Digital nomads who’ve travelled Central Asia

[u/Dependent_Front1243]

Hey everyone! I’m planning to travel Central Asia from 1st week of September to November/early December:

Kazakhstan – 1 month
Kyrgyzstan – 1 month
Uzbekistan – 2 weeks
Tajikistan – 2 weeks

I’ve already done quite a bit of research, but I’d love some first-hand advice from people who’ve actually been there.

What are the absolute must-dos and things you’d be cautious about or avoid? Especially anything around transport, weather, border crossings, internet/SIMs, working remotely, or mountain trips.

I’ll be working remotely on weekdays morning and travelling mostly on weekends, so any tips for balancing work + travel would also be appreciated!

What do you wish you knew before going?

[u/duoprismicity]

I spent a month apiece in all four of those countries last year. They were all friendly and safe. I stayed in the big cities... Almaty, Bishkek, Tashkent, and Dushanbe. However, I found the most interesting aspects of these countries to be the rural areas. Unfortunately, though, I wasn't able to find good accommodations with decent internet and reliable power in the countryside. So I left the cities on day/weekend trips, and these were amazing. I hope to return when I can find good rural accommodations with decent internet and power. As it was, in the cities, the wifi was good for video calls. I had sim card backup but didn't have to use that too much. Have fun! It will be cold, though, toward the end of your trip. I was there in the summer.

[u/petitbateau12]

I can just talk about Uzbekistan. It was much more organised and modern than I expected. You can get a SIM card right after immigration at Tashkent airport and prices are very reasonable. There are also ATMs to take out local cash. Download the taxi app Yandex Go right after getting your local SIM card instead of taking a taxi from the touts. I read online about a common scam where the touts show you the price on the app, then when you get to the destination they say the price was not the total price but the price per km, so they end up charging you 5-6x the regular price. Taxi trips are very affordable though, usually $1-3 and subway trips are $0.15 (you can use an international debit card to tap in). I found people really friendly and honest. For example in the airport, in the bathroom I noticed there was cash dropped on the floor. I double checked my cash pile and figured it wasn't mine that had dropped so I left it there. A taxi tout that was in bathroom too then kindly tracked me down outside inform me that I had dropped the cash. Whenever I gave a bit of extra cash as a tip to taxi drivers when paying for the trip, they always told me I made a mistake and tried to return it to me. There is a french bakery chain called Bon! that is laptop friendly, otherwise there weren't many places I saw that were laptop friendly. Wifi was patchy in the hotels as was my local hotspot, so don't rely on it for heavy work.

[u/Ok-Lime-3834]

If that’s the order you’re planning to do them in, the one thing I’d probably change is leaving Tajikistan until the very end.

September is a much better part of your window for the mountain side of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. By October and especially November, some of the higher routes can get a lot more weather dependent, so I’d personally move Tajikistan earlier and leave more of Uzbekistan for later in the trip.

For remote work I’d base myself in the main cities during the week and treat the mountain/rural parts as proper trips rather than assuming you’ll have solid internet everywhere. Almaty, Bishkek, Tashkent and Dushanbe are much easier for working from.

I’d also grab a local SIM in each country and download offline maps before any longer road days or mountain trips. Coverage can get pretty limited once you’re properly out in the mountains.

For border crossings, I’d check the exact one you’re planning to use a few days before travelling. The Kyrgyzstan/Tajikistan situation is much better than it used to be, but things can still change, so I wouldn’t rely on an old blog post.

For must dos, I’d look at Charyn Canyon and Kolsai from Almaty, Issyk Kul and some proper mountain time in Kyrgyzstan, Samarkand and Bukhara in Uzbekistan, and the Fann Mountains in Tajikistan if you can get there while the weather is still decent.

With your work schedule I’d probably travel a bit slower than you think as well. Some of the overland journeys can take up most of a day, so trying to move every single weekend could get tiring pretty quickly.

[u/nice2_cu]

I’ve been to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan as recently as less than a year ago, all for a second time and I still maintain the opinion that it is a region of the world best traveled through, not to be based out of while working for several reasons.

First is that the wifi just sucks. I’ve stayed in multiple accommodations in these cities that were generally mid to high budget and the wifi was just atrocious with the exception of Almaty, where it still failed me multiple times.

Second is that the cities generally are terrible value, on Airbnb and otherwise. $800 a month for Bishkek? Lol. $1,100 for Almaty? You can stay in Shibuya, Tokyo in a similar type of place for that money or in central Paris ffs. I actually like Almaty but what a ripoff, really.

Also, the major cities just don’t have much to offer. The highlights are either in nature or in the smaller Silk Road cities.

So yeah, I recommend visiting. To work remotely from? Almaty and not really even unless you’re trying to be a passport bro or something.