.JPG&w=1920&q=88)
Kazakhstan
About Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is a vast and surprising country in Central Asia - a place of wide open landscapes and quiet adventure. Here you’ll find mountains, deep canyons, clear alpine lakes, open steppe, and long scenic roads that feel made for travel.
It’s easy to explore, uncrowded, and still very real. You move at a natural pace, stop often, eat simple local food, and see daily life far from mass tourism. Adventure here isn’t complicated - it’s comfortable, flexible, and deeply rewarding.
Kazakhstan is an ideal place to start your journey through Central Asia.
Things to do in Kazakhstan
Highlights
Altyn Emel: Aktau Mountains
The Aktau Mountains are a surreal, almost lunar landscape of white, pink, red, and green striped hills in Altyn Emel National Park. "Aktau" means "white mountains" in Kazakh, referring to the pale clay and chalk layers that dominate the lower sections. The colors come from different mineral compositions in the sedimentary layers: clays (white, gray), iron oxides (red, pink), and in some areas, copper compounds (green streaks). The hills are soft badlands-easily eroded, constantly shifting. Walking through Aktau feels like moving through a geology textbook: you're looking at ancient lakebed and floodplain deposits from 25-30 million years ago, when this was a very different climate.
Altyn Emel: Singing Dune
The Singing Dune is a 3-kilometer-long, 150-meter-high sand ridge in Altyn Emel National Park, roughly 280 km northeast of Almaty. When the wind blows or when you slide down the dune's face, the sand produces a low-frequency hum-sometimes described as a drone or subsonic vibration. The phenomenon occurs because the sand grains are dry, rounded, and uniform in size, allowing them to vibrate in sync when they move. The dune sits in an arid basin between the Ili River and the Dzungarian Alatau mountains. It's not part of a larger desert; it's an isolated sand formation, held in place by surrounding terrain and wind patterns.
Assy Plateau
Assy Plateau is a high, flat grassland between the Turgen Gorge and the Bartogay Reservoir, at 2,300-2,700 meters elevation. The plateau is a traditional summer pasture (*jailyau*), and in summer, you'll see yurts, herds of horses and sheep, and herders living the seasonal pastoral life. At the western edge of the plateau sits the Assy-Turgen Observatory, established in the 1980s for astronomical research. The high altitude, clear air, and low light pollution make it an excellent site for stargazing. Visitors can sometimes arrange tours of the observatory, though access depends on current operations.
Baikonur Cosmodrome
Baikonur Cosmodrome is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility, located in the desert steppes of south-central Kazakhstan. Construction began in 1955 as a secret Soviet missile test site. On October 4, 1957, Sputnik 1-the first artificial satellite-launched from here. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, lifting off from Baikonur's Site 1 (now called "Gagarin's Start"). The facility is still active, conducting over 20 launches per year, mostly Russian crewed and cargo missions to the International Space Station. It's leased by Russia from Kazakhstan until 2050.
Bartogai Reservoir
Bartogay Reservoir was created in 2016 with the completion of a dam on the Chilik River, a tributary of the Ili. The dam is part of a flood control and irrigation project, built after a catastrophic mudflow in 1963 (which destroyed the original Issyk Lake) highlighted the need for better water management in the region. The reservoir is surrounded by semi-arid hills and offers views of the mountains to the south. It's become a spot for fishing, picnicking, and escaping the city, though facilities are still limited.
Big Almaty Lake
Big Almaty Lake sits at 2,511 meters in the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains, about 30 km south of Almaty. The lake is a natural alpine reservoir that supplies drinking water to the city, which means access is regulated and you can't swim or picnic right on the shore. The water's color shifts from pale green to deep turquoise depending on the season, light, and sediment levels-fed by glacial meltwater from the surrounding peaks. It's one of the easiest high-altitude destinations near Almaty: paved road almost to the viewpoint, dramatic mountains on all sides, and you can be back in the city for lunch.
Charyn Canyon
Charyn Canyon stretches 154 kilometers east of Almaty along the Charyn River-named simply for the waterway that cut it. The canyon varies between 150 and 300 meters deep, with red and yellow sandstone walls that geologists trace back to sediments from the ancient Tethys Ocean. The most photographed section is the "Valley of Castles," a 2-kilometer corridor where erosion has shaped towers that look like fortress keeps. The Charyn National Park, established in 2004, protects not just the canyon but also a relic ash-tree grove-Sogdian ash, leftovers from the Ice Age. The grove survives in a microclimate along the canyon floor, fed by the river and shaded by the cliffs.
