
Where to go in Kazakhstan
Pick by season, type of trip and starting city: places with real photos, a season bar and directions.
Aksu-Zhabagly Aksu-Zhabagly is the oldest nature reserve in Central Asia, set in the Western Tien Shan across …
Aktau and Katutau mountains in Altyn-Emel The banded clay hills of Aktau, where fossils of ancient rhinos and crocodiles have been found, …
Alakol 65 672.01 ha, Zhetysu and Abai Regions.
Altyn-Emel Altyn-Emel is a desert national park in the Ili River valley: the Singing Dune, the striped clay …
Assy Plateau A high mountain pasture up to 40 km long east of Almaty, reached through the Turgen gorge. An …
Bayanaul Bayanaul is a cluster of granite hills rising out of the Pavlodar steppe, with four freshwater …
Big Almaty Lake A turquoise lake at 2,511 m, about 15 km south of Almaty. Since spring 2026 it can only be …
Burabay Burabay is a pocket of granite hills, pine forest and lakes in Akmola Region, about 257 km north …
Butakovka waterfall and gorge A 15–30 m waterfall (sources disagree) in the Butakovka gorge above Almaty, inside Ile-Alatau …
Charyn Canyon A 154-kilometre canyon 195 km east of Almaty. Entry 865 tenge, best in spring or autumn, and a …
Ile-Alatau Ile-Alatau National Park covers the northern slope of the Zailiysky (Ile) Alatau range directly …
Ile-Balkhash Ile-Balkhash is a state nature rezervat in the Ili river delta and on the southern shore of Lake …
Issyk Lake (Esik) A mountain lake in the Issyk gorge above the town of Esik, about 40 km east of Almaty. On 7 July …
Kaindy Lake A mountain lake in Kolsai Lakes National Park with spruce trunks rising out of the water. It …
Kapshagay Reservoir and the city of Konaev A 1,847 km² reservoir on the Ili River and the city on its shore, renamed from Kapshagay to …
Karkaraly Karkaraly National Park is a cluster of mountains with patches of pine forest and small lakes …
Katon-Karagay Katon-Karagay is Kazakhstan's largest national park, covering the Central and Southern Altai in …
Kok-Zhailau A plateau above Almaty between the Small and Big Almaty gorges, about 10 km from the city. It is …
Kokshetau Kokshetau National Park is pine forest at the foot of rolling hills, plus a string of lakes, …
Kolsai Lakes The Kolsai Lakes are a chain of three mountain lakes in the Kolsai gorge in the south-east of …
Korgalzhyn Korgalzhyn is a steppe-and-wetland reserve about 130 km south-west of Astana, best known for the …
Bozzhyra and the wild landscapes of Mangystau White chalk “fangs” on the edge of the Ustyurt Plateau, 300 km from Aktau. Nearby: Sherkala, the …
Markakol Markakol Nature Reserve protects a mountain lake at 1,447 m in East Kazakhstan, close to the …
Medeu A high-altitude skating rink at 1,691 m on Almaty's south-eastern edge, with a 150 m mudflow dam …
Nature near Almaty From Medeu on the edge of the city to the Singing Dune 250 km away: lakes, waterfalls, plateaus …
Naurzum Naurzum is a stretch of steppe with islands of relict pine forest and a chain of endorheic …
Rakhmanov Springs Thermal radon springs by Rakhmanov Lake in Katon-Karagay National Park, East Kazakhstan. Water …
Sayram-Ugam Sayram-Ugam National Park covers mountains in the northern Western Tien Shan, in Turkestan …
Sherkala Mountain A lone limestone mountain rising to 332 m above sea level, 18 km from the village of Shetpe. …
Shymbulak A ski resort about 25 km south of central Almaty: the base sits at 2,260 m and the top at Talgar …
The Singing Dune in Altyn-Emel A sand mountain up to 150 m high between the Big and Small Kalkan ridges. You can only reach it …
Tamgaly (Tanbaly) petroglyphs Around 5,000 rock carvings from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages in a gorge of the Chu-Ili …
Tarbagatai Tarbagatai National Park protects mountain steppe and meadows on the south slope of the …
Turgen gorge waterfalls Seven waterfalls in the Turgen river gorge on the eastern edge of Ile-Alatau National Park. A …
Turkestan The late-14th-century Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi became Kazakhstan's first UNESCO World …
Valley of Castles Three kilometres of weathered rock, 200 to 700 metres wide, at 1,300 m above sea level. This is …
Zhongar-Alatau Zhongar-Alatau National Park protects the Dzungarian Alatau mountains in Zhetysu Region: wild …
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Ready-made shortlists
15 Lakes of Kazakhstan: 15 places to visit From the sunken forest of Kaindy to the flamingos of Tengiz: 15 lakes in mountains, steppe and desert, with …
10 Top 10 nature destinations in Kazakhstan A canyon, a drowned forest, a desert with a singing dune, granite lakes in the north, the Altai and the chalk …
5 Weekend trips from Astana: 5 places in nature Five nature escapes 130 to 450 km from the capital: flamingos at Korgalzhyn, Burabay, the lakes of Kokshetau …
14 Where to go from Almaty for a day or a weekend From Medeu on the edge of the city to the Singing Dune 250 km away: 14 places sorted by drive time — under an …
9 Where to go in Kazakhstan in autumn Autumn is prime time for the southern deserts and canyons and the season of yellow leaves in the mountains: …
7 Where to go in Kazakhstan in spring Spring is the short window when the southern deserts and canyons are warm but not yet scorching: Greig's …
9 Where to go in Kazakhstan in summer In summer the south of Kazakhstan bakes, so the outdoors moves up and north: to the mountain lakes of the Tian …
6 Where to go in Kazakhstan in winter In winter Kazakhstan's outdoors narrows to a few reliable options: skiing at Shymbulak above Almaty, an empty …
The finder puts every place on the site in one list. Choose a season and places are sorted by how good that season is for them; tick what you want to see and, optionally, the city you start from. Each card leads to the place page with directions, fees, rules, a month-by-month season bar and a photo gallery.
Not in the mood to choose? Start with the top 10 or the seasonal shortlists below.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose where to go in Kazakhstan?
Start with the season: the south (canyons, deserts) is best in spring and autumn, mountains and northern lakes in summer, Medeu and Shymbulak in winter. Then pick a landscape and a starting city and the finder shows matching places.
What does "best time" on a card mean?
Every place has a month-by-month season bar based on the sources on its page. “Best time” means the selected season includes months with the top rating.