Turkmenistan

Is Turkmenistan safe to visit?

For a visitor on an organised trip, mostly yes. The US rates Turkmenistan Level 1, the lowest of its four levels, and the UK advises against travel to no part of it. Street crime against foreigners is rare and there has been no terrorist attack in recent memory. The catch is how little anyone outside the government can check. Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkmenistan 173rd of 180 for press freedom in 2026 and calls it one of the world's most closed countries. We score it 69, below Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (both 74), with low confidence because so many numbers are old or modelled.

Why there is so little data

Most country pages on this site start from police homicide figures sent to the UN. Turkmenistan's last one is for 2015: 1.0 killing per 100,000 people. Nothing has been published since. The WHO fills the gap with a statistical model that puts the rate at 3.6 per 100,000 in 2019 (range 2.4 to 4.5) and 3.4 in 2021. That is still low, similar to many European countries, but it is an estimate, not a count. Road deaths are the same story: the World Bank series, based on WHO estimatesWHO road-death estimateThe World Health Organization's estimate of road traffic deaths per 100,000 people in a country, adjusted for deaths that police statistics miss.More in the glossary, gives 13.5 per 100,000 for 2019, while the WHO's newer 2021 estimate is 8.0. We score on the 2019 series to match other countries on the site, and say so.

The state also controls what visitors see. Independent media do not exist inside the country, and citizens risk a fine for using a VPN, according to RSF. Treat the absence of bad news with care: it is partly an absence of news.

Rules that catch visitors out

The main risk for most travellers is breaking a law they did not know about. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary lists several:

• VPNs are illegal, and YouTube, X, Facebook and WhatsApp are blocked.
• Comments, including social media posts, seen as negative about the political system or national traditions can be treated as an offence.
• Photographing airports, military sites, police stations, government buildings and some markets is illegal. Ask first, and ask people before you photograph them.
• Drinking alcohol in parks, squares, stations, beaches and other public places brings a 100-manat fine. Smoking outdoors is banned outside marked areas.
• A sexual relationship between a Turkmen woman and a foreign man is illegal, and foreigners can be fined and deported. Sex between men carries a prison sentence.
• Police check documents, so carry your passport. If you stay more than three working days, you must be registered with the State Migration Service within three days, which your hotel or sponsor usually does.

Areas near the borders with Afghanistan and Iran are tightly restricted, and land crossings can close without notice. Entering from Iran now needs special authorisation from the government and an onward flight.

Roads, heat and earthquakes

Roads are the biggest physical danger. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says driving standards are poor and travel at night outside cities is particularly dangerous because of the state of the roads. In Ashgabat the limit is 60 km/h in much of the city, enforced by unsigned cameras. Use the licensed white-and-green taxis, agree the fare first (drivers usually ask foreigners for about 20 manat in the centre) and leave long desert drives, including the trip to the Darvaza gas crater, to an agency vehicle in daylight.

The ground is the other long-term risk. Ashgabat lies on an active fault, and on 5 October 1948 a magnitude 7.2 earthquake destroyed the city and killed about 110,000 people, according to NOAA. Tremors are regular. In summer the Karakum Desert regularly reaches 45°C in the shade, so carry water on any excursion.

Health care

The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary is blunt: medical care is poor and much more expensive than in the UK, and anything beyond basic or emergency treatment is best avoided, especially outside Ashgabat. Serious cases need evacuation, which takes time from a country with few flights. Bring all your medicines with a copy of the prescription; strong painkillers without one can be treated as narcotics.

Drink only boiled, filtered or bottled water, because typhoid and hepatitis A are endemic. The CDC says rabid dogs are common, so get a rabies vaccine if you will be in rural areas. There is no malaria risk on the CDC list. For an ambulance, call 03 from a landline or 003 from a mobile.

How to plan a trip

Book through an authorised agency, which provides the letter of invitation and usually a guide. Bring enough clean US dollar notes for the whole trip (many places refuse $100 bills printed before 2009), because Turkmenistan runs on cash, ATMs in Ashgabat can run out of manat and manat cannot be changed back. Get insurance that covers medical evacuation, and tell family you may be hard to reach.

How we scored it

Petty crime (82) and conflict (80) score highest: theft is uncommon and there is no record of recent attacks. Health (52) is the weakest factor, followed by natural hazards (60) and road safety (62). Violent crime (76) would be higher on the 2015 police figure alone, but we score on WHO's 2021 model (3.4 per 100,000), given the lack of any newer count. Confidence is low because Turkmenistan publishes so little.