Turkmenistan: Nokhur Panorama Hike

This short walk to a viewpoint over the small Turkmen town of Nokhur makes an excellent start to a day or exploring the village and surrounding Kopetdag Mountain range, and you can be home in time for breakfast.

Total km: 3km
Elevation gain/loss: 134m+/ 134m-
Start point: Nokhur Family Guesthouse
Endpoint: Nokhur Family Guesthouse
GPS Files

This is an exceedingly easy walk, a quick morning stroll from the village more than a real hike, but as most visitors to Turkmenistan are limited on time it can be a quick and easy way to get into the mountains around the village, where other opportunities don’t exist.

Start by following the high village road on the south side of Nokhur, trending south as it climbs slightly then turning sharply east onto another street just past a garish large new home. Continue up and eastwards to the top of this street, where it becomes a dirt track and starts to leave the village past a small house that appears to be a small junkyard of old cars.

Follow the dirt track as it climbs into an obvious stream course, either keeping an eye out where the path diverges to the left to slowly climb the hillside or just following the river course to a sharp turn where it’s a quick and easy scramble to the top. From here, continue up a little further along the jeep road until it makes a sharp turn of nearly 180 degrees, climbing more steeply along the hillside as the track gradually becomes more and more overgrown.

Eventually the jeep road dead ends at which is probably an old landslide, now mostly overgrown, and to continue you’ll need to ascend steeply up fairly loose terrain to the obvious promontory above. The descent back down this stretch it a touch dodgy, and would likely be dangerous in wet weather, so pick a line carefully and pay attention to where you top out so that you can descend along the same line on the way back down to the village.

From the top, the small outcrop gives really nice views of the village, and if you’ve arrive early enough you can watch as the sun first lights up the hillsides opposite and then slowly descends to light the houses below. A little to the south, but clearly visible from here, is the largest of Nokhur’s cemeteries, an interesting cultural aspect of life here that you should take time to visit at some point during your stay in the village.

Though similar rams’ head ornaments are used in the Tajik and Afghan Wakhan, as far as we’re aware these cemeteries are unique in Central Asia and certainly a defining cultural aspect of Nokhur. Ask your guide to show you around and explain the significance – and ideally to take you up to the nearby shrine of Gyz Bibi if time permits.

After enjoying the village views and the sunrise from the panoramic point, descend back to the village along the same trail and return to your guesthouse – hopefully just in time for a hot coffee and breakfast!

Good To Know

Getting to the Nokhur Panorama Hike

There are actually share taxis connecting Nokhur and Ashgabat, leaving regularly from the central bazaar area throughout the day, but currently it isn’t possible for foreign tourists to travel independently in Turkmenistan and so you’ll almost certainly be arriving on a private vehicle with a driver organized by the tour operator that helps you get your visa. The actual trailhead is right on the edge of the village in the south – if you’re staying at the guesthouse referenced below, it’s a very short walk along the village roads to get there.

Where to Stay and Eat

There’s one guesthouse in Nokhur that seems to be popular with the handful of tourists that visit, tucked up on the hillside on the southern side of town where the GPS track starts. They can prepare meals, but if you’re not spending the night look around the bazaar area for a shashlyk place in the center, or on the edge of town (when arriving from Ashgabat) there was a big new cafe that seemed to be busy. Overall, options are fairly limited.