Can't cross border now as a pedestrian!! (as of sept 2025) Need to book a bus from China to Zharkent. 8€ and took like 3-4 hours all together (waiting for the bus to fill up and crossing the border)

No problems getting in and out of the canyon with hitchhiking.

Quiet but first car took me to the border. If the border guards ask if you have a knife (even a camping one) maybe say no. They took mine :'(

Quiet spot but a good one. Traffic lights to slow the cars. Most likely cars will drive to Karkara or even the border. September 2025 the road had some construction and was in bad shape but there were still people going.

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.

Pretty good spot. Some locals hitchhiking here too. Found a ride to Charyn Canyon entrance road quite fast.

Good spot despite somewhat quiet traffic. People take this southern route to Almaty, instead of the northern one also starting from this roundabout. I was going to Charyn Canyon so I hopped out midway through though.

Got a quick ride to the next village. Probably possible to find one to Almaty from here but that wasn't my destination.

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.