Kazakhstan · Destination guide
A green city with the Tian Shan at the end of the street
Almaty is where a Kazakhstan trip starts — a leafy, walkable former capital under the Tian Shan, with Shymbulak ski resort and Medeu skating rink directly above it and Charyn Canyon a few hours east.
Quick facts
Almaty stopped being the capital in 1997 and has been the more interesting city ever since. It is green in a way nothing else in Central Asia is — apple orchards on the slopes above, irrigation channels along the avenues, and the Tian Shan closing the view south from almost every street.
The mountains are the point. A cable car from the edge of town reaches Shymbulak at 2,200 m, and the road keeps going. Further out, Charyn Canyon, the Kolsai lakes and the drowned forest of Kaindy are all day trips or overnights from here.
In between, it is simply a good city to spend time in: Green Bazaar, a serious coffee culture, and Panfilov Park with its wooden cathedral built without a single nail.
Highlights
The world''s highest Olympic-size skating rink at 1,691 m, and the ski resort above it reached by cable car. Both work as summer viewpoints, not just winter sport.
You can go from a city café to 3,200 m in under an hour.
Horse sausage, mountains of dried fruit, Korean salads from the deported communities of the 1930s, and the best cheap lunch in the city.
The clearest single window into how mixed Kazakhstan''s population actually is.
A bright wooden Orthodox cathedral from 1907 that survived the 1911 earthquake, standing in the city''s central park.
One of the tallest wooden buildings in the world, built without nails.
Red sandstone gorges three hours east, with the walkable Valley of Castles at the centre. A long day trip or a better overnight.
The nearest thing in Central Asia to the American southwest, and nearly empty.