Kazakhstan wasn’t a country I expected to feel this varied.

I flew into Almaty and out of Astana. The two cities barely feel like they belong to the same country, I mostly based in Almaty, using it as a launchpad for the mountains and canyons around it, were some of the best days of the whole trip.

Almaty is the buzzing, sprawling one: a city that feels far bigger and more alive than most people picture when they think “Central Asia,” with the Tian Shan mountains rising directly behind the skyline. Astana is the other extreme: a deliberately futuristic, purpose-built capital in the middle of the steppe

Kazakhstan Travel Guide: Getting There

For most Western visitors, Almaty is the natural gateway, with Astana increasingly useful as a second entry or exit point depending on your route.

I flew Turkish Airlines into Almaty and out of Astana, which let me see two ends of this vast country without doubling back. From the UK and Europe, Turkish via Istanbul is the standout option if you want to avoid budget carriers like Pegasus. I’d also compare it against Qatar Airways via Doha, Emirates via Dubai, and Air Astana’s own direct or one-stop options depending on your departure city.

One honest note on the Istanbul–Almaty leg: it runs as a 1am departure on an A321 with no flatbed. In practice this matters less than it sounds, since the flight is under five hours and you’re not getting proper rest on a red-eye that short regardless of seat type. The return from Astana was a different story entirely, mostly widebody aircraft with proper flatbeds, and my flight home happened to be a day departure, which made for a far more comfortable way to end the trip. 

British and US passport holders can currently enter Kazakhstan visa-free for up to 30 days, capped at 90 days within any rolling 180-day period. Your hotel or host is required to register your arrival with the migration authorities within three working days, though most hotels handle this automatically without you needing to do anything. Entry requirements can change, so check the latest official advice before travelling.

Getting Around Kazakhstan

Almaty and Astana are roughly 1,000km apart, and while there is an overnight train connecting them, I flew. It was cheap enough on the day that the extra time on the rails wasn’t worth it for a two-city trip, though the train is worth considering if you’ve got more time and want to see the steppe in between.

Within both cities, Yandex Go (the regional equivalent of Uber) is the easiest and cheapest way to get around, and it’s what I relied on throughout, including the ride out to Astana’s Grand Mosque.

Almaty: Base Yourself Here for 5-6 Days

Almaty is not what most people picture when they think of Central Asia, and that’s exactly what makes it worth talking about.

It’s a genuinely buzzing, sprawling city, far bigger and more developed-feeling than expected, with the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains, the northernmost range of the wider Tian Shan system, framing the skyline from almost anywhere you stand. It’s the same range that Kok Tobe, Shymbulak, Medeu, Big Almaty Lake and Kolsai all sit within, which is why the mountains never seem to leave the frame no matter where you are in the city.

But it’s also a city of two identities. Some neighbourhoods carry a distinctly Soviet feel, all block housing and wide grey avenues, with Russian spoken as commonly as Kazakh on the street, while other areas feel sharp and thoroughly modern. That contrast is worth leaning into rather than smoothing over, because it’s genuinely what Almaty is.

The food scene deserves more credit than it usually gets too. It’s a strong mix of international and local cuisine, and Navat, a chain I’d also eaten at across the border in Kyrgyzstan, was a particular standout worth naming specifically rather than filing under “good local food.”

Things to Do in Almaty

Ascension (Zenkov) Cathedral

Sitting inside Panfilov Park, the Ascension Cathedral is one of the tallest wooden buildings in the world at around 56 metres, built in 1907 entirely without nails.

That construction choice turned out to be a stroke of genius rather than a limitation. The flex in the timber is exactly why the cathedral survived the devastating 1911 Almaty earthquake almost untouched, while stone buildings nearby fared far worse.

The park surrounding it is worth the wider walk too. It’s named for the 28 Guardsmen who died defending Moscow in WWII, and there’s a war memorial and eternal flame a short stroll from the cathedral itself.

Kok Tobe Hill

Cable car up, TV tower and viewpoint for what’s genuinely the best panoramic view of the city against the mountains, especially timed for sunset.

The mini-zoo on top is worth more than a passing mention. Llamas and ostriches are nothing new if you’ve travelled through Peru or South Africa, but there’s something genuinely fascinating about seeing emus and guinea fowl, animals with zero business being in Central Asia, looking completely at home. Whether that’s down to good care or something else entirely, it’s a small, odd detail that stuck with me longer than expected.

There’s also a modest collection of fallow deer, pheasants, peacocks, and the local Arkhar-Merino sheep, a cross between a wild mountain ram and a merino, which is about as only-in-Kazakhstan as a farm animal gets.

