Almaty
Kazakhstan · 800 m
Description
Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan and the one nearly every visitor arrives in, spread along the foot of the Trans-Ili Alatau where the steppe runs into a wall of four thousand metre peaks. The mountains are twenty minutes from the centre, which is the whole point of the place, and the skating rink at Medeu and the ski slopes at Shymbulak sit directly above the suburbs. Below them the Green Bazaar, the wooden Ascension Cathedral and the Soviet boulevards fill a grid of poplars and irrigation channels. Winter brings snow to the slopes and a heavy inversion haze to the city.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 2 to 7 days (optimal 4 days)
Travel season
Best time to visit: May – June or September
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Kok-Tobe hill and its cable car
- Green Bazaar
- Medeu skating rink and dam
- Shymbulak ski slopes above the city
- Wooden Ascension Cathedral in Panfilov Park
- Panfilov Park and the Memorial of Glory
- Central State Museum of Kazakhstan
- Zhibek Zholy pedestrian street
- Big Almaty Lake in its moraine bowl(Day trip)
- Almaty Central Mosque
- Kasteev State Museum of Arts
- Kok-Zhailau and Furmanov Peak hikes(Day trip)
- Turgen gorge waterfalls(Day trip)
- Sunkar falcon centre(Day trip)
Getting there
- Airports:
- ALA
- Train stations:
- Almaty-2, Almaty-1