Best of Kazakhstan Tour

Route: Almaty -Altyn Emel -Kolsai Lakes -Turkestan — Aksu Jabagly — Astana

Day 1 Flight to Almaty

Day 2 Almaty

Arrival in Almaty and transfer to the hotel.4 hours city tour. Overnight in Almaty.

Day 3 Almaty — Altyn-Emel National Park

09:00 departure to Altyn-Emel National Park. In the heart of Central Asia, 250 kilometers from Almaty and south of the ridge Jungar Alatau, lies the largest national park in Kazakhstan, the Altyn-Emel. The territory of the national park covers the western foothills of the Jungar Alatau, the bald mountains Katutau, Aktau, Ulken and Kschi-Kalkany. One of the highlights is the Singing Dune, a sand dune that rises out of nowhere out of the flat steppe landscape.

Lunch, dinner and overnight at the small hotel in Basshi (B,L,D)

Day 4 Altyn-Emel National Park

You spend the day in the national park and have a hike through the beautiful natural scenery of the Aktau and Katutau mountain ranges. Not far from this hiking dune there are the Aktau Mountains. These are majestic chalk mountains. The uninhabited blue, red, white, pink, and green erosion-like slopes, reminiscent of a lunar landscape, are so unusual that it is difficult to avert the eye. The reason for the amazing mountain landscape is that these mountains once rose from the seabed. They are over 400 million years old, 30 kilometers long and form an impressive natural spectacle, which you will get to know this afternoon. Lunch as a lunchbox.

Dinner and overnight at the small hotel in Basshi (B.L,D)

Day 5 Altyn-Emel National Park — Zharkent — Kolsay lakes

After breakfast drive towards Zharkent (118 km). The Russian land conquests by the Chinese were ended here in 1882. At that time, the city was located on the direct border between Russia and China, which can still be seen in numerous buildings today. Visiting the mosque, which unites elements of Chinese and Central Asian architecture in an impressive manner and was built by Chinese master builders without a single nail. Lunch in Zharkent. After it continue trip to three high mountain lakes of Kolsay in the northern Tien Shan Mountains.

Dinner and overnight at the guesthouse in Saty (B,L,D)

Day 6 High mountain lakes in the Tien Shan mountains Kolsay lakes

Today you visit Kolsay lakes, three high mountain lakes in the northern Tien Shan mountains, the area of which is ideal for hiking. You will only walk to the first of them lakes. The lakes are at different altitudes and are among the treasures of the northern Tien Shan. At 1818 m altitude you will discover the lowest of all three lakes. The largest and at the same time most beautiful is located at almost 2250 m altitude, the Mynzhylgy, he is the middle of the three lakes. Only 600 m higher is the highest Kolsai lake. You have enough time for a little walk, to relax and to enjoy the nature, before you continue to the next village. Lunch on the way as a lunchbox.

Dinner and overnight at the guesthouse in Saty (B,L,D)

Day 7 Kolsay lakes — Charyn Canyon — Almaty

Return via the Charyn Canyon to Almaty (200km). The drive from Saty to Charyn Canyon takes about 4 hours. From the entrance of the canyon you start a short hike through the canyon. Charyn Canyon, also known as the little brother of the Grand Canyon in America, extends 154 km along the river of the same name and awaits its visitors with gigantic rock formations. You have about two hours to hike the canyon on your own before you drive to Almaty (drive takes about 3 hours). Lunch on the way. Overnight at hotel in Almaty (B,L)

Day 8 Almaty — Medeo — Turkestan

Free time, check out. Excursion to Medeo. Transfer to the train station and train to Turkestan (B)

Day 9 Turkestan

Arrival at Turkestan at noon, lunch and excursion to Sauran. Return to the city and check in at hotel. (L)

Day 10 Turkestan — Aksu Jabagly

City tour of Turkestan with visit to the mausoleum of Khodja Ahmed Jassawi, further to Arystan Bab — Otrar — Shymkent — Aksu Jabagly. Otrar is one of the largest medieval cities of Kazakhstan, which lie in the Great Silk Road. The town no longer exists. Today Otrar is a major tourist spot in Kazakhstan. Since 1969, when the archaeologists have found the ruins of the ancient settlement, today, the ancient settlement is slowly restored. Dinner and accommodation in Aksu-Jabagly (B,L,D)

Day 11 Aksu-Jabagly — the oldest national nature reserve in Central Asia.

It is located in the south of the Republic of Kazakhstan and includes the northwestern chains of the Tien Shan mountain range. The name of the nature reserve is derived from the name of the largest river of the protected area — Aksu.

Day 12 Aksu-Jabagly

After breakfast, take a hike through the Aksu-Zhabagly nature reserve. It is the oldest reserve in all of Central Asia.

Today you will have lunch again as a packed lunch on the way. In the evening transfer to the airport in Shymkent and flight to Astana. Arrival, transfer to the hotel.

Day 13 Astana

Astana is the new capital of the country. After Kazakhstan’s independence from the collapse of the USSR, the city and its region were renamed Aqmola in 1992 and nominated as the future capital in 1994. The River Esil divides the administrative city from the older, mostly Soviet-style, district right bank. The result is unusual, impressive and modern, but probably not everyone’s taste. (F.)

4 hours city tour includes — Nurzhol Boulevard on the left bank of the Ischim River, the landmark of the city, the Bajterek Tower by British architect Norman Foster, the Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center (the largest tent in the world, 150 m high), the opera, the natural complex Atameken and much more. Free time (B)

Day 14 Astana

ALZHIR Camp Historical Museum is located in the settlement of Akmol, where thousands of family members of state prisoners lived and died in the 1930s.

In the spring of 2007, on the commemoration day of the victims of political deportations, a special memorial was opened in the Akmol settlement — the Museum of the History of Political Deportation and Totalitarianism «Alzhir». Free time (B)

Day 15 Flight home

Transfer to the airport. Flight home

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