Things to do
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Big Almaty Lake
A turquoise reservoir held in a bowl of spruce and scree above the city, reached by a road that climbs steadily through the Ile-Alatau national park. Visits are short by design: the lake supplies Almaty's drinking water, swimming is banned and the shoreline is fenced in places. Border zone rules apply higher up the valley, and the checkpoint turns back anyone without a permit.
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Central State Museum of Kazakhstan
Kazakh history from Bronze Age burials to the Soviet century fills four halls in a domed building near the Presidential Park. Gold from Saka kurgans, yurt furnishings and steppe weaponry carry the early rooms, and a replica of the Golden Man stands among them. Labelling in English is patchy, so a guide adds a good deal to a visit.
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Charyn Canyon
Red sandstone walls cut by the Charyn river east of Almaty, weathered into the columns that give the Valley of Castles its name. A track runs from the rim down to the water in under an hour, with shade scarce and summer heat severe on the return climb. Most travellers come as a long day trip, though yurts and cabins allow an overnight.
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Kok Tobe
A wooded hill on the southern edge of the city, topped by a television tower and reached by a cable car from Dostyk Avenue. The draw is the view over Almaty to the Alatau, best in the clear hours after rain when the smog lifts. A small fairground, an apple monument and a Beatles statue fill the summit, and evenings are busy.
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Kolsai Lakes
Three glacial lakes step up a spruce valley in the Tian Shan near the Kyrgyz border, linked by a trail that gains height quickly above the lowest of them. The bottom lake has a car park, boats and guesthouses in Saty village, while the upper pair need a permit and a long walk. Snow can block the higher trail well into June.
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Medeu
High-altitude skating rink in a gorge above Almaty, built in the 1970s and long used by speed skaters chasing records on its hard mountain ice. The setting does much of the work: a bowl of firs, a dam wall above it and a long stair climb for anyone with the legs. Winter brings public sessions, and in summer the arena is a viewpoint and a bus stop for Shymbulak.
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Panfilov Park
Shaded walks of oak and maple surround the cathedral in the centre of Almaty, laid out around a war memorial to the Panfilov division that fought outside Moscow. An eternal flame burns at the granite frieze, and the tempo shifts from wedding parties to chess tables through the day. It works as a crossing point between the Green Bazaar and Dostyk Avenue.
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Shymbulak
Lifts rise from Medeu to a ski area at the head of the gorge, linked to the city by a gondola that runs year round. Runs are short by alpine standards and early snow can be thin, though the season holds into spring at the upper station. Summer brings walkers up the same cable for ridge paths and the view down the valley.
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Zenkov Cathedral
Built from Tian Shan spruce without nails and painted in sherbet colours, this Russian Orthodox cathedral survived the 1911 earthquake that flattened much of the town around it. It stands in Panfilov Park and works as a parish church, so services limit access and photography inside. Restoration has returned the interior to its pre-Soviet decoration.