Almaty: Zenkov Cathedral, Kok-Tobe and the mountains in three nights

Three nights near Panfilov Park

Stay in the old centre, the grid of streets between Panfilov Park, the Green Bazaar and Abay Avenue, and keep one room for all three nights. Hotel Uyut (Gogol Street 127/1, at the corner of Seifullin Avenue) lists a standard double at KZT 51,000 a night, with breakfast. Hotel Almaty (Kabanbay Batyr Street 85), in the centre, lists its Premium Deluxe suite of 43 square metres from KZT 85,000 a night. Both rates were on the hotels' own sites on 27 October 2026.

Your hotel registers your arrival with the migration police within three working days, also for visa-free visitors. Our entry guide gives the visa-free stay for your passport.

Day one: Panfilov Park, the cathedral, the Green Bazaar and Kok-Tobe

Begin in Panfilov Park, the park of the 28 Panfilov Guardsmen, which honours the soldiers of the 316th Rifle Division who fought before Moscow in the Second World War. It is open round the clock and free, and its bronze war memorial is one of the city's landmarks.

Zenkov Cathedral, the Ascension Cathedral, rises in the middle of the park: a yellow wooden church with painted domes, 54 metres high, built between 1904 and 1907 almost without metal nails. It survived the 1911 earthquake that destroyed much of Verny, as Almaty was then called, and is an active Orthodox church. Entry is free, and Kazakh Tourism lists visiting hours of 10:00–16:00. Dress modestly and keep your voice down during services. At Zenkov Street 24, the Ykhlas Museum of Folk Musical Instruments shows dombras, kobyzes and sybyzgy flutes.

Walk north to the Green Bazaar (Kok Bazar), Zhibek Zholy Street 53, open 09:00–19:00. Its hall is a market of fruit, dried fruit, spices, vegetables, dairy and meat. From the bazaar, walk west along Zhibek Zholy, whose pedestrian stretch is known as the Arbat, to the Zhibek Zholy metro station.

Keep the evening for Kok-Tobe, the hill on the south-eastern edge of the centre that rises to 1,100 metres above sea level. The cable car leaves from Dostyk Avenue 104B and covers 1,620 metres in six minutes; at the top are views over the city to the Ile-Alatau range, restaurants and fairground rides. An adult ticket is KZT 6,000 one way or KZT 10,000 return, a child of 6–12 pays KZT 3,000 or KZT 5,000. The cable car runs Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday 10:00–22:00, Tuesday 13:00–22:00, and Friday, Saturday and public holidays 10:00–23:00. A park minibus also climbs from Omarova Street 41 (KZT 2,000 one way, KZT 3,000 return) and from Dostyk Avenue (KZT 3,000 or KZT 4,000). The cable car closes for maintenance for a week or a month at a time, as it did from 29 September to 1 November 2025 and from 5 to 12 April 2026; the operator posts closures on its news page.

Day two: Medeu and the gondola to Shymbulak

Medeu is the high-mountain speed-skating rink above the city, at 1,691 metres, with an ice surface of more than 10,000 square metres on which over 200 world records have been set. Above it stands the dam built against mudflows. The rink is closed for a reconstruction that the city plans to complete in the fourth quarter of 2027, so there is no public skating until then. Medeu is still the base station of the gondola, and city bus No. 12 runs up the valley to it.

From Medeu a gondola climbs to Shymbulak, the ski resort at 2,260 metres, whose upper lifts reach about 3,200 metres. In summer the resort is a base for walking and cycling, and the gondola is a quick way into the high mountains. A walker’s ticket from Medeu costs KZT 7,000 one way or KZT 12,000 return for an adult, and the 360° ticket, which continues on the Combi-1 and Combi-2 gondolas, KZT 14,000, on the resort’s tariff read on 1 November 2026 (adults aged 15 and over). The resort closed the Medeu–Shymbulak, Combi-1 and Combi-2 lifts for maintenance from 19 October to 1 November 2026, with reopening announced for 2 November; the start of the ski season still depends on the weather. If your mountain day falls in a closure, spend it at Big Almaty Lake instead: private cars stop at a barrier and the last 7 km are a walk of 2.5 to 4 hours up, and a guided day walk costs USD 120 a person for two, with pick-up, lunch and park entry on Zabugorshiki’s listing read on 1 November 2026.

Weather in the mountains changes fast, snow can fall at altitude even in summer, and avalanches, landslides and rockfall are real risks. The UK Foreign Office notes that Almaty's 24-hour mountain rescue services are based in the Shymbulak gorge and at Big Almaty Lake, and that the Almaty emergency numbers are 109 or 112. Our day trips from Almaty guide covers Big Almaty Lake, Charyn Canyon and the Kolsai lakes. Other governments may advise differently, so check your own government’s travel advice before booking.

Day three: the National Central Museum and the metro

The National Central Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan (formerly the Central State Museum), Samal-1 microdistrict 44, near Republic Square, is the country's great history museum. Founded in 1931, it holds more than 300,000 objects on the country's history and culture. Foreign visitors pay KZT 5,000 for all halls without a guide, or KZT 10,000 with a guided tour in Kazakh, Russian or English. The museum is open 09:00–18:00 with the ticket desk closing at 17:30, and it is closed on Tuesdays.

