Ice skating in Almaty: free city rinks and what is known about the 2026/27 season

If you want to skate in Almaty this winter, your options are the free outdoor rinks the city sets up in parks and squares. Last season there were 11, open from 10:00 to 23:00 until March. As of 10 November 2026 the city administration (the akimat) has not yet published the 2026/27 list, and Medeu, the high-mountain rink above the city, will not open this season.

Is there skating in Almaty right now

Not yet. On 10 November 2026 no city rink for the new season had been announced in the Almaty akimat’s news feed. Last year’s start was slow too: on 14 December 2025 only one of the 11 free rinks was open while the rest were still being prepared.

So if you arrive in November or early December, plan other things for your days and treat skating as a bonus. Our guide to Kazakhstan in December covers ski slopes and warm indoor options for that stretch.

Last season’s free rinks, district by district

This is the most recent published list, reported by Tengrinews on 14 December 2025 with reference to the akimat. The reports give locations only: no exact addresses, per-rink hours or rental prices.

For a visitor staying in the centre, the closest option on last year’s list was the KBTU car park, described as the traditional central location. Four districts had just one rink each. The district list covers seven districts, although the akimat said every district had a rink. The Central Stadium was not flooded for skating last season.

A 24.kz report also mentions a Central Rink on the site of the former presidential residence, in a square by a lake, with four sessions a day and the ice resurfaced every 2.5 hours. The reports do not make clear whether this is the same rink as the new square between Nazarbayev Avenue and Gandhi Street.

What a city rink is like

The 11 rinks are “social” rinks: skating is free if you bring your own skates. Rental was available on site last season, but no price was published. According to 24.kz on 1 January 2026, the city had 20 rinks in total, 11 of them free, and the free ones were open from 10:00 to 23:00, though the report does not say whether every rink kept those hours. The season ran until March.

The free rink programme has been running since 2017 and has recorded more than 2 million visits. Who operates the other nine rinks in the count of 20, the report does not say.

When the weather makes ice on its own

Days when the temperature stays below zero even in the afternoon come mainly from December to February, peaking in January. The table shows average days per month for 1991–2020 from the ERA5 climate reanalysis for a grid point near the city (43.25° N, 77.0° E, 874 m).

What this means for a trip: in November and March the average daily temperature is above freezing, so natural ice on an open-air rink has little to hold it. Even in January, roughly half the days get above zero in the afternoon. Our reading of the data is that flooded ice without refrigeration is most reliable from about mid-December to February, and a season lasting into March depends on chilled or regularly re-flooded ice. That is our inference from the climate, not a statement by the city.

A grid point is not a weather station, so parks nearer the mountains may differ. Month-by-month norms for the city are on our Almaty weather page.

Indoor arenas: public sessions not confirmed

We could not confirm public skating at any indoor arena. Halyk Arena was built in 2016 for the 2017 Winter Universiade and hosts ice hockey and figure skating, but its website says nothing about public sessions, schedules or prices.

Both Halyk Arena and Almaty Arena appeared on last season’s list of free rinks, but the reports do not say whether skating was inside the building or on an outdoor pad next to it. If you specifically want indoor ice, contact the arena before you go.

The high-altitude rink is closed until the end of 2028

Medeu, the open-air rink in the mountains above Almaty, is closed for reconstruction. On 7 October 2026, 24.kz reported, citing the akimat, that the work will be completed by the end of 2028. Nobody has formally said “no season this winter”, but given that deadline you should not expect the rink to open in 2026/27.

The deadline has already moved. In January 2025 the prime minister said the work would last until 2027; in December 2025 Tengrinews reported the fourth quarter of 2027; in October 2026 the akimat’s date became the end of 2028. The last skating season was 2024/25, with public sessions until the end of March 2025.

The akimat’s update of 10 November 2026 lists work still in progress, including facade insulation, wall cladding and concrete work in the plant room. After the rebuild, the new slab and refrigeration system are designed to hold ice at outdoor temperatures up to +15 °C. For what you can still do in the gorge, see our Medeu page.

Frozen lakes and ponds: stay off the ice

We found no official guidance from Kazakhstan’s emergencies ministry on safe ice thickness, so we give no figures. Do not go onto the ice of ponds or lakes outside an organised rink; the table above shows that thaws come even in January.

This includes the Pervomaiskie Ponds north of the city. They were not on last season’s rink lists, and we found no source describing skating on their ice.

Checklist before you head out

1. Check whether the season has opened: news from the Almaty akimat and district akimats on gov.kz, in Russian or Kazakh.
2. Pick a site from last season’s list and confirm it has been flooded this year.
3. Look at the forecast: outdoor ice without refrigeration depends on frost, so after mild days check that your rink is open.
4. Bring your own skates if you can: skating is then free, and we do not know rental prices.
5. Expect roughly 10:00–23:00, as last winter, but confirm the hours for your rink.

Travelling with children? Our page on family trips in Kazakhstan has more winter ideas. For a wider winter plan see Almaty in winter, and for getting up into the mountains, Almaty’s cable cars.