I’ve been to many countries and cities around the world, but Turkmenistan‘s capital of Ashgabat is probably one of the weirder cities that I’ve ever spent time in. I had zero expectations coming in to Turkmenistan, but Ashgabat was still all sorts of weird, swinging wildly between ultra-modern record-breaking architecture to more traditional practices and customs. Here’s my take on some things to do in Turkmenistan and what we saw here – you can see my Ashgabat Story Highlights on IG as well.
Read more here about my overall thoughts on Turkmenistan and more practical details on how to plan a trip to Turkmenistan. You can also check out my overnight stay at the Gates of Hell or Darvaza Gas Crater.
Also shoutout to my travel mate + youtuber OhHeyJelly for this awesome video summary of our time exploring Ashgabat and nearby Nisa. It’ll cover the same ground and we may have similar thoughts because obviously we were on the same trip (duh) – look out for me lurking in the background of her video!
Behind the marble
Ashgabat strikes me as something akin to a showcase city with the fanciest buildings, lights and architecture – very different from the rest of Turkmenistan that we passed through. Its nickname is the ‘Marble City’ for a Guinness World Book Record as the city with the most marble buildings in the world – 543 as of 2013 – and probably a lot more since then. The buildings are blindingly white in the day (though most seem oddly empty) and at night the facades come alive with multicoloured lights.
Apparently to maintain this reputation, there is pretty strict regulation of the buildings and also one of Turkmenistan’s more bizarre laws, which is that all the cars in Ashgabat have to be white and clean or you risk getting in trouble with the law! It really is quite bizarre to see all the white cars, buses, vans and other vehicles around you. The only non-white cars you those with diplomatic plates.
The other really weird thing about Ashgabat are the sheer number of lamp posts that they have. All white of course, all ornate and decorative, and SO MANY of them in a single park.
Things to do in Ashgabat
Here’s a rundown of the places that we visited in Ashgabat. We saw most of these sights in a 1-day tour around the city with our tour guide that started about noon (we only got to sleep at about 5am that morning because of our late arrival!) and a car that drove us around as things are pretty spread out.
The following day we popped by Old Nisa and had lunch in Ashgabat before heading out to Darvaza Gas Crater.
Tip: you’re unlikely to have internet on the go because of the strict SIM card restrictions though you might get wifi at some cafes if you are lucky. Make sure to download your maps offline!
Inspiration Park
Turkmenistan has a very long storied history and a surprising amount of notable writers, scholars and poets who have shaped literature in the central Asian region and beyond. Our first stop of our city tour was Inspiration Park, a public park in Ashgabat’s downtown area which has lots of statues of these Turkmen literary heroes.
It’s a lovely well manicured park and I imagine it must be more crowded when cooler, because unfortunately we only started our exploration at midday, so it was pretty dang hot so we weren’t too keen to spend too much time outside, despite our guide being an older guy and historian from the Soviet era! He did talk a lot about Turkmen’s history being very deep and long, but not particularly well documented nor excavated, so who knows what’s been lost to the sands of time~
We took a break at Sha Coffee (Sa Kofe), a cafe in the park that’s surprisingly hip. We mostly had drinks here in hipster mason jars, but I was super hungry and decided to have a pide for a snack. The food is more western style with salads, sandwiches and pastas available.
Sha Coffee / Sa Kofe [Google Maps] – find them on Instagram or see their menu on their website
Gulistan State Shopping Centre / Russian Bazaar
The Gulistan State Shopping Centre is the oldest covered market in Turkmenistan though it gained its other nickname Russian Bazaar in the 1970s when the market was rebuilt by a Russian architect. Sometime in the 2000s, the market had a bit of a makeover with lot of white marble, but they kept some of the modernist Russian architecture. According to our guide, this area has long been a historical trading hub and once a caravanserai – a stopover point for travellers to rest and replenish along the Silk Road.
Today the Russian Bazaar has two levels with a variety of food, produce and sundries. It seems like you can get anything and everything here. We picked up some souvenirs here – I wasn’t going to lug back an actual Turkmen carpet but I did buy a mousepad that looked like one, along with a fridge magnet. My friends picked up traditional tahya hats as well.
Gulistan State Shopping Centre / Gulistan söwda merkezi aka Russian Bazaar / Rus Bazary [Google Maps]
Ertugrul Ghazi Mosque
Ertugrul Ghazi Mosque is named for the father of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman empire. This mosque has four minarets and the architecture draws inspiration from Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque.
It honestly doesn’t look particularly big or impressive from outside, but it’s quite beautiful inside with beautiful Islamic-style decorated dome ceilings and very European-style striped arches (Cordoba’s Mezquita comes to mind). There are two floors – we entered on level 1 before heading upstairs for a better look around.
What I thought was quite unusual was that there isn’t a particular rule that women entering the mosque had to be all covered up or even wear a headscarf, which is pretty typical of most mosques around the world and even in Singapore. There is a dedicated women’s area and entrance around the side though.
Ergutrul Ghazi Mosque / Ärtogrul Gazy Metjidi [Google maps]
National Museum of Turkmenistan / Ashgabat Flagpole
Turkmenistan has a pretty long and colourful history wrapped up in that of the surrounding Silk Road region, and what better place to learn about it than at the National Museum of Turkmenistan.
Unfortunately I don’t have pictures of the museum on the inside because there was a separate per pax charge to take photographs – not that it costs a lot, but we just didn’t feel like forking out extra. We later learned that the best way to get around this in a group is to pay for just one person to be the photographer, and then everyone can ‘help out’ along the way.
