A canyon, three lakes and a drowned forest. All in one day out of Almaty.
Which minibus actually reaches Kaindy. What the Kolsai run costs before dawn breaks over the pass. Whether Astana earns the flight north. Reviews of every tour you can book in Kazakhstan.
The four bookings a first week in Kazakhstan is built around.
One enormous mountain day, the version that sleeps out there, the short run east, and the flight to the capital on the steppe.
01The long dayCharyn Canyon, Kolsay, and Kaindy Lakes Day TripCharyn, Kolsai and Kaindy in a single sweep. Seventeen hours door to door, and the minibus leaves Almaty in the dark.
02The slower versionKolsai Kaindy Lakes & Charyn Canyons 2-Day TourThe same three places over two days, with a night in the mountains. You reach Kaindy in morning light instead of on a countdown.
03The short day eastEsik Lake and Turgen Waterfall Day TripIssyk Lake and the Turgen waterfall, ten hours, under $30. The one to take when the big loop will not fit.
04The capitalAstana City Tour: Private Full Day with Lunch and Comfort PickupAstana in a day, with a driver who knows which side of the Ishim the good views are on. Book it around the flight, not the other way round.
Two cities, and the mountains that sit between them and the sky.
A former capital under snow peaks, a new one built on open steppe, red canyon walls three hours east, spruce lakes at two thousand metres, a forest standing dead in turquoise water. Six starting points, and the best day out from each.
Charyn, Kolsai, Kaindy: one day, two days, or just the one lake.
Nearly every visitor to Almaty ends up on this road. The only real decision is how much of it you take in a single sitting, and what that costs.
The Kazakh days out more travellers take than any other.
Every Kazakh tour we have reviewed →These are the tours that carry the most travellers in the country, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Charyn Canyon, Kolsay, and Kaindy Lakes Day Trip
Spend a long but rewarding day from Almaty visiting Charyn Canyon, Black Canyon, Kolsai Lake, and Kaindy Lake. You’ll ride a Mercedes Sprinter, switch to a Soviet UAZ for Kaindy, and may meet energetic guides such as Karina, Rustam, Amina, or Nurtas.
From · $58
Read our review →
2
Kolsai, Kaindy Lakes and Charyn Canyon Small-Group Tour
from $58
3
Kolsai-Kaindy Lakes and Charyn Canyons Day Trip
from $43
4
Kolsay, Kaindy Lakes and Charyn Canyon Day Trip
from $43
5
Kolsai Kaindy Lakes & Charyn Canyons 2-Day Tour
from $130
6
Kolsai Kaindy Lakes with Charyn Canyons 2-day tour
from $130
7
Kolsai Kaindy Lakes with Charyn Canyons Day Tour (lunch included)
from $57
8
Esik Lake and Turgen Waterfall Day Trip
from $28
Almaty wears its history low. Astana builds its own on the skyline.
One city runs on tree-lined avenues, a green bazaar and a cable car to a hill above it. The other went up on empty steppe in thirty years and is best seen from the river bank at dusk. Both are half a day, not a week.
Three things that happen in Kazakhstan and almost nowhere else.
Mountain lakes are everywhere in Central Asia. A spruce forest standing dead in turquoise water, a canyon of red towers on empty steppe, and a dune that hums are not.
The Sunken Forest at Kaindy
An earthquake brought half a hillside down across a valley in the Tian Shan, the meltwater backed up behind it, and the spruce trees that were growing there simply drowned where they stood. Their trunks are still up, bleached grey above the waterline and dark green below it. The track in is rough enough that most vehicles stop short and transfer you to something with clearance.
- 1Charyn Canyon, Kolsay, and Kaindy Lakes Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,522 reviews
- 2Kolsai, Kaindy Lakes and Charyn Canyon Small-Group Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 642 reviews
- 3Kolsai-Kaindy Lakes and Charyn Canyons Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 505 reviews
Charyn and the Valley of Castles
Three hours east of Almaty the flat steppe simply opens, and you walk down into a two-kilometre corridor of red sandstone towers with a green river at the bottom. The formations have been weathering into turrets and spires for a long time, which is where the name came from. There is no shade in the valley floor, so the good hours are early and late.
