Krasnovodsk is not a tourist city. Turkmenistan requires a visa and often a letter of invitation to enter, and the bureaucratic hurdles filter out casual visitors. Those who make it here are rewarded mainly by the journey itself — the Caspian, the desert mountains, and the sense of a place that receives almost no Western travellers.
The port is the city's defining feature and worth seeing even if you are not taking the ferry. The old Russian-era town around the harbour retains some of its original layout, with low Soviet and late-imperial buildings facing the water. The coastline to the north and south is undeveloped and accessible on foot.