Last Updated on 16 January 2026 by Cycloscope
From Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan by boat. Crossing the Caspian Sea on a Soviet-era ferry from Baku to Aktau. Right in the middle of the Kazakh Steppe.
The Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan ferry across the Caspian Sea, connecting the cities of Baku (the port is in Alat, 70 km south of Baku) and Aktau, is an interesting choice for those bicycle touring the area and for those who love to travel overland.
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Given tricky Iran (for Americans and British, it is not easy to get a visa) and Turkmenistan (only 4-day transit visas available) in between, this could be a great choice for getting to Central Asia from the Caucasus or vice versa.
Also, as of June 2024, Azerbaijan has closed its land and sea borders to entry but not to exit, so you can’t enter by land or sea, only by air. You can exit Azerbaijan via land border, seaport (ferry), or air.
Not much info is online tough, about the Baku – Aktau ferry, we hope sharing our experience in this post could help some of you attempting to cross the Caspian Sea by ship.
It’s said that the boat goes very rarely and has no fixed schedule, but according to our experience, at least in August, there were boats almost every day. The situation may be different in winter.
The ferry crossing is less than 20 hours if the weather is good. Consider, though, that waiting time and customs procedures at both ports can easily double the actual time.
2024 update
Check this article on Caravanistan for the latest information. More information here.
A ticket to Kazakhstan – the ferry from Baku to Aktau exists!
As you know, the boat now departs from Alat, 70 km south of Baku.
We enter the harbor in Baku by a rough road, with no signs. The only clue we have to find the ticket office is that it should be located behind a “gray heavy door”. Fortunately, we recognize it immediately.
On the door, many stickers had been glued by tourists who passed before us. The only problem is that the office is closed and there is no one around. We walk towards the ships to look for someone, and we meet a policeman with another guy, apparently the clerk. They speak only Russian.
The clerk tells us the ticket costs $110. We understand it must be done on the day of the departure. Cash only.
Out of nowhere, the ticket man suddenly shows up, he’s pissed off and very rude. He tells us a ship is leaving now! We don’t believe him much, but what can we do?
With all the stories we have heard about people being stuck in Baku for weeks because of the lack of ferries, we had better not let this chance slip away. So we ran home to retrieve the bikes, prepare everything in a very short time, and rush back to the harbor.
After some more struggle with the crazy ticket office, we realized today two ships are sailing to Aktau! really different from what we’ve read and heard about this connection.
The first one, though, is already gone, and the second one… we don’t know, but he won’t let us on board. So we beg him and, as usual in the former Soviet Union, our Italianity helps us. Blabbering the usual things about Celentano and Cotugno, he prints us the ticket.
In a couple of hours, all our plans are compromised, we don’t know what to do in Aktau, and we have to somehow get through the Kazakh steppes in two weeks, the length of the Visa-free regime in Kazakhstan. We need to reach Kyrgyzstan, the only visa-free country bordering Kazakhstan. We hope to find a train.
Professor Gul: a Soviet-times ship sailing the Caspian Sea
Anyway, finally, at 4 pm, after paying a bribe to a guy on the ship for the bikes (10$), we’re on board!
We’re welcomed by a literally crazy chick. Screams, laughs, and speaks a mix of Russian and English. We took the cabin for 15$ more, which is better than what we thought.
It is not the ultimate in cleanliness, but there are two beds, a shower, bed linen, and even a sofa.
The ship is smaller than the one crossing the Black Sea, the crossing should be much shorter. It’s an old Soviet-era relic, a little rusty. It’s named Professor Gul. Unsurprisingly, after all this “run run”, “soon soon”, and “the ship is leaving”, at midnight, we are still at the port of Baku.
From here, the city looks just reptilian as it is, with this absurd play of light on the ovoid building, and the LED flames enveloping the Flame Towers in a very poor style.
Registration papers and some more bullshit
We go to sleep waiting to sail off (which I think will happen at least tomorrow morning), but after an hour, somebody knocks on the door and tells us we have to go to the port police for passport control! But if we are on the ship already for 11 hours!
Basically, the problem is that we went up on the ship without passing by the police checkpoint beforehand, but no one stopped us, so… What were they doing?
And here comes an endless discussion, they want to see a registration paper (new rule of fantastic Azerbaijan), and we have it, but to them, it’s not okay, because it was done by theonline registration system, and these illiterate cops do not even know what that means! After an hour of discussion and insults, they leave us in peace. At last, the ship can go.
The ferry crossing on the Caspian: from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan
The journey is quite boring, nothing like the great fun of the Black Sea ferry, everybody staying in their cabin, even the British cyclists. We had no food because we did not have time to go shopping. On the ship, there are only French fries mixed with eggs or chicken, and a dish costs $5! The British have food, but they don’t share.
Indeed, the food is so crappy that some passengers take fishing rods out of nowhere and start fishing from the ship.
There are quite a few passengers besides the British cyclists and us; it seems to be a school trip, and there are a lot of teenagers. The best are, as usual, the truck drivers. Some of them are really friendly, there are two Georgians offering us Chacha, drinking with empty stomachs doesn’t seem a great idea though. We managed to find a truck ride from Aktau to Atyrau from an Azeri guy called Ibrahim.
The crossing is smooth and boring, and it only takes about 20 hours of actual sailing.
Custom clearance in Kazakhstan
We get off the ship around 10 pm and, after several unnecessary controls, we leave the port with our passports stamped. We would have gladly waited 10 more minutes, since the entry stamp now shows 11.50 pm, which means we lost one day of our total of 15 just for 10 minutes! Fourteen days left to cross 4.500km of the steppe.
We wait outside the gate for our prospective driver, hoping at least to be on track tonight. But, after a while, we are told that the trucks will not come out before TOMORROW! We go to sleep in a gastinitza (guest house in Russian) inside the port, where we are welcomed by two other guests, Georgians again, with vodka, beer, and a holy lucky charm. There is also a common room with billiards. We get drunk.
The next morning, we bring our hangovers to the train station, but it seems there are no trains until August 29, so we have no choice but to hitch-hike. We also go to the migration bureau, but today is Saturday, and we can’t do the necessary registration. Very well. Then we cycle up to the only road that leads to Atyrau, a thousand miles north, we should head east but there’s no road crossing the Kyzyl Kum desert.
Follow us, if you dare!