Prices in Turkmenistan are quite low: a bottle of water here costs $ 0.8 / 1 liter, a loaf of bread - $ 0.77, a typical dinner in an inexpensive restaurant - $ 7-10.
Shopping and souvenirs
While shopping in Turkmenistan, you can buy national clothes and clothes of famous world brands, jewelry, traditional food and drinks, equipment …
Important: since there are practically no ATMs working with Visa and MasterCard cards in the country, it is advisable to come to the country with cash (it would be nice to have a lot of small dollar bills with you).
Since Turkmenistan is famous for carpets, it is better to go to one of the Ashgabat markets or shops operating at the Carpet Museum for such a purchase.
What to bring from rest in Turkmenistan?
- telpek (national headdress made of white sheep wool), items of national costume, carnelian ornaments, statuettes of horses made of shiny stone or polished wood, Turkmen carpets, skullcap, silver jewelry in the national style, copper dishes (jugs, dishes, bowls);
- Turkmen wines, cognacs, melons, halva.
In Turkmenistan, you can buy Turkmen carpets from $ 100, copper dishes - from $ 20, Turkmen brandy - from $ 15, horse figurines - from $ 8-10.
Excursions
On a tour of Ashgabat, you can see the Presidential Palace, the Mekan Palace, the Arch of Neutrality (there is a golden statue of Turkmenbashi at the top), the Bayram-Khan monument, the Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Church, the Oguz-Khan and Sons fountain complex, as well as visit the Museum carpets.
You will pay approximately $ 30 for this tour.
Going on an excursion to Dehistan, you will be shown 2 minarets, the remains of mud mud fortress walls, the portal of the cathedral mosque, the ruins of the caravanserais.
This tour costs approximately $ 35.
And on a tour of the Mara, you can admire the Erk-Kala citadel, the ruins of monasteries and castles, the Shahriyar-Ark citadel, mosques and tombs.
You will pay $ 35 for this excursion.
Entertainment
You can relax with your family in the Ashgabat Zoo: here you will see many unique animals - representatives of not only the Turkmen fauna, but also the entire Central Asia.
The entrance ticket costs about $ 5-7.
Transport
For 1 ticket on public transport you will be charged 0, 2-0, 3 $, and for each kilometer of the way by taxi - 0, 4 $.
If you wish, you can rent a car - the rental will cost you $ 50 / day.
It is more convenient to travel between cities by buses or fixed-route taxis (it is fast and cheap).
For example, taking a minibus taxi, you can get from Ashgabat to Turkmenbashi for about $ 6 (travel time - 6 hours), and from Ashgabat to Mary - for $ 3 (travel time - 4 hours).
The daily minimum spending on vacation in Turkmenistan for economical tourists will be about $ 20-25 per person. But for a more comfortable stay, it is worth having an amount that is 2-3 times higher than the minimum.