How to Go from Bishkek to Almaty

The journey from Bishkek to Almaty has never been easier.  I mean, this is like Southeast Asia easy.  The hardest part you’ll find is getting to and from the bus stations in each of these Central Asian cities.  You can get to Almaty in Kazakhstan from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, either by flying or by taking ground transport.  The only thing you’ll really need to decide is what time of day you want to travel. Here’s my guide on how to go from Bishkek to Almaty.

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The quickest way to travel to Almaty from Bishkek is to fly, but when I say quickest and the fact that it’s 50 minutes is just the actual flight time, so you obviously need to factor in getting to the airport and all the usual airport hullabaloo, and then transport from the Almaty airport to your accommodation.  When in Bishkek, we’d met Kerry, who’d flown between the cities, but our chosen route was to go overland.

Bishkek to Almaty Transport Options

It used to be that this route was a mix of marshrutkas, taxis, and walking.  Today, there’s no need to do that.  The direct bus is also one of the cheapest ways of traveling between the two cities, so I’ll cover that first and then explain the other routes that you can take.

Bus from Bishkek to Almaty

There’s a direct bus that goes five times a day from Bishkek to Almaty.  It costs 600 KGS per person.  And it truly is the easiest way to do this route.  Of course, that’s not the entire solution.  This bus leaves from the (New) Bishkek Bus Station (Kyrgyzstan) and it arrives at the Sayran (sometimes Sairan) bus station in Almaty.  Let’s start at the beginning.

Get to the (new) Bishkek bus station.

When I first read that the bus went from the new bus station and NOT the old and now demolished Bishkek Western Bus station, I thought it was going to be a bright, shiny new building and facility.  Of course, I never saw the old western bus station, but let’s just say, it doesn’t look *that* new, but it is where you’re going to have to get to if you want to take the bus to Almaty.  Buses to Karakol also go from here.

The easiest way to get to this bus station from wherever you are staying in Bishkek is to take a Yandex Taxi.  Download the app; you don’t even need a local SIM card to do this, but you will need data.  It takes a minimum of 30 minutes to go from central Bishkek to the (New) bus station in Bishkek.  Longer if the Bishkek traffic is heavy as normal.  Our Yandex cost us 304 KGS to get to the bus station from near Navat in the centre of Bishkek.

You can also take a bus or a marshrutka to the bus station.

Here’s a link to the location of the bus station, and its name in Kygric.  Бишкек Автовокзал, Leninskoe, Kyrgyzstan.

At the bus station, there are a few small market shops for drinks and snacks, as well as a currency exchange.  You do NOT need a passport for the currency exchange; there are no posted rates, and certainly, when we exchanged some of our remaining KGS, the guy there didn’t speak English, just wanted the money, and shoved the KZT (tenge) back at us.  The rate was good.

There’s an AC waiting area with perhaps 15-20 seats inside the ticket office, if you want to sit and stay out of the heat.   There’s also free WiFi at the Bishkek bus station, with no login required.

Buy a ticket for the Bishkek to Almaty Bus.

You can buy a ticket online for this bus, but ONLY if you have a local SIM card, and only if you have a KGS MPay account.  So you’ll likely be able to do this if you’re staying at a hostel or hotel with someone who can assist.  Otherwise, the bus tickets are only purchasable in person at the bus station on the day of travel.

The buses leave at 08:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, and 18:00

Buy tickets from the Kacca, at window number 1.  You’ll need a passport for every person who is traveling in order to buy a ticket, and you’ll need cash (600 KGS per ticket) for the seats.  Your ticket is a physical receipt.  It details

1. The seat number on the bus.
2. The registration of the bus that will meet you in Kazakhstan
3. The time of the bus and the date.

The bus that travels this route is the number 701 (in both countries).  And it leaves from the “far end of the bus station” in Bishkek, opposite to where you will have entered with your taxi, there’s a sign for Almaty hanging from the roof. 

You will change buses at the border; the Kyrgyzstan bus does not make the border crossing, but the bus you need in Kazakhstan is detailed on your bus ticket.

We arrived at 09:00 and got seats 5 & 6.  When the bus left, a fellow traveler had turned up at 09:59.  The kaca wouldn’t sell him a ticket, but told him to pay the bus driver.  He did, and he made it all the way to Almaty. The bus that runs this route is a large coach (40 or so seats).  And while I’d read lots about “seat numbers not being adhered to”, we had a lot of traveling Europeans on our bus, and we got our seats 5&6 for both of the buses we joined.

If you have a choice, certainly for the 10:00 or 12:00 buses, I’d try and get a seat on the left-hand side of the bus as you sit in it (seats 3-4, 7-8, etc).  We got the sunny side of the bus all the way (seats 5 & 6).  There are curtains and A/C, but even in late September, it was still hot, and there aren’t quite enough curtains for the number of windows.

Bus from Bishkek New Bus Station to the Border

This bus takes about 15 minutes to do the 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from Bishkek to the border.  Once you arrive at the border, everyone gets off the bus, and you walk to the Kyrgyzstan border exit.  It’s an easy walk, perhaps 100 meters, and it’s on a sidewalk with a shade over some of it..

Exit Kyrgyzstan

It’s an interesting design layout that they’ve chosen for this passport control area.  I obviously don’t have a photo, but it’s U-shaped, with booths along all three of the sides.  It’s not designed for orderly queueing, and that seems to be the benefit of those who just saunter to the front and push in.  The lines are pretty muddled until you get closer to the front, so just make yourself bigger and wider and don’t let anyone through.