The 371m TV tower itself is one of the tallest and most earthquake-resistant structures in the city, a detail that lands differently once you know how seismically active this region actually is.

There’s also a genuinely odd novelty attraction worth knowing about if it turns up in your photos: the Shifted House, a whole house built and furnished completely upside down, ceiling on the ground, that you can walk through for a gravity-bending photo.

Purely a bit of fun rather than anything cultural, but it’s one of Kok Tobe’s most photographed spots for a reason.

Arasan Baths

Almaty’s Soviet-era bathhouse, near Panfilov Park, and still a genuinely popular part of local life rather than a tourist novelty. It’s a big brutalist complex housing a Finnish sauna, a Russian banya, a Turkish/Eastern steam room and a Moroccan-style hot marble room, all built around a circular plunge pool to cool off in between rounds.

Men and women bathe in separate sections. Most people go nude or with just a towel, particularly in the Russian and Finnish rooms, but nobody minds if you keep swim shorts on.

You’ll pay for slippers and a towel or sheet on arrival if you don’t bring your own, and you’ll be given a felt hat, which isn’t a novelty souvenir but a practical bit of kit: it insulates your head in the hotter rooms, since your head heats up faster than the rest of your body.

The most memorable thing to watch, if not necessarily try, is the Russian sauna tradition of beating yourself or a stranger with a bundle of birch branches (a venik). It looks brutal from the outside, but it’s a genuinely communal ritual, and one of the more interesting ways to see locals interact with people they’ve never met.

First President’s Park

A large, well-kept arboretum park in the Bostandyk district, worth an easy afternoon if you want a break from sightseeing.

The centrepiece is the “Kazakhstan” monument, a golden eagle in bronze, granite and marble with a figure of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s first president after independence from the Soviet Union, at its centre.

Don’t expect much English signage here; it’s a domestically significant monument rather than one built with foreign visitors in mind. Beyond the monument, there’s a Japanese garden with sakura trees, a large fountain complex, and mountain views from the far end that make it a pleasant green space in its own right.

Day Trip One: Kolsai Lake

A full day, and worth every hour of it. Hiking, swimming, and a boat ride on water that is genuinely as crystal clear and as emerald green in person as it looks in photographs, set against a backdrop of dense forest and mountains that feels more Alpine than Central Asian.

The boat ride itself is understated but excellent. It’s easy to paddle and steer yourself, there’s a choice between a 30-minute or full hour on the water, and it costs around $10. It’s a slow, serene experience, genuinely one of those rides that works equally well as a family outing or a romantic one. I didn’t have swim gear with me, but the water looked clean enough that swimming is a real draw here rather than just a novelty.

Day Trip Two: Charyn Canyon & Black Canyon

The “Valley of Castles” formations at Charyn are the headline, but Black Canyon deserves its own mention rather than being filed away as “canyon number two.”

It has an actual river flowing through it, unlike Charyn’s mostly dry red riverbed, which gives it a completely different feel and colour palette when you visit both on the same day.

You can easily spend a whole day in Charyn canyon, especially if you decide to walk through below it. I chose to get a truck ride there and made my own way back – which took just over an hour just to return to base where my driver was parked. 

Either way the scenary is simply mind blowing – you have to stop yourself and ask if this was all accidental or designed ! Whilst I said there is no river in Charyn like the Black Canyon – there is a lake however where you can take a refreshing dip !

Other Almaty Day Trips I’d Add With More Time

Because six days doesn’t quite stretch to everything, here’s what I’d prioritise on a return visit:

• Big Almaty Lake – a turquoise alpine lake at over 2,500m, close enough for a half-day trip, and a genuinely different shade of blue-green to Kolsai.
• Altyn-Emel National Park – home to the Singing Dune, a 150-metre dune that produces an audible hum when the sand shifts in the right wind conditions, plus the Aktau “white mountains,” banded chalk-and-clay ridges in cream, rust and pink. Needs a permit and ideally a 4×4 and an overnight, so it’s a bigger commitment than the Charyn/Kolsai loop.
• Turgen Gorge — genuinely underrated and barely covered by foreign visitors, with two waterfalls (30m and 55m) and a much quieter, wilder feel than the more touristed routes.
• Shymbulak & Medeu — Central Asia’s premier ski resort and the world’s highest-altitude speed skating rink, both a cable car ride from the city centre and worth visiting even outside ski season purely for the views.

