Kazakhstan-Almaty 🇰🇿 A 7 day Itinerary
A 7 day Itinerary of Almaty Kazakhstan 🇰🇿
Here’s a personal itinerary followed by me during my trip to Almaty
Day 1 - Arrival
I arrived Almaty at around 15:30 hrs and settled down after converting cash and buying a SIM card. After a quick meal at the Russian McDonald’s outlet, I went for a walk around the city and called it a day.
Tip: Carry US dollars as they have good exchange rates here and make sure you get a SIM card as it’s needed when you travel around.
MOUNTAINS OF TAJIKASTAN
Day 2- City tour
First thing after waking up I tried some Samsa (A bun stuffed with meat) and a nice cold bottle of Fuse Tea, which is amazing.
As I had planned to do the lake tours tonight, I headed to Onyx tours office to book the same as they require cash or Kaspi (Similar to Google Pay) After securing a spot I hopped on a bus that took me to Kok Tobe. Kok Tobe hill is where you can enjoy panoramic views of the city. Don't miss the opportunity to ride the cable car and explore different activities at the top. I would suggest you to book the cable car trip for just one way and the other way you can hike back down and enjoy the breathtaking view of the city.
Later I took a walk to Panfilov Park, Zenkov Cathedral, Almaty Central Mosque and Green Bazaar which is quite famous in the city.
KOK TOBE
ALMATY CENTRAL MOSQUE
ZENKOV CATHEDRAL
After a long day I had a hot shower and reached the meeting point of the tour that started at 21:00 hrs. Saty village was around 4-5 hours away from the city so took a nap, interacted with strangers and enjoyed the ride to the village. We then arrived at the village around 2 am and had a sound sleep in one of the villagers house.
HOMESTAY IN THE VILLAGE OF SATY
Day 3 - Exploring the Lakes
It’s morning!!! What an amazing view, the village is surrounded by mountains which I can’t explain. We had some authentic Kazak breakfast and headed out to our first destination ,Kaindy Lake……❤️
KAINDY LAKE
Pictures and videos can’t do justice cause you have to be there to experience the breathtaking view of nature.
After a hike to the viewpoints of the lake, we got back to the village of Saty for some lunch and some rest.
We then headed to our second destination for the day, Kolsai Lake. Thought of Taylor Swift cause “This scene feels like what I once saw on a screen” 🙌
KOLSAI LAKE
After a long trek to the end of Kolsai lake 1 ( We didn’t have time to trek to Kolsai Lake 2 as it required approx 4-5 hours back and forth but if you have time it’s a must) We then headed back to Saty village and to our surprise we were invited for a bonfire and some music organised by the tour operator (Join Me Asia). We enjoyed few drinks and some snacks and slept off to a tiring day.
Jimmy Jimmy Aja Aja 🤭
Day 4 - A visit to the Canyons
Eat sleep trek repeat, we woke up to another amazing day where we see the canyons. After breakfast we headed to our first destination the Black Canyon - Valley of Death.
BLACK CANYON
We then took a rocket to the moon 🚀Just kidding this canyon looks like a moon.
MOON CANYON
The final and the most beautiful destination was the Charyn Canyon - Valley of Castles and a trek to the Charyn River.
After a 40 mins hike, we enjoyed some packed lunch at the riverside.
CHARYN CANYON
CHARYN RIVER
After a packed 2 day trip we were on our way back to the city of Almaty where we fell off to sleep and after saying goodbye to the awesome people I met, I booked a hostel and crashed after dinner.
Onyx tours - +7 777 730 6598
Join Me Asia - +7 777 299 9767
WAKING UP TO THIS VIEW (SATY VILLAGE)
Day 5 - Shymbulak Ski Resort
After a good sleep, I woke up early as I wanted to get to this place before the crowd. Shymbulak Ski Resort
After a heavy breakfast, I took a bus to Shymbulak to experience some snow.
Tip: Carry warm clothes as the temperature turns to minus when you ascend to the second level.
I booked a cable car both ways as it was too cold to trek for 4-5 hours. (Cable car both ways + the chair lift both ways to the second level costed me 7,000 tenge)
MEDEU
After surviving the freezing cold, I had some nice food at a restaurant named La Skala.
LA SKALA
CABLE CAR AND CHAIR LIFT
After descending, I still had the rest of the day to explore the city when I thought let’s do this!!!! As suggested by Courtney and Koen( the people I met during the lake tour)…. If you’re going back to the city you have to try Arasan Welness and spa. I was clueless at first thinking it’s a massage place but boy oh boy before I tell you what’s this about you have to have an open mind and just visit this place.
