Ashgabat (population 500,000), formerly Ashkhabad, the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan, lies in the southwestern part of the country. Ashgabat is situated in the middle part of the foothill plain Kopetdag in an oasis near the Karakum Desert. The city developed around a Russian fortress built in 1881 at the crossroads of caravan routes; major growth began when it became a station on th... read more

On entering the country, tourists should complete a customs declaration form that must be retained until departure. This allows the import of articles intended for personal use, including currency and valuables which must be registered on the declaration form. It is advisable when shopping to ask for a certificate from the shop, which states that goods have been paid for in hard currency. Presenta... read more

We can provide Turkmenistan Visa Support ( also known as Letter of Invitation) via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. As a company involved in tourism, we are obliged to apply for visa support only for passengers who avail our tour services.  Minimum services required are: Arrival & departure transfers airport/hotel/airport. Hotel accommodation throughout t... read more

Badkhyz Reserve, created in 1935, is situated in Mary region. The name of the reserve means "the place where wind begins". This geographical name reflects the real climate conditions of the spot. A variety of the animals, birds and reptiles can be found here. The reserve is also famous for pistachio-trees that grow in this region.

Turkmen as from the name one can guess were part of a great Turkic federation. They were part of Oghuz Turkic federation that formed the famous tribes like Salors, Golmuds, Akhels, Tekke which are then sub divided into smaller units of roaming groups in the desert of Karakum and some settled regions. Turkmens were part of the powerful Khorezmian Empire which was subject to Achaemenian Empire of th... read more

Dekhistan is considered the most important medieval oasis of southwestern Turkmenistan. Here from 9th to 14th centuries stood the City of Misrian that reached its splendour when it belonged to the Shahs of Khorezm. The total area was about 200 hectares. A double ring of defensive walls surrounded it. Like most cities of its epoch, it was divided into well-fortified shakhristan (inner city) with ci... read more

The Turkmen folk applied art is rich and diverse. It includes many kinds of carpets and carpet articles, felts, embroideries and robes, head-dress, the jeweller and women's decorations, decorations for a horse, leather products and others. Peculiarities of the people's system and life are reflected in their crafts. Among diverse forms of folk applied arts Turkmen carpet weaving is the m... read more

The first agricultural settlements appeared in the delta of the Murghab River as back as the 7th millennium BC. Fertile silt coming from mountains, abundance of water and moderate climate had created favourable conditions for good crops. Among the sands of the eastern Karakum the archaeologists excavated the monumental castles and temples, in size competing with the buildings of Assiria and Babylo... read more

Turkmenistan is a country of priceless archaeological finds left over by dozens of different tribes and peoples that lived here during many past centuries. Objects found during archaeological excavations show the deep historical roots of the Turkmen culture. One of the most sensational finds in recent years is a small stone bearing unknown inscriptions, dating back to the 2nd millennium B... read more

About two hundred historical architectural monuments of the ancient times were discovered in the region of Kahka. These include Abiverd, Ak-Depe, Altyn-Depe, Gara-Depe and Namazga-Depe. Abiverd is one of the cities of the North Khorasan repeatedly mentioned in the written sources, especially from the times of Arabian conquest. Baverd (Abiverd) is "the place of numerous crops and fields" in th... read more

January 1 - New Year's Day (according to Gregorian calendar). January 12 - Memory Day of heroes of 1881 battle with the Russians at Goektepe. February 19 - The Turkmen State Flag Day. March 8 - International Women's Day. March 21 - Navruz-Bairam. A New Day or New Year Navruz is widely celebrated everywhere in Central Asia as the day of peace and charity. Navruz is also a holiday of t... read more

Kugitang Nature Reserve was opened in 1986. It is situated on the western slope of the Kugitang Mountains, spur of Gissars range of the great mountain system Pamiro-Alay. The territory of the Reserve is 27,139 hectares. The name of the Kugitang ( Koytendag in Turkmen) mountains came from the Persian "kuhi" and Turkic "teng" and means "almost impassable mountains". The mountain terrain is cut with ... read more

Kunya Urgench was an ancient city. As early as at the beginning of the 1st century AD the Chinese sources mentioned the city of Yue-gan which is identified with the city of Urgench. In 712 the Arabs overthrew Khorezm, and Kunya Urgench took its Arabic name Dgurdganiya or Gurganj. In 995, Gurganj became Khorezm Shah's state capital and the second city after Bukhara - capital of Samanids. It was a f... read more

Mary is the third largest city in Turkmenistan. Lying in a large oasis of the Karakum Desert, on the Murghab River delta, Mary arose in 1884 as a Russian military-administrative centre 30 kilometres from the site of ancient Merv and was called Merv until 1937. Now Mary is the centre of a rich cotton-growing area. It is a rail junction and carries on extensive trade in cotton, wool, grain and hides... read more

Merv Oasis is one of the most ancient regions of Central Asia where the highly developed system of the artificial irrigation and the thick net of settlements existed at the Bronze Age. At different historical periods the Merv oasis was named Mouru in the sacred book of the Zoroastrians Avesta, Margush  in the cuneiform texts of the Achaemenids, Margiana  in Greek-Roman works, Merv  in sources o... read more

One of the beautiful places in the Karakum desert is the Repetek Reserve. It is located in the eastern Karakum. Here there is a big variety of sandy relief and natural monuments. The word Repetek is translated from the Arabic language as "the confined place with insipid water". The Repetek Reserve was founded in 1927 on the basis of the scientific station, existing here since 1912. The main activi... read more

Serakhs is the large point on the Great Silk Road between Nishapur and Merv, the centre of small oasis situated in the upper reaches of Tedjen River. In the middle of the 1st millennium BC the first settlement surrounded by the clay wall appeared on the site of the ancient of the Old Serakhs. The Serakhs significance becomes stronger after the Arabs conquered Central Asia. At that time the di... read more

Yekedeshik is a State historical and architectural reserve, located in the district of Tagta-Bazar. The word "yekedeshik" - from Turkmen language means "one orifice" because of the cave's only one entrance. In the spring period one can see here open land covered with lots of tulips and field mushrooms. There are many versions of how this cave appeared. According to one of them it was dug by t... read more

The archaeological museum of Mary is situated in the town and was selected to house the finds from the archaeological sites. There is a fairly large collection of Bronze age sites of Gonur Tepe and the artifacts found are comparable with the Sialk and Baluch sites of the same age. There is also ethnic section dedicated to the local tribes

One of the best museums in Central Asia, the carpet Museum of Ashgabat has a rich collection of carpets woven by various Turkmen tribes have always acclaimed to be the best in design and weave. The carpets and designs come from Tekke,Yamud, Sarik and Chodor famous tribes. During the Bolshevik revolution a large number of Turkmen tribes moved into northern Afghanistan and later contributed a lot to... read more

The modern building of this museum was opened in 1998 which now houses the rich collection of ancient artifacts and ethnic exhibits from various sites of Turkmenistan. There is a rich collection from the Neolithic sites along the slopes of Kopet Dag mountain ranges. The Bronze age period is highlighted by finds from Murghab river and from the sites of Margiana. The highlight of the museum is ... read more