Which canyons are there besides the Valley of Castles?

The system includes Bestamak, Temirlik and Kurtu. Temirlik is the largest: 11 km long, up to 1.5 km wide and up to 160 m deep.

Why does almost nobody go there?

The Valley of Castles is closer, equipped and well known. The other canyons need separate logistics, which we have not yet verified.

Where is Temirlik Canyon?

On the border of Uygur and Enbekshikazakh districts of Almaty Region, about 240 km from Almaty, on the Temirlik River, a right tributary of the Charyn.

What is the Kurtogay tract?

A section of the canyon on the Charyn River near the bridge, about 200 km east of Almaty, known for jagged ridges and peaks and a grove of turanga poplar.

Can I drive to the quiet canyons in any car?

We have not checked the access roads. Across the whole park, driving is allowed only on public roads and designated excursion roads.

Why is Temirlik called the Nightingale Canyon?

Naturalist P. I. Marikovsky gave it the name: in his description, birdsong is the tract’s main ‘symphony’.

Bestamak, Temirlik and Kurtu: the canyons without crowds

Q: Does the park have a route to Temirlik?

Yes. In June 2026 Kazakhstan’s Committee for Forestry and Wildlife listed ‘Temirlik — the Small Canyon’ among the park’s four visitor routes.

The Charyn system is more than the Valley of Castles. Temirlik runs 11 km and reaches 160 metres deep, and almost nobody goes there.

Charyn is not one canyon but a system. The Valley of Castles is the famous part, but it accounts for three kilometres out of 154 kilometres of total length. In short: the largest of the quiet canyons is Temirlik (11 km, up to 160 m deep, about 240 km from Almaty), and the park now has a “Temirlik — the Small Canyon” route; Kurtogay lies by the bridge over the Charyn; for Bestamak and Kurtu there is almost no reliable data.

The system also includes canyons that almost nobody visits: Bestamak, Temirlik and Kurtu.

The canyons of the system: what is known

Sources list the canyons differently. English Wikipedia names five — the Valley of Castles, Temirlik, Yellow, Red and Bestamak — plus smaller canyons and tracts, Kurtogay and Tazbas. Its article on the national park also mentions Aktogay Canyon further downstream. Park materials name Bestamak, Temirlik and Kurtu.

Canyon	What is known	Source
Valley of Castles	3 km, 200–700 m wide, equipped descent	park materials
Temirlik	11 km, up to 1.5 km wide, up to 160 m deep, about 240 km from Almaty	Wikipedia
Kurtogay	by the bridge over the Charyn, about 200 km east of Almaty, jagged ridges	Wikipedia
Aktogay	follows the river below Charyn Canyon	English Wikipedia
Red, Yellow	named in the list of the system’s canyons	English Wikipedia
Bestamak, Kurtu	named only	park materials

Temirlik

The largest of the quiet ones. The tract runs 11 kilometres, reaches up to one and a half kilometres wide, and the gorge is up to 160 metres deep.

For comparison, the Valley of Castles is 3 kilometres long and 200–700 metres wide. Temirlik is noticeably more spacious and noticeably emptier.

The tract lies on the Temirlik River, a right tributary of the Charyn, on the border of Uygur and Enbekshikazakh districts, about 240 km from Almaty. Naturalist P. I. Marikovsky called it the Nightingale Canyon, after the birdsong that dominates it. According to Wikipedia, the present shape of the gorge took form about a million years ago — a figure guidebooks often apply to all of Charyn; see how Charyn Canyon was formed.

The main recent change: in June 2026 the Committee for Forestry and Wildlife listed “Temirlik — the Small Canyon” among the park’s four visitor routes. So Temirlik is no longer only the “wild” option; it is a route the park itself lists.

Near Temirlik, Early Iron Age kurgans by the road to Shonzhy village are on the state list of monuments. More on the area’s archaeology in burial mounds and kurgans.

Kurtogay

A tract of Charyn Canyon on the river itself, right by the bridge over the Charyn, about 200 km east of Almaty. Wikipedia describes it as set apart from neighbouring canyons by jagged ridges and peaks; Pliocene deposits on its slopes form ledges, pillars and niches, and a grove of turanga (Asian poplar) grows by the river.

Sources disagree even on which district it belongs to: the article’s infobox says Kegen, the text says Enbekshikazakh. It is a good illustration of why we are careful with descriptions of little-visited places.

Bestamak and Kurtu

Park materials mention them as part of the canyon system. English Wikipedia lists Bestamak among the five canyons but gives no figures. The name “Kurtu” is not described separately in the reference sources available to us; whether it is the same place as Kurtogay is unconfirmed.

Not verified yet

Dimensions, terrain, road conditions and whether trails exist for Bestamak and Kurtu. Our sources name these canyons and nothing more. We will not publish descriptions assembled from other people’s retellings — that is exactly how a well-written page sends someone to a place the author has never seen.

The length and starting point of the “Temirlik — the Small Canyon” route, and whether a guide is required, are also unconfirmed.

Similar landscapes elsewhere in Kazakhstan

The closest match to Charyn outside Almaty Region is the chalk escarpments and outliers of Mangystau in the far west. Different geology and a different kind of trip: roughly 300 km of steppe from Aktau city, 4x4 only. Details: Bozzhyra and the wild landscapes of Mangystau.

Why this matters

If the Valley of Castles feels crowded on a weekend, it helps to know alternatives exist. A canyon 154 kilometres long cannot physically be full of people — what is full is the three kilometres of equipped trail.

Soberly, though: the quiet stretches have no infrastructure, no equipped descents and probably no phone signal. Park rules apply equally across the whole territory — driving off public roads and marked trails is prohibited everywhere.

Fitting them into a trip

The quiet canyons are not a substitute for the Valley of Castles on a first visit but a continuation for a second day. A day trip from Almaty leaves almost no time for them: the drive to the Valley of Castles alone takes 3–4 hours each way. To see Temirlik and Kurtogay as well, plan an overnight stay; a multi-day outline is in the three-day route.

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