Natural features
Charyn Canyon
Almaty
A canyon 154 km long carved by the Charyn River, with red rock formations; the Valley of Castles section has a walk of about 3 km down to the river b…
Travel tips in Kazakhstan
Walks and treks
Kolsai Lakes and Kaindy Lake
Almaty
Three mountain lakes in a forested gorge in the northern Tian Shan, linked by a hiking trail.
Buildings
Astana's modern architecture
Astana
Kazakhstan's capital was built from scratch on the steppe from 1997, with futuristic buildings: the Bayterek Tower, a tree of life with a golden egg …
Natural features
Big Almaty Lake and Medeu
Almaty, Almaty City
A turquoise glacial lake at 2,500 m in the Tian Shan mountains above Almaty, surrounded by peaks.
Historic sites
Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Turkistan
Turkistan
A huge unfinished mausoleum built by Tamerlane in the late 14th century for a Sufi poet, with one of the largest brick domes in Central Asia and blue…
Historic sites
Baikonur Cosmodrome
Kyzylorda
The world's first and largest space launch site, from which Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin were launched.