ARASAN WELLNESS AND SPA (Interior)
This place has 2 floors with pools, saunas, ice baths. Unfortunately you can’t record due to privacy reasons. When you enter you gotta pay for a towel, slippers and a bedsheet. They then give you a locker and a wrist band to track your expenses.
Once you’re done with the treatments you head out scan your wrist band and pay the bill.
I experienced a lower body massage and a face scrub but once its done and you’re out you will long for more. It’s a shy experience but a must try.
My expense - I spent around 18,000 tenge for everything which is quite reasonable as compared to the standard of a famous spa.
ARASAN WELLNESS AND SPA
I then got back to my hostel with body pain and sore muscles had some noodles interacted with a beautiful lady from Aktobe who runs a business and got to know a lot about the countries culture. Post a long conversation I fell off to sleep
Check her page out on Instagram @anel.collection_
Day 6 - It’s a snowy day
So it’s the day of some adventure. It’s time for Big Almaty Lake!!!
Headed to Doners for some breakfast but you can never expect only breakfast as the wrap was my breakfast, lunch and dinner haha 😛
I was in touch with a guy named Roman who organises these electric bike tours from the checkpoint of Big Almaty Lake. Electric bike? Don’t get me wrong these are heavy duty electric bikes that go around 80-90 kmph that have different modes like ECO and Sport.
At first I thought it’s gonna be a chill ride up to the lake but the weather that day made it difficult for not only riders but for tourists who were trekking to the lake too. It was snowing like hell on that day and the ride was slippery and difficult.
After riding uphill for like 90 mins we reached the point where you can get a clear view of Big Almaty Lake but unfortunately we couldn’t see a thing.
Not only the ride up was challenging but it was soo cold I was literally freezing. I couldn’t feel my hands and legs as the snow had covered my shoes.
After taking few stops while returning back we finally made it to the check point fully covered in snow and my fellow riders ( A sweet couple) offered to drop me back to my hostel as the weather was really bad.
I still couldn’t feel my legs as the snow had melted in my shoes but once I got to my hostel I had a hot shower for like 40 mins straight just sitting there thinking what a wild experience this was and that I made it 🙌
After getting warm I went out to get some famous Kazakhstan chocolates as I was leaving to my next destination in the morning.
Found a fancy street bar Friends Pub so stopped for a glass of beer 🍻
Slept off that sad night but I made up my mind, I’ll surely be back to Kazakhstan soon 🇰🇿❤️
Day 7 - Goodbye 👋🏻
Woke up early and took a Yandex to the airport. Had my breakfast at the airport itself and waited to board my flight with all the memories rushing through my mind.
FEW IMPORTANT THINGS
1) Carry US dollars as you get a good conversion rate at money exchanges or local banks. Local Currency - 1 USD is 473 tenge
2) Carry multiple debit and credit cards as ATMs are easily available in the city of Almaty
3) Carry a power bank, which I didn’t :( as it will save up time or else you will have to stop at restaurants or cafés to charge your devices.
4) Download Yandex Go, 2Gis, Yandex maps and Yandex translate as it will be very useful for you to get around in the country as the language commonly spoke here is Russian.
5) You can book hostels, hotels and flights at a reasonable price from Hostel world or Agoda.
I booked my stay from Agoda and Hostel World with free cancellation - Here’s a link to book yours:
1) Hostel World - Explore the worlds best hostels.
2) Agoda - Book Hotels and Flights
6) Indian passport holders do not require a visa to visit Kazakhstan for a period of 14 days
7) FlyArystan are launching direct flights from Mumbai to Almaty from 23rd November 2023 that will cost you around 6.5k per way with a carry on bag of 5kgs.
8) Book a tour to the lakes as Kolsai, Kaindy and Charyn Canyon are more than 280kms away from the city and it gets difficult to travel on your own specially if you have limited number of days.
9) The people here are very friendly and welcoming so if you hitchhike make sure you tip them a bit.
10) The weather here is quite pleasant during the day but it gets cold at night so make sure you carry some warm clothes.
Here’s are the hostels I stayed at during my trip
1) Wanderlust Hostel Almaty
2) ART Hostel - Almaty
Conclusion: I had a great time exploring Almaty in Kazakhstan and I hope to explore other cities too in the near future. So if you’re a nature lover and want to explore an offbeat country just book a flight to Almaty and start exploring 🇰🇿❤️
You can contact me for more details and tips here:
Instagram: Krehl_96
Email: Krehl96@gmail.com
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