How much does a week in Kazakhstan cost? Three budgets for two

The totals, plus one extra lunch

These totals price seven days on the ground, with the lunch below extra: four hotel nights in Almaty, the two-night group tour to the Kolsai lakes, Kaindy and Charyn with its guest houses and meals, a guided day walk to Big Almaty Lake, the gondola from Medeu to Shymbulak, the other priced meals, including dinner back in Almaty on day 6, buses and taxis, two local SIM cards and a 10% buffer for snacks, tips and small extras. The flight from London is separate and priced at the end. We use the National Bank of Kazakhstan’s official rates for 27 October 2026: USD 1 = KZT 451.05, EUR 1 = KZT 504.95 and GBP 1 = KZT 603.05. Totals are rounded to KZT 1,000 and pounds to £10, so the parts may differ from a total by one unit. Per person and per day that is about KZT 32,000 on a budget (£53), 45,000 mid-range (£75) and 68,000 for comfort (£113). Extra: lunch near Charyn on day 6, which the tour does not include.

The week this budget covers

Two adults travel for 7 days and 6 nights, sharing one double room in Almaty and the published shared guest-house rooms on the Saty tour, following the week in our first-trip guide. Day 1: arrive in Almaty. Day 2: a guided walk to Big Almaty Lake, whose road has been closed to private vehicles since 2020. Day 3: the gondola from Medeu to Shymbulak, which closes for maintenance for about two weeks in autumn (19 October to 1 November in 2026). Day 4: the city, then the Kolsai tour bus at 20:30. Days 5 and 6: Kaindy and the Kolsai lakes, then the Black Canyon, the Moon Canyon and Charyn’s Valley of Castles, back in Almaty about 19:00 for dinner and a last night. Lunch near Charyn that day is the unpriced extra below; dinner back in Almaty is in the food total. Day 7: fly home.

Room rates are the standard rates the hotels publish on their own sites, read on 1 November 2026, alongside both tour packages. Uyut includes breakfast, so its four breakfasts are not charged again; Da Vinci excludes it. The comfort food line allows purchased breakfasts because Hotel Almaty’s linked room tariff does not specify inclusion; confirm the selected tariff. The tour is Skyway’s three-day group trip, sold on the kino.kz booking site; its price covers the bus, two nights in Saty guest houses, the program’s two breakfasts, one lunch and one dinner, the off-road ride to Kaindy, the national-park fees and a guide. The published sanitation and maintenance service components are KZT 865 per person per day for Kolsai and Charyn (0.2 of the 2026 MRP), and about KZT 649 for Ile-Alatau (0.15 MRP). Both operators include park entry in their package prices, so no separate fee is added here. That walk also includes lunch on the trail. Skyway advertises a double-room upgrade at +KZT 2,000 but does not say whether that is per room or per person; the budget below uses its published shared-room packages.

There is no visa fee: UK and EU passport holders can visit for up to 30 days without a visa. Apply for QazETA, Kazakhstan's free electronic travel authorisation, at qazeta.kz at least 72 hours before you enter. 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. The entry guide has the rules for each passport. Cards work widely in Almaty, so the budget assumes you pay most things by card and carry some cash for the villages.

Budget: about KZT 448,000 for two

This level uses a simple city hotel, cheap Kazakh fast food and canteens, the Basic package of the Kolsai tour, buses wherever they run and a taxi only to and from the tour bus.

• Rooms, about KZT 120,000. Hotel Da Vinci on Al-Farabi Avenue, a Standard room at KZT 30,000 a night for the four Almaty nights; breakfast is not included.
• Food, about KZT 82,000. Five ordinary Almaty food days at an estimated KZT 8,000 each, less the KZT 2,200 lake-walk lunch supplied per person, plus an estimated KZT 3,000 dinner each back in Almaty on day 6: five paid breakfasts at KZT 1,500, four paid lunches at Bauyrdaq’s KZT 2,200 reported average bill, six simple Almaty dinners at about KZT 3,000 and five days of tea and water at KZT 1,300. The simple-dinner estimate uses the same Almaty basis as the other five evenings, around the local bills Digital Business reported on 22 September 2025, re-read on 1 November 2026. The tour supplies two breakfasts, one lunch and one dinner in its explicit program; lunch near Charyn on day 6 is extra.
• Getting around, about KZT 5,000. Airport bus No. 92 both ways and bus No. 12 to Medeu and back at KZT 120 a ride, eight more city bus boardings for the pair (four each), and two taxis of about KZT 1,500 to and from the tour’s meeting point at Abay Avenue 50, the evening start and the late return, priced on Yandex Go’s Economy tariff as listed on 1 November 2026 (from KZT 400, then up to KZT 58 a km and 27 a minute, before demand coefficients and other surcharges).
• Sights and tours, about KZT 190,000. The Kolsai tour’s Basic package at KZT 29,100 each, with guest-house rooms for three to six people and an outdoor toilet; the guided Big Almaty Lake walk at USD 120 each for a party of two (about KZT 108,000 for both), with hotel pick-up, lunch and park entry; and the walkers’ gondola ticket from Medeu at KZT 12,000 return each. Both tour listings were read on 1 November 2026.
• SIM and extras, about KZT 10,000. Two local SIM cards with a month of data, about KZT 5,000 each, an estimate from operators’ monthly tariffs of about KZT 2,700 to 8,000 in January 2026. A local SIM works for 30 days without registering the phone’s IMEI, so the week needs no IMEI verification fee.
• Buffer, about KZT 41,000.