- 1Charyn Canyon, Kolsay, and Kaindy Lakes Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,522 reviews
- 2Kolsai, Kaindy Lakes and Charyn Canyon Small-Group Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 642 reviews
- 3Kolsai-Kaindy Lakes and Charyn Canyons Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 505 reviews
The Singing Dune at Altyn Emel
A single sand dune sits stranded between two mountain ridges, and when the sand is dry enough and you slide down the crest it makes a low droning sound you feel through your feet. It is a long way out: the park gate alone is a morning from Almaty, and the striped chalk hills of Aktau are further again. These run as long days or overnights, never as a whim.
- 1Singing dunes & Aktau mountains group tour to Altyn Emel★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 74 reviews
- 23 Days Tour: Altyn Emel NP, Charyn Canyon, Kaindy & Kolsay Lakes★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 8 reviews
- 3Two Day Tour to Altyn Emel: Singing Dune and Aktau Mountain★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 8 reviews
What a day out in Kazakhstan actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. Distances here are enormous, and the number on the ticket is mostly a question of how far the driver takes you.
City walks, the Kok Tobe cable car, a bar crawl, and the short runs east to Issyk and Turgen.
The full canyon-and-lakes day, Big Almaty Lake, a capital city tour with a driver.
Two- and three-day mountain trips, Burabay from Astana, and the long haul out to Altyn Emel.
Astana is a capital that was still steppe when your parents were young.
The whole city is younger than most of the people walking it. Baiterek, the mosque, the fountains on the Ishim, and a national park of pine and granite lakes a long morning to the north.
Every Astana day out →
Four Kazakh days that will not be arranged the night before.
Most of Almaty can be sorted over breakfast. These four run on pre-dawn departures, park gates and drives long enough that the operator needs to know you are coming.
- 01Charyn Canyon, Kolsay, and Kaindy Lakes Day TripSeventeen hours door to door and a departure before first light. Nobody assembles that minibus on the morning you decide.
- 02Singing dunes & Aktau mountains group tour to Altyn EmelAltyn Emel is a national park with a gate, and the dune is a long drive beyond it. The day is booked around the drive, not the sight.
- 03Burabay Oasis Private Tour+ Lunch+ Pickup+ Bonus ActivityTwo hundred and fifty kilometres north of Astana and back in one push. Pickup times are set by the road, not by you.
- 04Singing dunes & Aktau mountains group tour to Altyn EmelThe striped hills sit deep inside the same park, further out than the dune. Two days is the honest version of this trip.
Winter shuts the mountain road and hands the week back to Almaty.
From late autumn the track up to Kaindy and the road over to Kolsai stop being a day trip. That is the season Almaty is built for: a skating rink at seventeen hundred metres, a gondola to the snow above it, a hill with a cable car, and a bazaar that smells of dried apricots.
By place — cities, canyons, lakes
By kind of day — road, ridge, rink or bazaar
Almaty, the canyon, the lakes, then the flight north to Astana.
The newest Kazakh tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Astana Private Custom Walking Tour with A Local Guide
Read our review →
2 day tour to Altyn Emel Singing Dune and Aktau mountain
Read our review →
Personalized guided Car Tours to Charyn Canyon & Kolsay Lake
Read our review →
Private Big Almaty Lake Hiking Tour with alternatgive Pipeline
Read our review →
Private Day Tour to the Land of Canyons-UNESCO-of Kazakhstan
Read our review →
Altyn Emel, Singing Dune, Charyn canyon, Kolsay, Kaindy lake 4 days tour
Read our review →
Charyn Canyon and Black Canyon 1 Day Private Tour
Read our review →