When is the best time to visit Kazakhstan?

Most guides agree on Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct. Almaty: April to June, and September to October (high summer is 35°C; the mountains ski all winter). Astana: May to September (the winter is one of the coldest of any capital, and the wind on the steppe is the reason). Charyn Canyon: April to June, and September to October (summer noon on the rock is over 40°C; the road closes in snow). Kolsay Lakes: June to September (the road to the upper lakes is snow from late autumn; the larches turn gold at the end of the season).

When is the rainy season in Kazakhstan?

No guide in Kazakhstan has a month above 250 mm; the wet months are wet, not under water.

Kazakhstan travel tips

Best time to visit Kazakhstan

Every guide's best months, checked against its own thirty-year rainfall: a filled month is recommended, a hatched one has over 250 mm of rain. Most of Kazakhstan agrees on Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct.

Place	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D	In words
AlmatyApril to June, and September to October (high summer is 35°C; the mountains ski all winter)													April to June, and September to October (high summer is 35°C; the mountains ski all winter)
AstanaMay to September (the winter is one of the coldest of any capital, and the wind on the steppe is the reason)													May to September (the winter is one of the coldest of any capital, and the wind on the steppe is the reason)
Charyn CanyonApril to June, and September to October (summer noon on the rock is over 40°C; the road closes in snow)													April to June, and September to October (summer noon on the rock is over 40°C; the road closes in snow)
Kolsay LakesJune to September (the road to the upper lakes is snow from late autumn; the larches turn gold at the end of the season)													June to September (the road to the upper lakes is snow from late autumn; the larches turn gold at the end of the season)
TurkistanApril to May, and September to October (summer is over 40°C on the plain; winter is short and cold)													April to May, and September to October (summer is over 40°C on the plain; winter is short and cold)

best month · over 250 mm · the letters are the months, January to December.

The guides in Kazakhstan

Almaty from above, the TV tower on Kok Tobe and the snow of the Tien Shan behind the city

AlmatyKazakhstanA city of apples and mountains, with a ski lift from the suburbs, a cathedral built without a nail, and the best restaurants in Central Asia

The white Hazrat Sultan mosque in Astana under a grey steppe sky

AstanaKazakhstanA capital built from nothing on the steppe in twenty-five years: a glass pyramid, a tent the size of a district, a tower to climb, and a winter of minus thirty

The red rock walls of Charyn Canyon, the Valley of Castles, with the mountains beyond

Charyn CanyonKazakhstanA red-rock canyon three hours from Almaty that looks like Arizona and empties like Kazakhstan, walked in an afternoon

The first Kolsay lake, dark green between forested slopes of the Tien Shan

Kolsay LakesKazakhstanThree lakes stacked up a valley of the Tien Shan, a drowned forest in a fourth, and horses to ride between them

The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in Turkistan, its turquoise domes and the unfinished brick portal

TurkistanKazakhstanThe mausoleum Timur built for a Sufi poet, the holiest place in Kazakhstan, and a new tourist city built around it