Astana: Give It More Than One Day

I only had two days here, arriving late and leaving early on the second morning, which really meant one usable day, and that day was -5°C.

Worth being upfront about that: Astana rewards more time than most itineraries give it, and the cold is a real factor in how much ground you can realistically cover on foot. It’s part of why the city leans so heavily on covered walkways and indoor spaces.

Khan Shatyr’s entire design brief was built around surviving those winters, which is itself a good piece of colour if you’re writing this trip up.

Things to Do in Astana

Astana Grand Mosque

I walked part of the way and took a cab the rest to reach the Grand Mosque. Opened in 2022, it’s now the largest mosque in Central Asia, with room for 30,000 worshippers, newer and larger than the more commonly referenced Hazrat Sultan Mosque that older guides tend to point you towards.

Bayterek Tower & Khan Shatyr

The two landmarks most people picture when they think of Astana. Bayterek is the golden-orb monument that’s become the city’s symbol, with an observation deck worth the queue. Khan Shatyr is the giant translucent tent, designed by Norman Foster, housing a shopping mall and indoor beach, and it’s a genuinely useful place to retreat to when the steppe wind gets serious.

Nur Alem

The giant sphere left over from EXPO 2017, now doing time as a museum of energy. One of the more distinctive pieces of skyline and worth a stop if you have a second day to spend.

Food Worth Knowing About

• Beshbarmak — the national dish, boiled meat and pasta sheets. Worth trying for the cultural weight of it, but it’s fair to say it’s not going to be everyone’s favourite. I found it fine rather than memorable.
• Baursak — small fried dough pieces that showed up across several meals and were genuinely good every time. Easily the most likeable local food of the trip.
• Kymyz (fermented mare’s milk) — I didn’t get the chance to try it, but it’s a genuine Kazakh staple and worth seeking out if you see it on a menu, even without a first-hand verdict from me to back it up.

Where to Stay in Kazakhstan

For anyone planning their own trip, here are five properties worth considering, split between genuine high-end options and more characterful or value stays:

Practical Kazakhstan Travel Tips

Currency & Cash

The local currency is the tenge (KZT). Cards are widely accepted in hotels, restaurants and most modern businesses in both cities, but it’s worth carrying some cash for markets, smaller cafes and taxis. Yandex Go can be linked to a card, which makes getting around cashless in practice even if some individual transactions aren’t.

Dress for the Extremes

Kazakhstan runs hot summers and genuinely brutal winters, particularly in Astana, where -5°C in early season is nothing unusual and temperatures drop much further into deep winter. May to October is the more comfortable window for the mountain day trips around Almaty; if you’re visiting Astana outside of summer, plan your day around indoor stretches rather than fighting the cold the whole way through.

Language

Russian is spoken as widely as Kazakh in both cities, and English is more limited outside hotels and major tourist sights than you might expect from how modern Astana looks. A handful of Russian phrases go a long way.

What I’d Do Differently Next Time

More Time in Astana

One rushed day in -5°C wasn’t enough, and I knew it at the time. Two or three days would let you actually pace the city properly rather than sprinting between landmarks against the cold.

Add Kaindy Lake to the Kolsai Day

It’s usually only an extra hour or two on top of the Kolsai route, and the sunken forest is a genuinely distinctive sight that Kolsai alone doesn’t have.

Consider Mangystau for a Longer Trip

If you’ve got more than two weeks, the Mangystau region on the Caspian Sea, flying into Aktau, is where Kazakhstan gets genuinely otherworldly: the white cliffs of Bozzhyra Canyon, the lion-shaped Sherkala Mountain, and the Torysh “Valley of Balls,” a field of near-perfectly spherical stone formations whose origin is still debated. Almost nobody covers this part of the country on camera, which makes it one of the more interesting additions for a second trip.

Is Kazakhstan Worth Visiting?

Yes, without much hesitation.

What stood out most was how little Kazakhstan asked me to already know about it going in. Almaty felt genuinely lived-in rather than built for visitors, the mountains around it are as good as anywhere I’ve hiked, and Astana, even rushed and freezing, was strange and striking enough to be worth the detour.

I’d go back, and next time I’d give Astana the days it actually deserves.

For a first trip, I’d suggest roughly 7 nights in Almaty (with day trips to Kolsai, Kaindy and Charyn/Black Canyon built in) and 2-3 nights in Astana, with additional time if you want to push out to Altyn-Emel, Turkistan, or the Mangystau region. You can arrange private drivers/guides through your own accommodation or use companies like Viator or GetYourGuide.