The Biketourer’s Guide to Shetpe!
This article will be short...!
Known by many as “that town between Aktau and Beyneu”, Shetpe has very little going for it. If you go, it’s likely because you’re using it as a sleepover stop for your next destination.
If you’re arriving from the south, which you likely are if you’re coming from Aktau, you’ll find a long and tarmac’d bicycle path has been built. The path starts at this location on the map and ends in Shetpe. This is about the only exciting thing the town has to offer.
Where to Stay in Shetpe
Following previous cyclists’ advice, there are only two places worth staying in Shetpe, and they’re both terrible.
Satti Motel – I think I paid about 13,000₸ / 20GBP back in October 2024
Price is extortionately high, rooms are horrible, toilets are horrible, owner is a knob, flies and mosquitoes in the room, no A/C or fan, no Wi-Fi, no toilet paper, dirty sheets, cash only. Not nice, but it’s kind of the only option around.
There is an adjacent restaurant next door which does basic and barely-edible food. The restaurant features special curtained ‘rooms’ for private eating and other private things.
Others have also claimed to stay at Saray Hotel but I don’t have any information about this other than the Google link and faint vague memories of someone saying it was terrible in a cycling chat.
Anyway, probably best to cycle around and find the hotel that looks best although I think regrettably that is probably Satti Motel.
Bear in mind it also gets very windy in the Mangystau region and especially at night hence I chose to stay in hotels where possible.
Where to Eat
I wouldn’t if I didn’t have to, but I did find a small market store (Ырыс шағын маркеті) which sold these corn dogs which I ate an unhealthy amount of and were incredible. Meat unknown.
Top Tips
Get water and food supplies before leaving Shetpe, there’s not much else between Shetpe and Beyneu except maybe 1 or 2 very small ‘shops' to buy basic confectionary.
Make sure you download, install, and set-up Yandex (requires 2FA set-up with mobile number) and iOverlander (v1 or v2) your time across the ‘Stans. Yandex is the all-in-one Maps/FoodDelivery/RideSharing hybrid app which will get you out of a lot of trouble, and iOverlander displays the hidden POIs that only true explorers have been able to find.
Aaaand that’s about it.
Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments! Don’t forget to check my blog for other blogs on Kazakhstan, such as my bicycle tourer’s guide to Aktau here!
As always, you can follow my journey via my links here!