South Kazakhstan Tour

After meeting you at your hotel lobby, your driver guide will accompany you to Almaty Museum, where murals depicting ancient life, photos from the Soviet era, and traditional Kazakh costumes reveal the city’s tumultuous past. Then, head to the Park of 28 Panfilov Guardsmen and follow the avenue until reaching the Ascension Cathedral (Zenkov Cathedral). Inside this candy-like sanctuary, believers communicate with the God through a massive crucifixion of Christ hanging above the altar and murals illustrating stories of the Orthodox religion. 

Near the park, lose yourself in the bustling Green Bazaar (Zeleny Bazaar), the locals’ one-stop shopping spot for daily necessities. To some extent, the fate of Kazakhstan is similar to the Green Bazaar, where precious underground resources are up for sale like those commodities. However, thanks to the rising manufacturing industry and deep processing, it is evolving from a world ‘bazaar’ into a ‘factory’.

We’ll then proceed to the suburban Medeu Gorge, and a cable car will lift you up to the Shymbulak Ski Resort. During the ascent, you can get a bird’s eye view of coniferous forests, ski runs for different levels, and the snow peaks of Heavenly Mountains in the distance. Later, let’s take the electric bus to the summit of Kok-Tobe Hill for a beautiful sunset. After going down by cable car, your driver guide will escort you back to your hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Renion Park Hotel, Almaty (3 stars) or similar

Early this morning, your driver guide will pick you up at your hotel lobby for a 4.5-hour road trip to Kaindy Lake along bumpy paths. The 1911 Earthquake sent a glacier-covered slope crashing down, blocking the valley. Meltwater had nowhere to go, so the lake was born, drowning an entire spruce forest. Only the very tips of the trees peek out of the surface like weather-beaten masts of ghost ships. Walk around to admire the vibrant underwater world, in which the spruce trunks are covered with calcareous sediments and algae.

After that, we’ll drive west to another charming alpine lake, Lower Kolsai Lake. Hidden among dense fir forests and mountain meadows, the lake glimmers turquoise when the sun hits it. Now you know why locals deem it ‘the Pearl of Northern Heavenly Mountains’. Take a lazy stroll along the right-hand path to the end, you can take in the stunning lake views and little wild flowers blooming freely. At the end of the day, your driver guide will escort you to your guest house in Saty Village.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Saty Village Guest House

After the hotel meetup, we’ll set off from Saty Village and drive 1.5 to 2 hours to Charyn Canyon National Park. People love to call it ‘Kazakhstan’s Grand Canyon’, but they’re two different kinds of wows. The Grand Canyon is a geological epic best admired from the rim and viewing platforms, while the Charyn Canyon gives a chance to touch sandstone strata up close. We’ll take the trail through the heart of the park, the Valley of Castles, straight down to the canyon floor. With an easy 2-kilometer (1-mile) hike, you are entirely inside a fancy world carved by wind and water over millions of years, where rocky peaks resemble arrogant roosters, butterflies in the wind, galloping horses…

Stay there until the golden hour to capture burning orange rock faces. Later, we’ll drive 3 hours back to Almaty. Upon arrival, you can take a brief rest in the hotel before being escorted to the train station, where your driver guide will help you board an overnight sleeper train to Taraz.  

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: On the Train

Open your eyes on the train, and you’ll roll into Taraz, once a key town on the ancient Silk Road. Your local driver guide will accompany you to Karakhan Mausoleum and Aisha Bibi Mausoleum after the train station pickup. These two sacred sites are Kazakh answers to Romeo and Juliet. The ruler of the Karakhanids (840 - 1212 AD) fell in love with a noblewoman, and when they eloped to defy conventions, the happy ending was rewritten by the girl’s accidental death. The grieving Khan commissioned the latter mausoleum to remember his beloved one and demanded to rest next to her so that their eternal souls could be connected. 

