Dear forum members, could you please advise where it’s best to purchase a 2-day tour from Nukus to the Aral Sea and back, with an overnight stay? Perhaps someone has already done this trip and has some contacts? When I Google, the prices seem quite unreasonable—$270–300 per person. I would appreciate your help.
We did this tour last year. We booked with Besqala. For three people, it was $530. Another agency quoted $535. Of that total, $400 was just for the car.
Did you look for these tours on-site or book in advance? Are the prices the same in Nukus? And, by the way, are there a lot of tourists now? When you stayed in the yurts, were there many other people there?
I arranged the tour about 10 days in advance, before buying tickets to Nukus. There weren’t many people—only four cars were there. They mentioned that for the next day after us they were expecting also four cars.
I read elsewhere a review about an Aral Sea tour. They said they booked in advance with Besqala, which is based in Nukus. They also run a hostel with the same name (listed on Booking.com), where they stayed after the Aral trip. The yurts by the sea are also theirs. The price was $420—not cheap, but it seems difficult to find anything cheaper.
I think private drivers might offer a cheaper deal, and I’ve heard of people camping by the Aral in tents. Why is it so expensive? My guess:
You can only get to the water in an SUV; a regular sedan wouldn’t make it.
Let me share some practical details about the trip, which I couldn’t find anywhere online:
The journey is really tiring—just crossing the desert takes about four hours. The road on the seabed and plateau is deeply rutted. Some stretches of regular roads are even worse. They drive fast, and it gets quite bumpy. The driver had plenty of water, and they’ll stop anytime for photos or a break if you ask.
The camp is 2.5 km from the water, on a hill. The yurts come in different sizes—I saw ones for two to five people, and there were even larger ones. I traveled with my teenage daughter, and they even offered separate sleeping arrangements for us. Inside the yurts, there were cots with mattresses, thick blankets, pillows, and good-quality bed linens. No towels, though.
In June, it’s unbearable to stay inside during daylight—the yurts are covered with plastic, turning them into greenhouses. For colder seasons, there’s a stove inside. The camp has toilets and two showers with technical water from barrels heated naturally. If the nights are cold, the morning shower will wake you right up!
To our surprise, they turned on a generator after dark. The yurt had a light bulb and power outlets to charge devices. There’s a dining area under a canopy, a couple of low seating platforms, and outdoor tables. Dinner was served at around 9:00 PM—snacks, fruit, pilaf, and dessert. Breakfast at 7:00–7:30 AM included eggs, cold sausages, yogurt, flatbread, pancakes, and cheese.
In the camp, there isn’t much space to relax outside if it’s crowded. Apart from the seating, there’s a bench at the edge of the camp and a romantic perch on a hill above it. The stars are stunning, and the sunrise is magnificent.
They drive you to the sea once in the evening, either before or after arriving at camp. On the way, we were warned you couldn’t swim because the seabed isn’t suitable for walking. When we got there, we hesitated and didn’t swim. The next morning, we decided we couldn’t miss the chance and walked to the sea—it takes about half an hour.
At the water’s edge, you sink knee-deep in sticky clay for the first 7 meters, but then it firms up enough to stand. The water is shallow and very salty, like the Dead Sea. Cleaning the clay off your feet isn’t easy—bring extra water!
How much do guide services cost?
By the way, I highly recommend watching the film The Desert of Forbidden Art. It’s available on torrents. The film is about Savitsky and his museum, narrated by actor Ben Kingsley.
@ehosevera the Savitsky Museum wasn't included in this tour at all. We spent an hour exploring it; there are just two small floors. As for the necropolis, we didn’t know there were time restrictions — we wandered around and then returned to the car. The necropolis and Guyar-Kala were originally scheduled for the next day, but we were taken there right away. We returned on the second day at 3 PM, but the program said we were supposed to return at 5 PM.
We visited the caravanserai and the ancient Kazakh cemetery on the first day, while other groups were taken there on the second day. In general, there’s no strict schedule to follow.