Green Bazaar
Green Bazaar (Zelyony Bazaar) is Almaty's oldest and largest food market, located in the city center near the Zhibek Zholy metro station. The market has been operating in various forms since the 19th century, when Almaty (then Verny) was a small garrison town. Today's building dates from the 1970s (Soviet-era modernist architecture with a green corrugated roof-hence the name), but the market's role hasn't changed: it's where locals buy fresh produce, meat, dairy, spices, dried fruits, nuts, and honey. For visitors, it's a sensory experience: stalls piled with apples (Almaty's namesake fruit), pomegranates, melons, fresh herbs, stacks of flatbread, and vendors who will let you taste before you buy.
Issyk Lake
Issyk Lake sits at 1,760 meters in the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains, about 70 km east of Almaty. The lake is known for two things: its turquoise water and the catastrophic mudflow of July 7, 1963, which destroyed the original lake and the village of Issyk, killing over 100 people. The 1963 disaster was triggered by a landslide high in the mountains, which created a debris flow that swept down the Issyk Gorge, breaching the natural dam that held the lake. The current lake is smaller, re-formed after a new dam was built in the 1990s. It's a popular day-trip destination from Almaty, with a somber history.
Kaindy Lake
Kaindy Lake formed after a 1911 earthquake triggered a landslide that blocked the Kaindy Gorge, creating a natural dam. Rainwater and snowmelt filled the valley, submerging a forest of Tian Shan spruce. The tree trunks-some still standing, others tilted or fallen-protrude from the turquoise water, creating the eerie, photogenic scene the lake is known for. The water is extremely cold year-round, fed by mountain streams. The submerged trees remain largely intact because the cold, low-oxygen water slows decomposition.
Karkara Valley
Karkara is a wide, grassy valley straddling the Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan border, at the foot of the Terskey Alatau range. In summer, the valley is a traditional *jailyau* (high pasture), where herders bring livestock to graze. You'll see yurts scattered across the meadows, horses and sheep grazing, and the occasional eagle overhead. The valley is also a cultural crossroads: every few years, it hosts a festival celebrating Central Asian nomadic traditions-horsemanship, traditional music, crafts, and food. For visitors, Karkara offers a glimpse of pastoral life that has continued for centuries.
Kastek Pass
Kastek is a mountain pass and gorge on the main road from Almaty to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan). The pass sits at about 1,060 meters, where the road crosses a ridge of the Trans-Ili Alatau before descending into the Chu River valley. The gorge leading up to the pass is steep and narrow, with rocky cliffs and sparse vegetation. The Kastek area is more of a transit point than a destination-most travelers pass through on their way to Kyrgyzstan-but the gorge itself is scenic, and the small settlement of Kastek serves as a stop for fuel, food, and rest. Historically, this was a route for travelers and traders moving between the Ili Valley and the Chu Valley.
Kok-Tobe
Kok-Tobe is a hill on the southern edge of Almaty, about 300 meters above the city center. At the top, there's a small park with restaurants, cafés, souvenir kiosks, and a panoramic viewpoint looking north over the city toward the steppe. On clear days, you can see the full urban grid backed by the Zailiyskiy Alatau mountains to the south. The hill is accessible by cable car from the city (a scenic ride) or by winding road. At the summit, you'll find a TV tower (visible from across the city), a monument to The Beatles, and various family-friendly attractions. It's popular with tourists and locals alike-part viewpoint, part amusement park.
.JPG)
Kolsai Lakes
Kolsai-often translated as "lake in the valley" or "valley of lakes"-comprises three main alpine lakes sitting in a single forested corridor on the east side of the Kung̈ey Ala-Tau range. The lakes are stacked at roughly 1,800 m, 2,250 m, and 2,700 m, connected by the Kolsai River flowing down from higher glaciers. The water stays cold year-round, often barely reaching 10 °C even in summer. That's the alpine lake reality: beautiful, clear, and cold enough to remind you you're in the high mountains.
Kurmetti Gorge
Kurmetti is a forested gorge in the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains, less visited than nearby valleys like Medeu or Turgen. The gorge is named after the Kurmetti River, which flows down from glaciers and snowfields higher in the mountains. The valley is steep-sided and covered in Tian Shan spruce, with rocky outcrops and meadows in the higher sections. There are no major tourist facilities, which means the gorge feels wilder and quieter. It's a destination for hikers looking to escape the crowds closer to Almaty.
Medeu
Medeu is an open-air ice skating rink built into a mountain valley at 1,691 meters above sea level, about 15 km south of Almaty. It was constructed in the 1970s during the Soviet era and quickly became famous for speed skating world records set at high altitude, where the thinner air offers less resistance. The rink itself is large (10,500 m²) and uses a sophisticated refrigeration system to maintain ice quality year-round. Above the rink, there's a massive mud-flow dam, built to protect Almaty from debris flows-a reminder that mountain infrastructure serves more than one purpose.
