Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CROSSING THE TURKMENISTAN BORDER AT
SARAKHS
Using this
border post
( 8am-4pm Iran Time, 9.30am-5.30pm Turkmen time)
allows the shortest cut between
Iran and Uzbekistan. A shuttle (US$10 per person) crosses 2km of no-man's land to the Turkmen post. Bicycles are
carried. Turkmen entry formalities are similar to those at Bajgiran (see the boxed text,
Click here
)
, requiring US$15
in US dollars (cash). From the border it's 3km away as the crow flies to the Turkmen town of Saraghs (no formal
hotel) but 10km by a very circuitous road. From Saraghs occasional minibuses run to the fertiliser-factory town of
Tejen (with very basic hotel) where you can change for Mary.
Buses to Mashhad (US$2, three hours)run roughly hourly till 4pm supplemented by
sporadic but relatively regular savaris (US$4, two hours).
The inconvenient train station is 7km west of town. Trains leave to Mashhad at 6am
and 2.30pm (US$15, three hours) but no passenger services cross the Turkmenistan border
(it's a different rail-gauge).
Kalat (Kalat Naderi)تاک
0512 / POP 8000 / ELEV 890M
Admiring its near-vertical backdrop of mountain cliffs, you don't need to be a military
commander to see why Kalat has historically made the ideal last holdout for rebels on the
run. It was one of the only places to have resisted the armies of Tamerlane. And it's still
widely called Kalat Naderi for Nader Shah who retreated into its impregnable natural for-
tifications ahead of his considerable band of enemies. Many Kurds were settled here dur-
ing the Safavid dynasty to guard against northern invaders, and some women still wear
Kurdish costumes.
Spring is the best time to visit, when the countryside turns emerald green and nomad
tents dot the foothill grasslands, especially along the Kalat-Dargaz road.
Sights
Khorshid Palace
TOWER
