Aktau
Kazakhstan · Mangystau Region · 20 m
Description
Aktau stands on a limestone shelf above the Caspian and was built from nothing in the nineteen sixties for the uranium and the oil, which is why it has no street names at all and addresses run by microdistrict number. The town is a grid of Soviet blocks with a long seafront and beaches that fill in high summer. Its water comes from a desalination plant. What people actually come for is behind it, the underground mosques, the salt flats and the chalk cliffs of the Mangystau desert, and Aktau is the only place to hire the vehicle for them.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 2 to 6 days (optimal 3 days)
Travel season
Best time to visit: April – May or September – October
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Caspian seafront promenade
- Karagiye depression below sea level(Day trip)
- Shakpak-Ata rock-cut underground mosque(Day trip)
- City beaches below the cliffs (June - September)
- Lighthouse mounted on an apartment block
- Zhygylgan collapse and its fossil footprints(Day trip)
- Torysh field of stone spheres(Day trip)
- Sherkala mountain and the Ayrakty valley(Day trip)
- Beket-Ata pilgrimage mosque at Oglandy(Multi-day trip)
- Mangystau regional museum
Getting there
- Airports:
- SCO