@mmmmakarov thanks for the clarifications! We are considering another company that offers trips to the Aral from Nukus and Khiva — we were comparing their programs (they include the museum and Mizdakhan) with the tours offered by BESQALA.
here’s our feedback about the trip 🙂 Our trip was short — only 8 days — but incredibly eventful. Everything went just perfectly! We were based in Khiva (inside the Ichon-Qala fortress) and traveled around the surrounding areas. We visited the sea and the fortresses with Islambek Travel (we even stopped by their office in Ichon-Qala before the trips). Both times we had drivers who spoke excellent Russian, so we had great conversations about life. Alisher, who drove us to the fortresses, even brought a rare vintage book with diagrams and photos of all the Khorezm fortresses!
On our way from Khiva to Nukus, we visited the Zoroastrian tower of silence (Chilpyk), which made a great impression on us — highly recommend! In Nukus, we visited the Savitsky Museum (absolutely amazing!!!), then switched to a jeep (a new Land Cruiser Prado).
From there, it was a standard program: Mizdakhan, Muynak (lunch, museum, and ship cemetery), the Ustyurt Canyons, an ancient Sarmatian cemetery, and the yurt camp. We arrived at sunset, changed clothes, and went swimming in the sea right away. Afterward, we had a shower and were served tea in a gazebo overlooking the sea. Then they served us fresh vegetables and pilaf for dinner. After dinner, when the dark reddish moon rose, we went to a bench with weather vanes behind the camp (it’s a fantastic observation point!) and watched the stars.
In the morning, we watched the sunrise from the same spot. After sunrise, we walked to the sea for another swim: we floated on the waves and watched flamingos flying by. By 7:30 AM, we were back at camp, had a leisurely breakfast, and started the return trip.
On the way back, we visited Kurgancha-Kala — an incredibly beautiful fortress, even though it’s much younger than the others we saw (11th-13th centuries). Its integration into the landscape is so seamless that it’s hard to spot at first. Then we stopped by the village of Kubla with its abandoned Soviet airfield, went on a tour of the local school, and visited Urga and Sudochye. There, we convinced a local fisherman to take us out on his boat to the open water. We had lunch in Kungrad (you pick whatever you want from the menu at the teahouse) before returning to Khiva.
Now about the conditions: Olga described everything earlier in great detail. The only difference was that in the yurt camp, we were given large towels (though we had brought our own just in case), and the yurts weren’t wrapped in plastic — it was very comfortable to sleep in them at night. Since there were only two German tourists besides us in the yurt camp, there was plenty of water in the shower 🙂 We were given a six-person yurt for just the two of us.
The weather at the sea was fantastic: while it was around +38°C in Khiva, it was about +23–25°C at the sea with a pleasant breeze. The water was very warm. The horror stories about sinking into mud up to your waist at the shore turned out to be untrue: the first 5–7 meters of the bottom are indeed silty, but you don’t sink in deeper than your ankles. Standing on a slightly raised patch, it’s solid ground. The surf zone is also firm with reddish sand; you can wash the mud off your feet right there in the sea. Of course, conditions may vary by season, but that’s how it was in June for us.
Planning a trip to the Aral Sea for May holidays. Contacted BESQALA, and they quoted these prices: $510 for 2 people, $565 for 3 people. BESQALA seems to have a monopoly there. I reached out to another agency offering trips from Khiva, but I immediately got an email from BESQALA saying, "Dear guest, we’re eagerly waiting for you!"
Good day! If we only have one full day in Nukus, is it possible to see the Aral Sea?
For example, some tours from Nukus to Muynak include the ship cemetery, which is near the shore of the Aral Sea. Sounds interesting.
We really want to see the Aral Sea, even if just a little.
Thanks!
I’m afraid you won’t see the sea from Muynak. The ship cemetery is located on the former shoreline, now part of the dried-up area. It’s interesting to explore, and I enjoyed climbing around there, but there’s no water. You’d have to arrange a pricey deal with someone to take you to the sea.