You can also hire a tour guide to bring you about the museum – given we had our own guide (though he did absolutely nothing to show us this place other than bring us here, which is pretty funny given he prizes himself as a historian and this would be prime historian territory!).
The Turkmenistan National Museum consists of two floors. Most of the exhibits were on the upper level with 4-5 sections detailing different eras of history. There’s quite a lot of information to read (there are english translations). It was a tad warm even with the air-conditioning.
Outside the museum stands what at one point was the tallest flagpole in the world at 133m. Currently it’s number 9, outshone by newer poles including a 201m tall one in Egypt. There’s apparently self-generated wind in the flagpole to keep it blowing.
National Museum of Turkmenistan / Türkmenistanyň Döwlet medeniýet merkeziniň Döwlet muzeýi [Google maps] [Official museum website]
Alem Ferris Wheel
Ashgabat’s obsession with Guinness World records continues with the World’s Largest Indoor Ferris Wheel – the Alem Centre stands 47.6m high, a beautiful white and gold medallion against the skyline.
Now the world loves a good ferris wheel, Singapore even has its own Singapore Flyer that’s currently the 3rd highest in the world, so you would imagine this place would be crowded, so imagine our surprise when we go there and it’s completely empty.
It turns out that our guide actually called the operator who specially came down, switched on the machinery for us to give us a single ride around, and then locked up and was done for the day. Isn’t that just absolutely bizarre~
So we hopped on for a 10-15min ride, and maybe because the wheel doesn’t run all the time, things were sounding a bit creaky (also no aircon so stuffy!). Also I’m not sure what the hype is about indoor/enclosed ferris wheels because while they look prettier outside, the view from inside is definitely more obscured all around.
We did come back to the wheel again at night when it’s all lit up with multicoloured lights. Kinda reminds me of those fortune telling machines you find in shopping centres. Very pretty, but definitely one of the stranger experiences I’ve ever had anywhere in the world.
Alem Centre / Alem medeni dynç alyş merkezi [google maps]
Arkach Mall
For some reason our guide wanted us to go back to that cafe at Inspiration Park for lunch, but we wanted to try something new, so he ended up bringing us to Arkach Mall, which is one of the fanciest and newest shopping malls in Turkmenistan. You could be anywhere in the world in this mall! We headed up to the top floor where there was a food court right next to a large children’s playground.
Arkach Shopping Center [Google maps] [Instagram]
Independence Park
After dark as we drove along the streets and the white marble buildings had now been lit by multi-coloured lights, our first stop was Independence Park. Well I’m not sure where we were, but apparently our driver dropped us somewhere pretty far from the actual monument and it took us about half an hour of walking through this massive park to reach the actual Independence monument which commemorates Turkmenistan’s independence from the USSR on 27 September 1991.
The monument has a hemispherical dome on its base with a giant spire sticking out the top, apparently supposed to be inspired by Turkmen tents (like the ones we saw in Darvaza?). Not too many pix of this building close up as there were armed guards standing in front of it and we didn’t want to risk it.
Around the monument, you’ll also find a statue of former president Saparmurat Nishazov in gold, and a path leading to the State Cultural Centre in the distance.
Independence Monument /Mizemez Turkmen Binas [Google maps]
Monument of Neutrality
Turkmenistan has no shortage o fancy monuments, your biggest problem is trying to remember which is which.
The Monument of Neutrality was once in the city centre, but moved to a more outskirt area near the National Museum and Alem Centre. Unfortunately it was under construction of some sorts so we could only look at it from the carpark entrance.
What does neutrality entail? According to the internet, Turkmenistan was declared a neutral country by the UN in 1995 which means its not supposed to take sides in conflicts, though the actual definition of neutrality can differ depending on country.
Monument of Neutrality / bitaraplyk ýadygärligi [Google maps]
Constitution Monument
Located next to Alem Centre, the Constitution Monument is one of the tallest monuments in Ashgabat that reminds me of a traffic light for some reason.
Constitution Monument / Konstitusiýa binasy [Google Maps]
Wedding Palace / Bagt Koshgi
Last stop for the night is another weird, weird building. Somewhat on top of a small hill is this building known as the Wedding Palace. As its name implies, everything in this centre is dedicated to marriage from event halls, banquet rooms and wedding retail shops. It looks like an old school diving helmet.
Wedding Palace / Bagt köşgi [Google maps]
That’s everything we saw in a single day tour of Ashgabat!
Nearby: Old Nisa
The following day, as we headed out to Darvaza Gas Craters for the night, we made a small pitstop towards the west of Ashgabat city in Old Nisa. This UNESCO site are the excavated remains of an important Parthian City that stood along old trade routes dating back to 300 BC!
There is a New Nisa nearby, but apparently they’ve found evidence that it’s older than Old Nisa if you want to be confused further lol.
There’s not a lot of signage around the ruins, so our guide had some pictures to give us some context as to what the spaces were before – this was a palace of some sorts, but other than that, bring a hat and use a good amount of imagination.
Near the entrance of the park is a little ridge that you can climb up to get elevated views of the park.
Where we stayed: Ak Altyn Hotel
We spent 2 nights at the Ak Altyn Hotel, which I think is best described as a business hotel that has seen better days. It’s nice enough though a little dated, and the bathroom fixtures are a little threadbare (it has a heated towel rack though!).
I had an odd number room which faced Victory Park and had an amazing view of the mountains and city buildings in the distance.
The even numbered rooms faced the Turkmen State Circus
Have you visited Ashgabat? Tell me what your experience was like! Or check out my other Turkmenistan posts:
