First trip to Kazakhstan: a week in Almaty and its mountains

Seven days, two bases: Almaty and a village in the mountains

A first week works best with Almaty as the base and one move out of it. The city itself fills a day; three of the best-known sights around it are day trips with an early start; and the fourth, the Kolsai and Kaindy lakes with Charyn Canyon on the way back, is far enough east that a group tour sleeps two nights in the village of Saty. The route map shows the week; the Almaty day-trips guide covers each trip in detail.

• Day 1: land at Almaty International Airport and settle in; evening walk in the centre.
• Day 2: Big Almaty Lake with a guide, a walk of about 7 km each way from the road barrier.
• Day 3: the gondola from Medeu to Shymbulak and on towards the Talgar pass; if the lifts are closed for their autumn maintenance, take the Kok-Tobe cable car above the city instead.
• Day 4: Almaty city day: the Green Bazaar and Panfilov Park with the Ascension Cathedral. At 20:30 the Kolsai tour bus leaves from Abay Avenue 50 and reaches Saty after midnight.
• Day 5: Kaindy Lake in the morning, the Kolsai lakes in the afternoon, second night in Saty.
• Day 6: the Black Canyon, the Moon Canyon and Charyn’s Valley of Castles; back in Almaty about 19:00 for a last night.
• Day 7: fly home, or move on to Astana, Bishkek or Tashkent.
• Five days and four nights: stay in Almaty throughout; Skyway’s one-day Kolsai, Kaindy and Charyn program leaves at 04:40 and returns about 22:00–23:00, so allow a full long day.

The lake, the gondola and the canyon

Almaty is green and walkable, with the snow peaks of the Ile-Alatau range filling the end of most streets. In Panfilov Park stands the Ascension Cathedral, a painted wooden church 54 metres high, built from 1904 to 1907 almost without metal nails, which survived the 1911 earthquake that flattened much of the town. The Green Bazaar on Zhibek Zholy Street, open from 09:00 to 19:00, sells fruit, dried fruit, spices, meat, dairy and traditional Kazakh products, and is the easiest place to taste the horse-meat sausage and fermented milk drinks of the steppe; our Kazakhstan food guide explains what is what.

Big Almaty Lake is a turquoise reservoir in the Ile-Alatau National Park, south of the city. The road has been closed to private vehicles since 2020 because of its condition and the risk of rockfall, and only national-park and other service vehicles may drive it, so you reach the lake on foot: the guided day walk we price below covers about 7 km each way from the barrier. Carry your passport, because border guards check documents on the way.

From the Medeu valley a gondola climbs to Shymbulak, a ski resort at 2,260 m, and two further gondolas, Combi-1 and Combi-2, continue towards the Talgar pass. A walker’s return ticket from Medeu costs KZT 12,000 for adults and stops at Shymbulak; the 360° ticket (KZT 14,000) continues towards the pass, on Shymbulak’s official pedestrian tariff, read on 1 November 2026. The lifts close for maintenance in autumn, from 19 October to 1 November in 2026, with the main gondolas reopening on 2 November; on a closure day, the Kok-Tobe cable car covers 1,620 metres from Dostyk Avenue in six minutes to a viewpoint over the city, for KZT 10,000 return. The famous Medeu skating rink is closed for a reconstruction that the city plans to complete in the fourth quarter of 2027.

The independent charyn.kz guide estimates Charyn Canyon at about 200 km east of Almaty by road; a group tour is the practical choice for this itinerary. Its best-known part, the Valley of Castles, is a 3 km corridor of red and ochre rock towers, 200 to 700 metres wide, that you walk down to the Charyn River. The Kolsai lakes are three lakes, Lower, Middle and Upper, above Saty, where guest houses take most visitors, and Kaindy Lake, formed by an earthquake in 1911, still has the bare trunks of drowned spruce standing in the water. The group tour in our plan, run by Skyway, costs KZT 29,100, 33,400 or 48,400 a person by room type, with the bus, two nights in guest houses, meals, the off-road ride to Kaindy and the park fees included.

Adding Astana, Bishkek or Tashkent

Astana, the capital, is a different trip: a modern city on the northern steppe, worth two or three extra nights. The daily Talgo No. 9/10 links Almaty-2 with Nurly Zhol station in Astana overnight in 16 hours 39 minutes to 17 hours 24 minutes, and a compartment berth cost about KZT 16,700 to 25,200 for November and early December 2026 dates; FlyArystan, Air Astana’s low-cost airline, flies the route; the transport guide has the stations and the booking site. A flight is the quicker way in: FlyArystan’s route page puts Almaty–Astana flights at about two hours, with one-way fares from KZT 13,000 on its route page; on Air Astana’s fare calendar, read on 1 November 2026, the lowest one-way economy fares for November 2026 dates ran from about KZT 31,300 to 59,300, taxes included, from searches cached within 48 hours and subject to availability. Fly in from Almaty and fly home from Astana’s international airport. Two nights there cost about KZT 118,000 a person at mid-range level, before optional opera tickets, with the room, meals, the airport light rail, taxis and the main sights, as the Astana guide itemises it; with the FlyArystan fare the add-on comes to about KZT 131,000 a person (about £218).

Bishkek is about 240 km from Almaty by road through Korday on Weproject’s 26 March 2026 estimate. GoBus’s 5 November 2026 Nurdan-Tur buses from Sayran cost KGS 679 and list 175 minutes (2 hours 55 minutes); Bishkek’s clock is one hour ahead, and border waits can add time. The dated Weproject report estimated about 5 hours by bus, 4–5 hours by taxi and 55 minutes on Air Astana’s direct flight. Our Bishkek guide picks up from the border.

For Uzbekistan, the Talgo No. 1/2 leaves Almaty-2 every evening at 19:05 and reaches Tashkent at 12:58 the next day for the 20 November and 5 December 2026 departures checked on 1 November (17 hours 53 minutes), with tickets on sale 45 days ahead at 07:00 Astana time. Start the Silk Road from our Tashkent guide, or combine all three countries with the two-week Central Asia route.

What a first week costs, plus one extra lunch

These totals are for two adults sharing a double room in Almaty and shared guest-house rooms in Saty for the seven days and six nights above, with published room rates, local-menu prices and tour inclusions read on 1 November 2026, alongside explicitly dated secondary food estimates: four nights in an Almaty hotel, the two-night Kolsai tour, the Big Almaty Lake walk, the Shymbulak gondola, the priced Almaty meals, net of four Uyut breakfasts already in the mid-range room rate and the lunch supplied on the lake walk, an additional dinner after the tour returns to Almaty on day 6, transport in the city, two local SIM cards and a 10% buffer for snacks and tips. Budget means a simple city hotel, mid-range a mid-sized hotel in the centre, and comfort a suite in a large central hotel. Per person that is about KZT 32,000 a day on a budget (£53), KZT 45,000 mid-range (£75) and KZT 68,000 for comfort (£113), at the National Bank rate of 27 October 2026, GBP 1 = KZT 603. The trip cost guide itemises the same week line by line. Extra: lunch near Charyn on day 6, which the tour does not include.

• Rooms: published room rates used for two adults: KZT 30,000 a night on a budget, 51,000 mid-range and from 85,000 for comfort, for the four Almaty nights; Uyut includes breakfast. Budget breakfast is bought separately; comfort allows purchased breakfast pending the selected room tariff.
• Tours and sights: the Kolsai tour at KZT 29,100, 33,400 or 48,400 a person in shared rooms for three to six, three to five, or two to three respectively; the guided Big Almaty Lake walk at USD 120 a person for two (about KZT 54,000), with pick-up, lunch and park entry; and the gondola at KZT 12,000 or 14,000. The tour listings were read on 1 November 2026.
• Food: budget Almaty days allow KZT 8,000 each; mid-range days at Uyut allow KZT 13,572 for lunch and dinner because breakfast is in the room; comfort allows KZT 25,072 including a purchased breakfast allowance. The middle and comfort lunch is a specific Navat basket at KZT 6,072 per person including service. Other components use dated Almaty bills reported by Digital Business on 22 September 2025. Across the week, one mid-range breakfast is paid separately; five are paid at the other levels. Four lunches and six dinners are paid separately, including dinner back in Almaty on day 6 at KZT 3,000/7,500/10,000 each. Together the food lines are about KZT 82,000/144,000/259,000 for two. With hotel/tour breakfasts, the explicit tour meals and lake lunch, seven breakfasts, six lunches and seven dinners are covered; the seventh lunch near Charyn is extra because no local meal price is published in the linked sources.
• Getting around: city buses and the airport bus No. 92 at KZT 120 a ride on a budget; app taxis at the higher levels, priced on Yandex Go’s Almaty Economy tariff, which started at KZT 400 before demand coefficients and other surcharges on 1 November 2026.
• Flights: a London return is about £550 to £1,300 per person, from Turkish Airlines’ sample fares for November 2026 to January 2027. With the flight the week comes to about £920 to £1,670 per person on a budget, £1,070 to £1,820 mid-range and £1,340 to £2,090 for comfort. The unpriced lunch near Charyn on day 6 remains extra.

Entry, QazETA and registration

UK and EU passport holders can visit Kazakhstan without a visa for up to 30 days at a time, and no more than 90 days in any 180. Apply for QazETA, Kazakhstan’s free electronic travel authorisation, at qazeta.kz at least 72 hours before you fly. It reaches Almaty and Astana airports on 1 January 2027 and every other crossing on 1 March 2027, is voluntary until 30 June 2027 and is mandatory from 1 July 2027. Your hotel registers your arrival with the migration police within three working days. Declare cash worth more than USD 10,000 when arriving across the external EAEU border; the separate restriction on exporting foreign cash over USD 10,000 is in the entry guide. Passport validity rules differ by nationality; the entry guide has them, with the land-border rules.

Money, a SIM card and the apps to install

The currency is the tenge (KZT, ₸). Card payment and cash machines are widely available in Almaty and Astana, so a bank card covers most of the city; use machines inside banks, where skimming is less likely. Bring some euros or US dollars for the mountain villages and change them only at banks or official exchange offices, with your passport; booths may refuse damaged notes or US dollars printed before 2013. You will see Kaspi QR codes at almost every till: Kaspi is the local banking app, so do not count on paying that way and keep a card and some cash ready.

Kcell, Beeline, Tele2 and Altel all sell SIM cards to visitors with a passport; Kazakh Tourism suggests Kcell or Beeline for the mountains. A local SIM works for up to 30 days; after that it is blocked unless the phone’s IMEI number has been registered, so a one-week trip needs no IMEI verification. Install Yandex Go for taxis, which shows the fare before you book, and 2GIS for maps and bus routes, and buy an ONAY card at the airport for Almaty’s buses.

Customs, laws and the border zone

Kazakhs are proud of their hospitality, and Russian is spoken by most people; in large cities, staff in hotels, restaurants and travel agencies usually speak English. Carry original ID such as your passport or driving licence: police can ask for it, and copies are not accepted. Shops may not sell alcohol from 23:00 to 08:00, or drinks stronger than 30% from 21:00 to 12 noon; bars, restaurants and cafés are exempt. Drinking in the street can end in a fine or a night in a police cell. Photography is restricted near military sites, airports, border areas and some official buildings, sometimes without warning signs; follow local restrictions, and never post images that insult the flag or national symbols.

Foreigners need a permit (propusk) for a 25 km strip along all of Kazakhstan’s external borders, which takes in Big Almaty Lake, Shymbulak, Charyn and the Kolsai lakes, but these sites and their access roads stay open to tourists without one, so the route in this guide needs no permit. Off those access routes inside the 25 km border zone, a propusk is required from the migration police; issuance usually takes about 10 days, so arrange it in advance. A tour operator can help with the application.