How To Get From Almaty to Bishkek (Updated for 2026)

Anyone travelling around Central Asia will likely cross between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan at some point.

The most common way of getting between the two countries is by travelling from Almaty to Bishkek.

Having recently completed this journey, I’ve written this guide on how to get between the two capital cities and how the border crossing between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan works as well.

Taking a bus from Almaty to Bishkek

The most common way to travel between Almaty and Bishkek is to take the bus. I’ll outline the steps in how to do so below as this has changed recently.

The bus from Almaty to Bishkek departs from Sairan bus station in the west of the city. It is unlikely you’ll be staying near there so you’ll need to get a taxi (Yandex or InDrive) which should cost no more than 2000T from the centre.

You could also get the metro to Moscow station and then it is a 20-30 minute walk to Sairan bus station.

You can also take a bus from the city to the bus station. Bus numbers 65, 24, 16 and 124 all head to Sairan bus station.

Fortunately, the bus station is quite well signposted and search for the entrance that says Bishkek.

Just inside is the ticket counter (kacca) where you can buy your ticket. You’ll need your passport to do so. The ticket cost ₸3000.

There are 5 scheduled departures per day at the following times:

You can also check timetables and book tickets online at the bus station website but you can only pay for the tickets if you have a Kazakh credit card. My Wise card wasn’t accepted nor were any other cards I tried to use.

I arrived to the bus station at 0730 on a Saturday morning hoping to get on the 0800 bus but that was sold out. There was a bit of a queue in front of me and the 1000 was sold out by the time I got to the front of the queue so managed to get on the 1200 bus.

I recommend getting to the bus station early if you’re travelling on weekends or book your tickets in advance if possible.

My bus departed on time at 1200 and after 2 hours there was a 15 minute break at a rest stop which I believe happens on every journey.

After just under another 2 hours the bus arrived at the border. I had heard and read bad things about this border so I had prepared for the worst but it was actually a breeze.

The bus parked up and we had to take all of our bags with us and walk through customs. As I was first off the bus, I was first to go through and the Kazakh stamp took no more than a minute. A short walk to the Kyrgyz side and another minute wait for a stamp and I was through.

Once through to the Kyrgyz side, you will have many offers of taxis and SIM cards being sold to you. There are also local buses that can take you into the city centre.

There is a small minimart if you want to top up your drinks or snacks and there is a money changer where I exchanged my last remaining Kazakh Tenge to Kyrgyz Som.

Me and many others from the bus then waited for the bus to get through the customs check. This took about an hour. When we did get back on the bus, it was only about half full (I’ll explain why in a second!). The bus then drove to the bus station in the north east of the city (location here) where the journey was terminated.

From there, I got a a Yandex with some others to the centre of Bishkek which cost about 500som (£4.50/€5.00) and a 30 minute drive to take me to where I was staying. A lot of taxi drivers approached the bus, as you would expect and were offering fares of 400-500som per person (not per car) to the city centre.

What I should have done (and what you should do too!)

Not realising that the bus would take an hour to get through customs, what I should have done was taken one of the buses (or a personal taxi/Yandex) from the border to the city centre. The fact that the bus drops you just another 10 minutes into Kyrgyzstan and not at the bus station in Bishkek (this was changed/ closed in late 2024) meant it took a long time for the final stretch from the border to the city.

You can take bus number 34 or 51, both are waiting at the border and they can then drop you in the city without waiting for the bus or the extra journey from the bus station. These buses cost 20-30som

This is why the bus was half empty after the border as most of the locals already knew this so got on their way quickly!

Flying between Almaty and Bishkek

There are daily flights between Almaty and Bishkek with Air Astana.

If booked far enough in advance, flights can be as cheap as £50/$60 one way. However, once you factor in transport time to and from both airports as well as check in time, it may not be that much quicker or convenient and cost considerably more.

Train between Almaty and Bishkek

As far as I’m aware, there is no direct train between Almaty and Bishkek.

Hitchhiking between Almaty and Bishkek

Hitchhiking isn’t something that I have done but it is quite common in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. When leaving Almaty, there were a number of locals on the side of the road with their arm out waiting for a lift. It is customary in Kazakhstan to pay a small amount of money as a gift when hitchhiking to contribute to petrol costs.

I would imagine it would take a few lifts but it should be possible to hitchhike from Almaty to Bishkek. Let me know if you’ve done it!

Summing up travelling from Almaty to Bishkek

Many travellers who visit Central Asia will find themselves wanting to travel between these two popular cities. It is relatively easy to do with many options but the most common and cheapest option is taking the bus from Almaty to Bishkek.

I’d recommend that once you have crossed the border, you should take a local bus or taxi to the city centre as the new bus station is in an inconvenient position.

Dan

Dan is an avid traveller from London. His first big adventure was in 2010 living in Malaysia for 3 months. He has been on the road almost constantly since 2015 travelling to destinations that aren’t on the mainstream tourist trail and working full time and travelling since 2021.