Kazahstan trip report

Kazakhstan Trip Report

Duration: 12 days

Astana (2 days) → evening flight to Almaty (3 nights) → Saty / Kaindy Lake / Kolsai Lakes 1+2 (2 nights) → Charyn Canyon (1 night) → Basshi (1 night) → evening return to Almaty (3 nights)

Astana

We stayed at Hilton Garden Inn Astana — an excellent hotel. The city itself was something completely different: futuristic, extremely clean, and we definitely don’t regret visiting it. We highly recommend the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which is inexpensive and offers a great insight into the country. We mostly walked everywhere to see as much of the city as possible.

Almaty

We flew with Air Astana for around €70 (including 23 kg checked baggage and 8 kg carry-on). Great flight experience with in-flight entertainment and movies available.

From the airport we used Yandex Go to get to our Airbnb near Mega Park, located in a residential complex. It was exceptionally clean. Almaty is very walkable, green, and full of beautiful cafés and restaurants. We especially recommend visiting the Green Bazaar, which feels similar to Turkish bazaars — unless the smell of butchered meat bothers you.

Saty / Kaindy & Kolsai Lakes

We stayed at Kolsai Cozy Rest, booked through Booking.com. The host was incredibly kind, and dinner was also available there. We paid for everything by card.

A driver took us to Kaindy Lake, while we drove ourselves to Kolsai Lakes National Park and hiked to Lake No. 2. The trail is well marked, with around 700 meters of elevation gain. The round trip from the parking lot and back is about 16 km. Highly recommended.

Charyn Canyon

On the way back we stopped at Charyn Canyon — an absolute must-see. It resembles the Grand Canyon. We did the 5 km circular trail.

We stayed at Pana Charyn. The location is beautiful, but there was no hot water, it wasn’t particularly clean, and breakfast costs extra. In total it came to around €200, which felt extremely overpriced for what was offered.

Basshi / Altyn-Emel National Park

We stayed at Hotel Altyn Emel. It was very clean, the host was friendly, and overall it offered good value for money. The food, however, was not the best.

We drove into Altyn-Emel National Park to visit the Singing Dune. The road is in poor condition (unpaved) and it’s around 40 km one way. If possible, hire a driver.

Back to Almaty

On the return we stopped again in Almaty to return the car and do laundry. We stayed at Rahat Palace Hotel and treated ourselves a little — sauna, gym, a very unique central lobby area, friendly staff, and exceptional cleanliness.

We also visited Shymbulak, which you can easily reach with Yandex Go. We ate at Azul — interesting interior and beautiful presentation, but quite expensive.

Car Rental

We rented a car through Royal Autotravel. It was slightly more expensive, but very responsive and professional. We rented a Haval Jolion AWD for 6 days for around €400. We especially recommend Timbur, who handled everything quickly and smoothly.

Driving in Almaty is chaotic — you really have to force your way into traffic — but outside the city it was fine.

Payments

In Basshi, cash is essential as cards are generally not accepted and there are no ATMs. Everywhere else we mostly paid by card.

Transport in Cities

Yandex Go is an excellent option for getting around.

Stray Dogs

We saw some stray dogs in Almaty and in villages, but nowhere near the numbers you see in places like Tbilisi, Yerevan, or Istanbul.

People

People everywhere were incredibly kind — overall a fantastic experience.