Mid-range: about KZT 633,000 for two

This level uses a mid-sized hotel in the centre, sit-down Kazakh restaurants, the Standard tour package with guest-house rooms shared by three to five people, and app taxis for most journeys.

• Rooms, about KZT 204,000. Hotel Uyut on Gogol Street, a Standard room at KZT 51,000 a night for two, for four nights. Breakfast buffet is included in this room tariff.
• Food, about KZT 144,000. One paid breakfast at about KZT 2,500 per person, four Navat lunches at KZT 6,072 each including service and six Orta dinners estimated at KZT 7,500 each give KZT 143,576 for two. Four breakfasts per person are already in the Uyut room tariff. The Navat case is two 500 g Guyru lagmans at 3,400 each, one salad 1,750, bread 590 and a teapot 1,900: 11,040 plus 10% service, 12,144 for two. Orta’s bill is a dated Almaty estimate reported by Digital Business on 22 September 2025. The tour’s two breakfasts, one lunch and one dinner and the lake-walk lunch are included in their tour prices; the unpriced Charyn lunch on day 6 is extra.
• Getting around, about KZT 19,000. Airport app taxis are estimated at KZT 3,000 each way, above the illustrative KZT 2,631 base calculation for 20 km/35 minutes before demand coefficients and other surcharges; the total also includes six city taxis at about KZT 1,500, two taxis for the tour and bus No. 12 to Medeu and back.
• Sights and tours, about KZT 199,000. The Kolsai tour’s Standard package at KZT 33,400 each, with rooms for three to five people and a shared indoor shower and toilet; the same Big Almaty Lake walk with lunch and park entry, and the same gondola as the budget level. The two Saty nights use these shared rooms.
• SIM and extras, about KZT 10,000.
• Buffer, about KZT 58,000.

Comfort: about KZT 958,000 for two

This level uses a suite in the historic Hotel Almaty, better restaurants, the Comfort tour package with rooms for two or three, the 360° gondola ticket and taxis everywhere.

• Rooms, about KZT 340,000. Hotel Almaty on Kabanbay Batyr Street, a Premium Deluxe suite of 43 sq m from KZT 85,000 a night, for four nights. The published room rate does not specify breakfast; the food budget allows for it separately, so deduct that allowance if your chosen tariff includes it.
• Food, about KZT 259,000. Five breakfasts estimated at KZT 4,000 per person, four Navat lunches at KZT 6,072 each including service, six Tal dinners estimated at KZT 10,000 each and five days of drinks at KZT 5,000 give KZT 258,576 for two. The Navat basket is itemised at the middle level. Tal’s KZT 5,000–10,000 range comes from Digital Business’s 22 September 2025 Almaty report; the breakfast and drinks components are planning estimates around those local bills. The lake-walk lunch and explicit Skyway meals are in their tour prices.
• Getting around, about KZT 29,000. Taxis to and from the airport, a taxi to Medeu and back at about KZT 2,500 each way, about ten city rides and the two taxis for the tour.
• Sights and tours, about KZT 233,000. The Kolsai tour’s Comfort package at KZT 48,400 each, with rooms for two or three people and private bathrooms subject to availability; the Big Almaty Lake walk with lunch and park entry; and the Shymbulak Ticket 360° at KZT 14,000 return each, which covers Combi-1 and Combi-2 above the resort.
• SIM and extras, about KZT 10,000.
• Buffer, about KZT 87,000.

One day at each level

Day 3 is the Shymbulak day: bus No. 12 or a taxi to Medeu, the gondola up, a walk at the top and back to Almaty. Costs are per person and include half of the room.

• Budget, about KZT 39,000. Half of the Da Vinci room (KZT 15,000), food (KZT 8,000), the gondola (KZT 12,000) and two bus rides make about KZT 35,000; with the 10% buffer, about KZT 39,000.
• Mid-range, about KZT 56,000. Half the Uyut room including breakfast (KZT 25,500), lunch and dinner (KZT 13,572), the gondola (KZT 12,000) and two bus rides (KZT 240) give about KZT 51,000; with the 10% buffer, about KZT 56,000.
• Comfort, about KZT 92,000. Half of the Hotel Almaty suite (KZT 42,500), food (KZT 25,072), the 360° ticket (KZT 14,000) and half of the taxi to Medeu and back (KZT 2,500) make about KZT 84,000; with the buffer, about KZT 92,000.

Flights and the total with the flight, plus the extra lunch

Turkish Airlines’ London–Almaty page, read on 1 November 2026, shows economy returns of GBP 558–1,304 across sample dates from November 2026 to January 2027, including London airports LHR, LGW and STN. These are searches cached within 48 hours, subject to availability, with optional products extra. Allow about £550–1,300 per person for a London return (about KZT 332,000–784,000). These sample dates are in winter; summer fares can be higher, so check your own dates. Added to the ground totals, the trip comes to the figures below, plus the unpriced return-day lunch near Charyn.

Adding Astana means a Talgo train or a flight each way and two or three nights in the capital; the transport guide compares the two. The daily Talgo No. 9/10 takes 16 hours 39 minutes to 17 hours 24 minutes overnight, and a compartment berth cost about KZT 16,700 to 25,200 for November and early December 2026 dates. A flight is the quicker way: FlyArystan’s route page puts Almaty–Astana flights at about two hours, with one-way fares from KZT 13,000 on its route page, and 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, cached within 48 hours and subject to availability. Two nights in Astana 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, so the add-on with the FlyArystan fare comes to about KZT 131,000 a person (about £218). Fly home from Astana’s international airport to avoid the return leg. Continuing to Bishkek by bus or to Tashkent on the evening Talgo replaces the flight home from Almaty with an onward leg.