Is Ashgabat the World’s Strangest City

When it comes to peculiar sights, Turkmenistan is off the charts. First it’s the Darvaza gas craters, burning gas craters that resemble the gates to hell, that tops my list of the strangest sights I’ve seen; and as if it weren’t bizarre enough, Ashgabat brings it to a whole new level.

After a month of traversing the Silk Road and the dusty backroads of Central Asia, we emerged from the desert to suddenly find this spanking new and clean city that doesn’t seem to fit anywhere in the region. The capital city of Turkmenistan is over-the-top and outlandish, with white marble buildings flanking wide and empty boulevards, psychedelic government edifices looming over perfectly manicured gardens. Through the last decade, the country has prospered tremendously from their vast natural gas and oil resources and the government has since poured their wealth into reforming their capital city.

Lonely Planet describes Ashgabat as a cross between Las Vegas and Pyongyang — it’s easy to see how accurate this description is once you’re here. With the glitzy marble facades and bright neon lights, Ashgabat resembles Las Vegas especially by night; on the other hand, the artificially clean and new look, and the Stalinist-like regime that governs the country reminds me of North Korea. Coming to Ashgabat is like stepping into the future and yet knowing fully well that you’re stuck in the past (Turkmenistan is a relatively wealthy country but its people are still living in a controlled regime imposed by the government).

How did it get so bizarre?

A major earthquake in 1948 wiped out the entire city of Ashgabat, killing almost 110,000 people even though Stalin refused to admit that and reported only 14,000 deaths. Ashgabat was then rebuilt in the Soviet style. In 1991, Turkmenistan finally gained independence and its leader Turkmenbashi (an eccentric dictator of sorts who named himself the ‘leader of the Turkmen’) immediately carried out major construction plans to welcome in “the golden era of Turkmenistan”. The result is a brand new city with a jumble of lavish golden-domed palaces, Bellagio fountains, neon-lit monuments and Stalinist ministries of state.

The Wedding Palace (place where Turkmen register their marriage) lit up in bright red lights by night

Is it worth visiting?

Turkmenistan is the seventh least visited country in the world, receiving only 7,000 visitors per year. Many travelers choose to skip Turkmenistan due to the strict visa rules: you can only get a tourist visa if you join a guided tour and that means added cost and limited freedom (you can also get a transit visa but that’ll only give you three to five days in the country). I would definitely recommend a visit, especially if you are a curious traveler keen on places that are unconventional and under-the-radar.

Turkmenistan was definitely one of the highlights of my two-month journey on the Silk Road, with Ashgabat being the icing on the cake. While I’m not usually much of a city person, Ashgabat intrigued me tremendously, the way places like Pyongyang piqued my curiosity. We only spent a total of five days in Turkmenistan but the little bit that we saw was enough to make me want to return some day and dig deeper.

The skyline of Ashgabat – peculiar, white marble buildings on wide boulevards

Brass statues of Turkmen heros and poets

The biggest mosque in Ashgabat 

Looks familiar? Ashgabat has a hotel that looks pretty similar to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai

How to get to Ashgabat:

Ashgabat has an international airport that serves many cities in Europe and the Middle East, but note that they are not cheap. Most people choose to travel to Turkmenistan overland. As mentioned above, visa regulations make it quite difficult to enter Turkmenistan. But once you join a guided tour, it’s relatively easy to get a letter of invitation and a visa upon arrival.

I traveled to Ashgabat as part of  an overlanding trip with Oasis Overland. Over a period of two months, our group of travelers are traveling through Central Asia on an overland truck that will see us camping in deserts and mountains, and digging up the mystery behind the Silk Road.