Your driver guide will then show you around the Ancient Taraz City, the site of the Battle of Taraz, the only direct clash between the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD) and the Arab Empire (632 - 1258 AD). Although the defection of one tribe led to the narrow defeat of Tang army, this ‘collision between Eastern and Western civilizations’ culturally promoted the spread of Chinese paper-making techniques into Central and West Asia. 

Finally, three hours on road will lead us to Shymkent. Take some time to familiarize yourself with local life in downtown, and you’ll be unconsciously wrapped up by tulip elements at squares, flower beds, train stations, and bus stations. Compared to Dutch, it is indeed an under-the-radar birthplace of wild tulips. After strolling, your driver guide will escort you to your hotel for check-in.

Accommodation: Aidana Plaza Hotel, Shymkent (4 stars) or similar

This morning, your driver guide will meet you at your hotel lobby for a 1.5-hour car ride to Ak Meshit Cave. Dating back to the Neolithic period (roughly 8000 - 1500 BC), this yurt-like limestone cave shelters mulberry and caragana trees, which create a microclimate that is said to maintain stable blood pressure.

Our next stop is Otrar, once a major town in the fertile Syr-Darya Valley. It took a dark turn in 1218 AD, when its governor killed the merchant envoys sent by Genghis Khan (1162 - 1227 AD), the formidable Mongol conqueror, further bogging down due to the attack of the Dzungar Khanate (1678 - 1757 AD). Walking among the restored fortresses, city walls, and mosques, you can picture its original glory.

Nearby lies the Arystanbab Mausoleum, dedicated to a legendary Sufi mentor, whose spiritual atmosphere surpasses decorations, thus attracting many pilgrims, especially examination candidates, to stay overnight and pray for their wishes.

Finally, we’ll drive an hour to Turkestan and check into your hotel.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Hotel Khanaka, Turkestan (3 stars) or similar

A typical Turkestan tour often kicks off at its origin of faith: the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, and we’ll aim for it after the hotel meet-up. As a revered Sufi scholar, he translated obscure scriptures and doctrines into Turkic poems, enabling Islam to take root among nomadic tribes in Central Asia. For Timur, the founder of the Timurid Empire (1370 - 1507 AD) who dreamed of unifying a vast Asia, no one was more suitable for him to win people’s hearts than Yasawi. Thus, he squeezed Persian architects dry to build this mausoleum, whose structure and decorative art later inspired many sanctuaries in Samarkand, and even gained a more famous follower in India, the Taj Mahal. 

Other important sites of the complex, including the Ancient Baths, the Hilvet Semi-underground Mosque that Yasawi lived after his age of 63, the Juma Mosque, and the Mausoleum of Rabia Sultan Begum, are also on our sightseeing list.

After a day of exploration, your driver guide will escort you back to Shymkent.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Aidana Plaza Hotel, Shymkent (4 stars) or similar

★ Bazaar Stroll: A Window into Hospitable Southern Kazakhs

Since the Soviet era, sojourners travelling across Central Asia have nicknamed Shymkent ‘Kazakhstan’s Texas’. Originally coined with a wild frontier stereotype, locals now wear it with pride, as their forthright, easygoing nature mirror that of typical cowboys. After breakfast, your driver guide will accompany you to the bustling local bazaars, and that’s where you can really feel this spirit.

The oldest market, Qyrgy Bazaar, is filled with stalls selling vegetables, fruits, nuts, and meats, perfect for experiencing the essence of this ancient trading hub. On the city’s fringe, Beikadam Bazaar specializes in textiles, while Samal Bazaar focuses on handicrafts and jewelry. Yet, at any one of them, you can expect genuine smiles, friendly bargaining, and vendors who passionately press samples into your hands. 

Following that, your driver guide will escort you to the airport for a flight to Almaty. After an hour, your Almaty-based driver will greet you and provide a private car transfer to your hotel for check-in.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Renion Park Hotel, Almaty (3 stars) or similar

Time to wave goodbye today, and your driver guide will offer a hotel-to-airport transfer at the appointed time for your departure. We wish you a smooth journey home!

Meals: Breakfast