Kazakhstan in December is a winter destination: the ski season is starting in the mountains around Almaty, thermal springs are a natural fit for the cold, and the cities lean on indoor sights. Many of the places below are day trips from Almaty, a few from Astana, Shymkent or Oskemen. Desert and canyon trips are not the focus this month, and we explain why below.
December suits three kinds of trip: skiing, hot springs and indoor sights
The places that rate highest for December on this site fall into three groups. Ski resorts in the Ile-Alatau above Almaty are opening for the season. Thermal springs, from Alma-Arasan on the edge of Almaty to Chundzha in the Uygur district, give you hot water in cold air. And in Astana, where January nights average about −18 °C, the indoor options carry the day.
If you want hiking, lakes or long walks in the steppe, December is the wrong month. The site’s season ratings for the Kok-Tobe viewpoint and the National Museum stay at good rather than top in winter, and the walking-led resorts score lower than in summer.
Places to visit in Kazakhstan in December, compared
The table ranks each place by how this site rates December (3 is top, 2 is good) and shows the trip it demands. Use it to match a place to the base city you will already be in.
| Place | Base city | December | Trip | Why go now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oi-Qaragai | Almaty | 3 | Day | Ski runs at 2,140 m, about 40 min drive |
| Central State Museum | Almaty | 3 | Day | About 300,000 items, indoor |
| Khan Shatyr | Astana | 3 | Day | Indoor beach under a 150 m tent |
| Chundzha hot springs | Almaty | 3 | Weekend | Pools at 35–50 °C |
| Shymbulak | Almaty | 2 | Day | Top at Talgar Pass, 3,200 m |
| Ak-Bulak | Almaty | 2 | Day | Season roughly Dec–Apr, 1,032 m vertical |
| Tabagan | Almaty | 2 | Day | Ski season Dec–Feb, small and easy |
| Altai Alps | Oskemen | 2 | Day | Season Nov to mid-April, night skiing |
| Alma-Arasan | Almaty | 2 | Day | Springs 16 km from the city |
| Kok-Tobe | Almaty | 2 | Day | Cable car up in about 6 minutes |
| National Museum | Astana | 2 | Day | 74,000 m² in seven blocks |
| Zharkent-Arasan | Almaty | 2 | Long | Radon water at 37–53 °C |
| Kapal-Arasan | Almaty | 2 | Long | Sanatorium open all year |
| Saryagash | Shymkent | 2 | Long | Mineral water at 37–50 °C |
| Snow leopard range | Almaty | 2 | Long | The cat moves to lower slopes in winter |
For a first visit with limited days, the Almaty day trips give the most variety per day: you can ski one day and soak or visit a museum the next without changing base.
Skiing near Almaty in December: which resort fits
Four resorts within reach of Almaty cover very different needs. Shymbulak is the high one: the base sits at 2,260 m and the top at Talgar Pass, 3,200 m, with a 4.5 km gondola from Medeu. Its road is listed as shut until 30 November, so early December may be the first stretch when it is reachable; confirm the opening date.
Oi-Qaragai is the one this site rates top for December. It sits at 2,140 m in Talgar district, about 40 minutes’ drive from Almaty, with 28 km of runs plus 8 km in the new Aqtas area, served by a gondola and chairlift since March 2025. Ak-Bulak in the Soldatskoye gorge, about 40 km east of Almaty, has a 1,032 m vertical and one black run, Talgar-2, with a season of roughly December to April.
Tabagan is the gentle option: six runs, a 400 m drop and a top at 1,650 m, about 17 km in a straight line from Almaty. Its stated ski season is December to February, so it is a December choice for beginners and families rather than a spring one.
Outside the Almaty region, Altai Alps near Oskemen has five lifts between 640 and 1,006 m, seven described runs and night skiing from November to mid-April.
Hot springs in December: an hour away or a weekend away
The nearest thermal water is Alma-Arasan in Prokhodnaya gorge, about 16 km from Almaty at around 1,780–1,830 m. The water ranges from 20.5 to 39.7 °C, and bus 28 runs to the Olen stop. In 2025 the city began rebuilding the trail from the car park to the spring, so check its state before you go.
For hotter water, Chundzha is the December favourite on this site. The village is 240–250 km from Almaty, about four hours, and the springs themselves lie a further 50–60 km east along the road to Kolzhat. Pools run at 35–50 °C across about 140 outlets.
The sanatorium towns are longer trips built around treatment stays. Zharkent-Arasan has radon water at 37–53 °C at about 1,100 m, roughly 40 km from Zharkent. Kapal-Arasan, by Wikipedia the oldest resort institution in Kazakhstan, sits at 975 m about 100 km from Taldykorgan. Saryagash, on the Uzbek border about 130 km from Shymkent, runs on water at 37–50 °C struck in 1946 by geologists looking for oil; most sanatoriums are in Kokterek, 14–16 km from the town.
Astana in December: plan around indoor sights
In the capital, the December plan is indoors. Khan Shatyr, a transparent tent 150 m tall with its spire, holds shops, cobbled streets, a boating river and an indoor beach; this site rates it top for November to February precisely because of the cold outside. It is a shopping centre, not a nature site, so treat it as a warm half-day.
The National Museum of Kazakhstan on Independence Square covers 74,000 m² in seven blocks, with a Hall of Gold and the Golden Man. Its outdoor surroundings are for May to September; in December the halls are the visit.
Things to do in Almaty in December without a car
Several December options work on public transport, which matters if you have no car. Kok-Tobe, a 1,130 m hill on Almaty’s south-eastern edge, is reached by a 1,620 m cable car from Dostyk Avenue in about 6 minutes, and buses 95 and 99 also serve it. The line was out of service from 11 to 20 November 2025, so confirm it is running.
| Option | How you get there, as far as we could confirm |
|---|---|
| Kok-Tobe | Cable car from Dostyk Avenue; buses 95 and 99 |
| Alma-Arasan | Bus 28 to the Olen stop |
| Shymbulak | 4.5 km gondola from Medeu, up to 15 minutes |
| Central State Museum | On Nazarbayev Avenue, about 5 km in a straight line from the centre |
For the other resorts and all the sanatorium towns we could not confirm public transport, so budget for a taxi or transfer. The Central State Museum holds about 300,000 items, from archaeological gold to a full yurt, and makes a solid fallback for a day when the weather closes the mountains. For an evening on skates, the city set up 11 free outdoor rinks in parks and squares in 2025/26, while the high-altitude Medeu rink is closed until the end of 2028; see ice rinks in Almaty.
Kazakhstan weather in December: what we could and could not confirm
We could not confirm December temperature or snowfall figures for any of these places, so check a forecast for your exact destination before you book. The one figure on hand is for Astana’s January nights, which average about −18 °C; December there is a deep-winter month too.
Altitude changes everything. Almaty’s ski resorts run from about 1,630 m at the Ak-Bulak base to 3,200 m at Talgar Pass, so the slopes are colder than the city below. Snow leopards move down to lower slopes in winter, and the snow leopard page rates winter higher than summer, but camera traps, not tourists, do the seeing: 65 records in the Ile-Alatau by 2021.
Charyn Canyon lies on the road to Chundzha, about 195 km from Almaty. We could not confirm winter access or conditions there, so if you combine it with the springs, check the road before setting out.
- December temperatures and snow depth at each resort and spring
- Exact lift opening dates for the current ski season
- Winter road and trail conditions at Charyn Canyon and on the road to Chundzha
- Whether the sanatoriums at Zharkent-Arasan, Kapal-Arasan and Saryagash accept day visitors
- Opening hours of Khan Shatyr and the two national museums in December