Ride the metro afterwards, if only for its stations. The single line runs from Raiymbek Batyr to Bauyrzhan Momyshuly through Zhibek Zholy, Almaly, Abay and Sayran, 06:20–00:00. A single-day token costs KZT 120; a reusable card costs KZT 180 and is topped up at KZT 120 a ride, and bank cards and ONAY transport cards work at the gates. City buses also charge KZT 120 and take no cash, with payment by ONAY card, text message or the transport app; bank cards are an option on the metro.

Taxis are best ordered through an app or a licensed service rather than flagged down in the street, as the UK Foreign Office advises. On 31 October 2026, Yandex Go's Almaty Economy tariff started at KZT 400 for the first kilometre and three minutes; the app shows the current fare before you book.

Airport, trains and onward to Bishkek, Tashkent and Astana

Almaty International Airport (ALA) is served by daytime bus No. 92 from terminals T1 and T2 to Mamyr 2 microdistrict, 06:00–23:00, and night bus No. 3 to Orbita-2, 23:00–06:00. Both cost KZT 120, paid with an ONAY card sold in international arrivals on the first floor; there is no rail link. Taxi Point, the airport's official taxi service, works round the clock at fixed fares by car category from the first floor of the international terminal, near exits A and B.

To Astana. The daily Talgo No. 9 leaves Almaty-2 at 16:57 and reaches Nurly Zhol station in Astana at 09:36 the next morning, 16 hours 39 minutes later, with stops at Sary-Shagan, Akadyr and Karaganda; No. 10 leaves Nurly Zhol at 21:03 and arrives at Almaty-2 at 14:27, after 17 hours 24 minutes. On bilet.railways.kz, read on 1 November 2026 for departures from 10 November to 5 December 2026, a seat cost about KZT 7,100 to 8,500, a compartment berth about KZT 16,700 to 25,200 and Lux about KZT 25,600 to 30,400, depending on the date; the operator’s May 2026 list also named the No. 3/4 pair. Through Talgo services also stop in Astana: on 20 November 2026, No. 119 to Kostanay was timetabled at 16 hours 6 minutes from Almaty-2 to Astana. FlyArystan puts the two cities more than 1,000 km apart. By air the trip takes about 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours, by FlyArystan's route pages, which list one-way fares from KZT 13,000, and on Air Astana's fare calendar, read on 1 November 2026, the lowest one-way economy fare for each November date ran from about KZT 31,300 to 59,300 from Almaty and KZT 29,900 to 57,700 from Astana, taxes and surcharges included; these are cached quotes from the preceding 48 hours and depend on availability. Our Astana guide covers the capital.

To Tashkent, Talgo 1 leaves Almaty-2 at 19:05 and reaches Tashkent at 12:58 local time the following day, a 17-hour-53-minute journey on KTZ's departures for 20 November and 5 December 2026, read on 1 November. Online sales open 45 days ahead at 07:00 Astana time and close ten minutes before departure. Book on bilet.railways.kz; our Tashkent guide picks up the trip on the Uzbek side.

To Bishkek, the road crosses into Kyrgyzstan at Korday, one of the country's international road checkpoints. Crossings can close at short notice; the Kazakhstan transport guide has the buses from Sayran.

What three nights cost, all in

About KZT 174,000 per person, KZT 348,000 for two, at mid-range level, for three nights and three days in the city, with the room, every meal, airport taxis, the ride up to Medeu, Kok-Tobe, the Shymbulak gondola, the museum, two local SIM cards and a 10% buffer.

These figures are for two adults sharing one room for three nights outside the New Year and holiday peaks, at Hotel Uyut's standard double (KZT 51,000 a night) for mid-range and Hotel Almaty's Premium Deluxe suite (from KZT 85,000) for comfort, both read on 27 October 2026. At the National Bank of Kazakhstan's rate for 27 October 2026, KZT 174,000 is about EUR 340 or GBP 290.

At mid-range, breakfast is included in Hotel Uyut’s room rate. The food model adds three Navat lunches and three Orta dinners per person: a lunch for two is KZT 12,144 including the menu’s 10% service charge (two 500 g lagmans, a shared salad, bread and tea), or KZT 6,072 each; the dinner allowance is KZT 7,500 each, Orta’s average bill reported by Digital Business on 22 September 2025. Comfort allows about KZT 25,072 per person a day, including a purchased-breakfast allowance unless the selected Hotel Almaty tariff includes it. The menu and hotel inclusion were read on 1 November 2026. Getting around is about KZT 3,000 each way by Yandex Go Economy between the airport and the centre, about KZT 2,000 each way to Medeu, and short rides and the metro in town. Sights are the Kok-Tobe return at KZT 10,000 each, the walker’s return ticket on the Medeu–Shymbulak gondola at KZT 12,000 each, and the museum at KZT 5,000 each (KZT 10,000 with the guided tour at comfort level). Two local SIM cards are about KZT 5,000 each. The flight is the only cost on top: a London return is estimated at about £550–1,300 per person from Turkish Airlines’ dated economy-return offers read on 1 November 2026; cached fares can change and optional charges apply.

• Rooms: KZT 153,000 for two at the mid-range level, three nights.
• Food and drinks: KZT 81,000 for two.
• Getting around: KZT 18,000 for two, of which the airport taxis are KZT 6,000.
• Sights: KZT 54,000 for two.
• SIM cards: KZT 10,000 for two.
• 10% buffer: KZT 32,000 for two.