlucky, few cars stopped and the ones that did expected money. In the end a truck driver took me to Aktau and hosted me for 4 nights lol. So it was worth the wait :) Otherwise if you end up in Aktau the B&B hostel seems to be the best cheap spot from what I heard. Ppl said to absolutely avoid the элем hostel unless for a quick night.

Initially waited at the gas station but they all were going North and I wanted to get to Aktau (South). In the end I just stood on the side of the road towards the city. The 5th car coming in took me to Kulsary.

Not sure if it’s exactly the right spot but some dude dropped me off as he went to the factory North of there. Waited on the side of the road for a few minutes and was driven to Dossor. There was also a parking lot not far on the South side of the road that may provide shelter if needed.

Waited at the gas station. First car that went out took me for a couple of kilometers going East towards Dossor. Overall great spot but quite a walk from the city center.

we did circle (almaty-konaev-koktal-zharkent-charyn-almaty) just by hitchhiking and it was so easy - everyone was so welcoming. before the journey i read online all negative comments but no worries, it was awesome, very easy to stop a car! :)

Took only a few minutes before someone pulled over. Had sign for Turkistan. Got a yandex here as we were leaving late. Super good spot for trucks to pull over. Boy and girl

It’s Kazakhstan, super easy to get a lift. Had to turn someone down who was after money but got a truck reading to Saryagash. Nice spot for the to pull over, can get to the bus stamp ~800 back up the road and then walk. Boy and girl - sign for Tashkent

Wouldn’t recommend anywhere here but our truck broke down and we hitched on the highway, heaps of room for vehicles to pull over. Small car scooped us up and dropped us at the border. Had a sign for Tashkent Boy and girl

DIRECTION CHINA 🇨🇳: I confirm that bus is mandatory to cross into China. When at the border, kazakh soldiers controlled everyone's ticket. Also, you have to take two times the bus again to cross the entire border. You can hitchhike this part I believe if you ask the guards to put you on the next bus. For men : they might ask you to shave your beard. Happened to two friends of mine. I shaved mine the day before because I did not want them to ask me to shave my moustache... Once you arrive on the Chinese side, look for a place to sleep on iOverlander or Trip.com. There H+2 with China so most probably you will arrive late. To go to Urumqi, you can follow my next spots where I can give you a detailed itinerary with tips. It's not hard. Deo Gratias!

Genuinely waited less than a minute and a truck pulled over. Had a sign for Karabutak, but the guy was heading all the way to Shymkent. Super friendly guy. Let us sleep in the cab as he has a bunk bed set up, saved us setting up our tent at 3 in the morning. Refused all payments so we sneakily got him some more cigarettes and jumped out at Turkistan. Thank you so much Baha, longest ride of this trip Boy girl

Camped round the back of the petrol station at the intersection, nice bathrooms and cafe sitting area to charge things. Would be a good spot to go either north or south. We got the second truck and were taken all the way to Aktobe. No shade :(

Went a little past the second petrol station and got a ride super quick. Big sign for beyneu (boy+girl). Can get a Yandex Go here for next to nothing. Petrol stations have toilets and there is heaps of room for trucks to pull over. Got a ride all the way - thanks Ермек

Again got picked up before even finishing writing our sign for Ақтөбе. 2 truck drivers took us seperatley to Dossor :) good truckstop to flag people as they come into town. Anyone heading through is either going Atyrau or Aktobe. Minimart for water :) Roads were shit after here but shared some food and music and the kms flew by

Got scooped up before we put our bags down. Had a big sign for Atyrau. Camped round thr back of the Nomad teahouse. Spent a day looking for train tickets to Nukus for our bikrpacker friends who were a week behind us but no luck. Decided for us it was easier to go the long way.

