Kazakhstan travel tips

Is Kazakhstan safe?

5 guides, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.

4.7 average across 5 guides · Safe
Almaty, KazakhstanAstana, KazakhstanCharyn Canyon, KazakhstanKolsay Lakes, KazakhstanTurkistan, Kazakhstan

Charyn Canyon Very safe

Comfortable and simple. The heat is the hazard — no shade in the canyon, and the walk back up is in the afternoon sun — with the drops at the rim, which are unfenced. The road from Almaty is long, straight and driven fast.

Comfortable: the Valley of Castles · the river camp

  • the canyon at noon in summer — no shade and over 40°C; walk early
  • the rim — unfenced drops

Kolsay Lakes Very safe

Very comfortable in the village. The mountain: the third lake is on the Kyrgyz border and needs a permit, the weather at 2,000 m turns in an hour, and the horses know the paths better than the riders. Kaindy’s water is glacial.

Comfortable: Saty · the first lake

  • the third lake — on the border; a permit and a guard
  • the path to the second lake in cloud — it climbs a thousand metres and the weather turns

Turkistan Very safe

Very comfortable, a pilgrimage town. Dress modestly at the mausoleum, which is a working shrine; shoulders and knees covered, and a scarf is handed to women at the door. The summer heat is the one real hazard.

Comfortable: the mausoleum precinct · Karavan Saray

  • the plain at noon in summer — over 40°C and no shade between the sights

Astana Safe

Very comfortable, orderly and patrolled; the new city is empty at night rather than unsafe. The cold is the hazard from November to March — frostbite in minutes on the wind — and the ice on the pavements. Photographing government buildings is discouraged; the guards say so.

Comfortable: the left bank new centre · Nurzhol boulevard · the old right bank around the station

  • the pavements in winter — ice and a wind that takes skin off; this is the whole danger
  • government buildings with a camera — the guards object

Almaty Safe

Comfortable, and the centre is walked at night. Taxi overcharging off the app is the complaint, and the driving. The mountains are the real thing: Big Almaty Lake is at altitude, the weather turns, and the border zone beyond it needs a permit. Earthquakes happen; the city is built for them.

Comfortable: the Golden Square · Dostyk avenue · Kok Tobe

  • taxis off the app — overcharging; Yandex Go and nothing else
  • the border zone beyond Big Almaty Lake — a permit is needed and the guards check
  • the ring roads on foot — the driving does not expect you

The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.

The guides in Kazakhstan

Almaty from above, the TV tower on Kok Tobe and the snow of the Tien Shan behind the cityAlmatyKazakhstanA city of apples and mountains, with a ski lift from the suburbs, a cathedral built without a nail, and the best restaurants in Central AsiaThe white Hazrat Sultan mosque in Astana under a grey steppe skyAstanaKazakhstanA 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 thirtyThe red rock walls of Charyn Canyon, the Valley of Castles, with the mountains beyondCharyn CanyonKazakhstanA red-rock canyon three hours from Almaty that looks like Arizona and empties like Kazakhstan, walked in an afternoonThe first Kolsay lake, dark green between forested slopes of the Tien ShanKolsay LakesKazakhstanThree lakes stacked up a valley of the Tien Shan, a drowned forest in a fourth, and horses to ride between themThe Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in Turkistan, its turquoise domes and the unfinished brick portalTurkistanKazakhstanThe mausoleum Timur built for a Sufi poet, the holiest place in Kazakhstan, and a new tourist city built around it