Narynkol
Narynkol is a small settlement in the easternmost part of Almaty Region, near the border with China. The name "Narynkol" means "narrow lake" in Kazakh, though there's no major lake at the settlement itself-it likely refers to nearby alpine lakes in the mountains. Narynkol serves as a base for travelers heading to remote sites like Tuzkol Lake, Tekes Gorge, and the high valleys near the Chinese border. The settlement is surrounded by high mountains of the Tian Shan, and on clear days, you can see distant peaks including Khan Tengri and Pobeda. It's a quiet, remote place-mainly a service stop for herders, border personnel, and the occasional adventurous tourist.
Saty Gorge
Saty is a small village in the Kolsai Lakes National Park area, serving as the main base for visitors to Kolsai and Kaindy lakes. The village sits at 1,750 meters in a forested valley, with mountains on all sides. Most visitors stay overnight in guesthouses here before heading to the lakes. The gorge around Saty is forested with Tian Shan spruce and aspen, and the Chilik River flows through the valley. It's a quiet place, with a handful of guesthouses, small shops, and a sense of being at the edge of the wilderness.
Shymbulak
Shymbulak is Kazakhstan's premier ski resort, sitting in the Zailiyskiy Alatau mountains above Medeu. The resort covers an elevation range from about 2,200 m (base) to 3,200 m (top of the lifts), with a mix of beginner, intermediate, and advanced runs. In summer, the slopes turn into hiking and mountain-biking terrain, and the cable cars keep running for sightseers and trailhead access. The resort was developed in the Soviet era (originally called "Chimbulak"), renovated extensively in the 2000s, and now has modern lifts, hotels, and restaurants.
Tamgaly Tas
Tamgaly Tas is an archaeological site on the right bank of the Ili River, about 120 km north of Almaty. The name means "painted stones" or "stones with signs" in Kazakh. The site features rock carvings-petroglyphs-including three images of Buddha, along with inscriptions in ancient scripts (likely Tibetan and Kalmyk). The Buddha images are carved in relief and date to the Buddhist period in Central Asia, roughly 6th-9th centuries CE, when Buddhism spread along Silk Road trade routes. The site is considered sacred by some and is protected as a cultural heritage site.
Tekes Gorge
Tekes Gorge is a remote valley in the easternmost part of Almaty Region, near the border with China. The gorge is carved by the Tekes River, which flows from glaciers in the Terskey Alatau range. The valley is green in summer, with alpine meadows, scattered spruce forests, and rocky slopes rising on both sides. There is a waterfall in the gorge-Tekes Waterfall-which is fed by snowmelt and is most impressive in late spring and early summer. The area is far from major settlements, so it feels wild and undeveloped.
Turgen Gorge
Turgen is a forested gorge in the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains, about 70 km east of Almaty. The gorge is known for its waterfalls-most famously the Bear Waterfall (Medvezhiy) and the Kairak Waterfall-along with hot springs, dense Tian Shan spruce forests, and a trout farm. The Turgen River flows down the valley, fed by snowmelt and glaciers higher in the mountains. The gorge has been a popular recreation area since Soviet times, and today it's a mix of natural sites and small tourist infrastructure (guesthouses, camping areas, trails).
Tuzkol Lake
Tuzkol is a salt lake in the Raiymbek District of Almaty Region, sitting at 1,959 meters above sea level. The water's salinity can reach 300 grams per liter-comparable to the Dead Sea-which means you float without effort. The lake is surrounded by mountains of the Tian Shan, and on clear days, you can see distant peaks including Khan Tengri and Pobeda. The lake is shallow and changes size seasonally depending on precipitation and evaporation. The salt concentration makes the water feel slick on the skin, and some visitors come specifically for the supposed therapeutic properties of the minerals.
Zenkov Cathedral
Zenkov Cathedral (officially Ascension Cathedral) sits in the center of Panfilov Park in Almaty. Built between 1904 and 1907, it's one of the world's tallest wooden structures, built almost entirely without metal fasteners-wooden pegs, interlocking joints, and traditional carpentry. The architect was Andrei Zenkov, a military engineer, and the cathedral was designed to withstand the region's seismic activity. The building is painted in pale yellow and soft pastels, with five gilded domes. It survived the devastating 1911 earthquake (which flattened much of Almaty/Verny) and remained standing through the Soviet era, when many churches were destroyed or repurposed.
Tours in Kazakhstan
.JPG&w=1920&q=75)
.JPG&w=1920&q=80)
Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan Grand Crossing
Grand Zhetysu: Altyn Emel, Three Lakes & Charyn Camp
Altyn Emel: Aktau Mountains & the Singing Dune
Kolsai, Kaindy & Charyn with Overnight
Almaty Panorama