First car that passed dropped me into town. No sign as pretty much everyone will go into town. Slept the night just outside the airport. Warm this time of year, little wind

DIRECTION CHINA 🇨🇳 : To come here, you can take different buses (check 2GIS/Yandex) it should take 1h30+ from city center considering traffic in Almaty is chaotic. Here, cars and trucks will go either North either East. Personally, I have catch a small truck that was going East to Shelek and asked him to dropped me in the rest area before the town, so I could catch a longer ride. However, there is not a perfect spot but it will work. I waited almost an hour, trucks go too fast to stop. Rahmet Shakh! M46

DIRECTION CHINA 🇨🇳 : Not the best spot but will work in the end. There is room to stop but trucks are going too fast. If you go for launch or dinner there will be many vehicles parked. You can eat, toilets, not too bad neither. I was taken by Omka to Jarkent where you need to pay a bus to go after the border, in a shared taxi that agreed taking me for free because I said I was hitchhiking all the way from France. Even the other people inside were joyful of helping me. I waited long time but I would say that you can find faster than me. My driver was driving at 140km/h so it was no problem hahaha M36

DIRECTION ALMATY : so easy to find cars that goes to Almaty. Personally, it was almost dark and I still found two cars that were willing to take me. Also, a lady gave me 20€! Thanks Shakh, ~M45

DIRECTION ALMATY : Perfect spot to catch a ride to Almaty, you should get a sign to incite the truck drivers to make the effort to stop for you because lot of them will. I got a ride halfway to Almaty ! Thanks Kira ! M68

DIRECTION ALMATY : I hitchhike to come here, I believe you can't come with public transport. Here you can easily hitchhike along the highway. We just got a ride further but it's good. M40

It’s Kazakhstan, super easy to get a lift. Had to turn someone down who was after money but got a truck reading to Saryagash. Nice spot for the to pull over, can get to the bus stamp ~800 back up the road and then walk. Boy and girl - sign for Tashkent

police checkpoint on the eastern exit to kyzylorda. guys wearing balaclavas and aks in the midday heat, really quite dense. loaded us into the police van, checked our passports, called seemingly every possible ministry in kazakhstan to make sure there's nothing they can arrest us for. refused to allow us to hitch, eventually haggled them down to giving us 20 minutes, after which they would "get very, very angry" if we don't leave. fair amount of truck traffic, maybe one every two or three minutes. if you're solo, you should be fine. if there's more than one of you, your only bets are kamaz or regular cars (which are exceedingly rare). got a hitch on the 18th minute from a great zhezkazgan miner. the road to zhez is much better than the locals and the internet will tell you, half of it is even concreted over. the last few hundred kilometres are basically offroad, but make for great fun. if you don't speak russian, you will have a harder time with the police, but a pretty easy time with drivers. vast majority of traffic is either driving like 50kms to a gravel plant or turning left onto a building site.

Easy ride to Dössor, this is where you need to go at least to catch the cars going south to Aktau or to Ouzbekistan. Thanks Jasulan, he also offered me pizza 😁 GLORY TO THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

I took the bus 120 from Chorsu metro station, stop here (be careful it's not the terminus), crossed the border on foot then hitchiked easily in Kazakhstan I did the other way also, don't trust taxi driver if they said "no bus anymore", walk until this point and take the bus 120 to go to Chorsu metro station (terminus) You can pay by card

High speeds and not too many cars as most turn to the lake up the mountains. But it's Kazakhstan, people will stop for you no matter what.

Don't take this eastern route to Kazakhstan, go north through Tyup instead. Getting the first ride here isn't an issue but later on it gets veeeery quiet.

Here is a cafe where truck drivers stop to take a rest. We got a direct ride to Kazakhstan border from here. The road is in a bad condition, so it took as 6+ hours to get there.

Crossed the border from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan in the middle of May. The guards were nice and chilling. We crossed at 2 or 3 pm and there was no traffic at all. Got the ride with the first passing car after 1,5h of walking. The landscapes are awesome.

While hitching north there is high probability that you will hitchhike after Ucharal's police checkpoint as almost 90% of cars turn to Ucharal. I guess wait here is more comfortable than closer to that checkpoint. First, here is a river and you can fresh yourself anytime. Second, you can stay at night near the river. it's better that sleep on sand. Third, road on the bridge is in vary bad condition so cars cross bridge at 30-40km/h. Forth, police in Kazakhstan may ask you some stupid questions and finally bring you some thoubles. P.S. Hitchhike at lest to Urzhar turn otherwise you will spend some time in the desert with no water around.

If you are going to take a ship from Baku to Turkmenistan or to Kazakhstan, you can go to the port early and try to talk to one of the Turkish, Georgian or Azeri truck drivers. They can show you as a driver on paper and you can save 100$.

As carpooling is common in Kazakhstan, don't forget to explain the driver that you are HHing and not going to pay for the ride.