After you’ve exited Kyrgyzstan, you have a short walk in an enclosed tunnel-like corridor, lined in part with what looks like cross-border packages, until you get to passport control for Kazakhstan.

Entering Kazakhstan

Passport control here is more normalized, in that all the booths are in a line.  So pick your line and wait. Those cross-border goods that you might have passed in the corridor are likely to be shoved up and in front of you in the line, so always stand your ground.

In September 2025, the border control staff were issuing free SIM cards – it looks like one per traveling group.  I’ve shown a photo of what they’re like and the instructions for activating them.  We’re using our Global eSim, and also a Kazakh SIM card that Kerry from Brisbane gave us after we connected on a walking tour of Bishkek.  (thanks Kerry!).

After passport control, there’s a customs area, but it seemed nothing more strenuous than sticking all your bags through an airport-like scanner before picking them up and walking out of the area.

Don’t forget that Kazakhstan is in a different time zone from Kyrgyzstan.  You GAIN an hour by crossing the border here.  10:00 in Kyrgyzstan is now 09:00 in Kazakhstan.

Exiting the Border area in Kazakhstan

The exit route takes you to the right, along a “fenced-in” sidewalk that leads you to a small market (food, drinks, exchange, SIM cards). If you need Kazak Tenge (KZT), then change enough to get you to Almaty here. You can also change it at the Bishkek bus station.  The rates are better in Almaty if you have a lot of KGS som to get rid of.

Getting on your bus from the border to Almaty

Cross the road at the pedestrian crossing and turn left, again on a “fenced-in” sidewalk.

Follow this sidewalk for about 60 meters; it will bend to the right.  There’s a gas station on the corner.  Walk a further 60 meters, and then on your right you’ll find a parking lot with a barrier, and the bus that will take you to Almaty is in there.

If there are multiple buses, then check your ticket; it has the license plate details on it for which bus, but the bus also has a sign in the windshield, 701 Bishkek – Almaty.

Border to Almaty

There’s one 20-minute stop that happens at a roadside café, shop, and toilet space.  If you want to see it on the map, it’s called the Avrasya, and it’s here. The toilets here cost 100 tenge (LZT and you’ll need cash.  We changed a 10,000 KZT note by buying a drink in the shop.  There’s at least one Western-style toilet in the ladies’ as well as a lot of squat toilets.  Don’t forget to pick up paper from the attendant.

The restaurant here is a cafeteria-style operation; you could if you rushed straight here, likely get something to eat before continuing.  They serve adana kebabs, lahmacun, and the like.

After 20 minutes or so, you’ll get back on the bus (you don’t have to get off if you don’t want to, of course), and the total journey from the border to the Sayran bus station in Almaty is about 3-4 hours.

Arriving at Almaty Sayran Bus Station

This bus station is about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from the center of Almaty.  It’s easy (and cheap) to take a Yandex taxi from here to wherever your hotel or hostel is. You will be surrounded by taxi drivers as you get off the bus, just walk away, and out of the bus station parking lot to the road, and call up your Yandex.  Again, you’ll need KZT currency to pay for your taxi.

Bishkek to Almaty via Buses, Marshrutkas, and Taxis

If you don’t want to take the bus from Bishkek to Almaty, then you can take a combination of buses, taxis, and marshrutkas.  You’ll start by getting to the border in Kyrgyzstan.  From Bishkek, that’s easy, and you have options.

1. Take a city marshrutka – you’ll want number 285 or 333.  Catch them from the Tsum Shopping Center.  They’ll cost about 50 som and go all the way to the border.  You can see Bishkek bus routes here
2. Alternatively, take a taxi.  You’ll pay around 470- 500 som depending on the time of day.  The easiest way to do this is to use Yandex.  Download the app.  You don’t need to add a card; you just pay cash. 

When you arrive at the border, cross it, as per the instructions above, and you’ll find heaps of taxi drivers waiting for you at the other side, wanting to take you to Almaty.  There are shared taxis here, the same way that there are on the other side of the border.

Most of the vehicles here that are shared have up to 7 seats, and you’ll pay 5000 KZT per seat.  It’s the usual thing.  The car leaves when full.  Or you can, like we did, go from Osh to Bishkek, pay for the full car to leave. Negotiate. 

Most of the shared taxis will drop you at the Sayran bus station, like the bus that I covered above, but you’ll find that you can negotiate for them to drop you at your hotel in Almaty.  Take a look at what the Yandex prices are; you might be better off getting out of your shared taxi and into a Yandex.

Fly from Bishkek to Almaty

Flights from Bishkek to Almaty take about 50 minutes, but that’s only if you can get a direct flight, which are of course the most expensive.  You can check out direct flights from Bishkek to Almaty here.

FAQs on Going from Bishkek to Almaty

Want to know more about this journey?  Here are the questions we had and got answers to before making this trip from Bishkek to Almaty.

Is there a train from Bishkek to Almaty?

Yes.  But.  It only travels every Saturday.  And it takes about 14 hours.   You can check for tickets and the timetable here.

Is there a bus from Bishkek to Almaty?

Yes.  You can take a bus from Bishkek to Almaty; it leaves from the new bus station in Bishkek and arrives in the Sayran bus station in Almaty.

How do I get to Bishkek from Almaty?

You can fly, take a taxi, take a bus, take a train (possibly), or take a series of marshrutkas and buses between Bishkek and Almaty.

Final Words on Going from Bishkek to Almaty

You can make it difficult by going fully independently from Bishkek to Almaty, but the bus from the new bus station in Bishkek to Almaty’s Sayran bus station makes it really easy.  It’s also cheaper when you add all the component parts together.  Take the bus and make it easy on yourself.

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