Kazakhstan is big. Seriously big. At 2,724,900 km² it is basically the size of entire Western Europe. Despite its size, it has not been touched by global tourism on a large scale. We weren’t quite sure what to expect when we arrived in Almaty, but after a few days in Kazakhstan and it's neighboring country Kyrgyzstan, we had a better idea of - and massive appreciation for - this still rather young nation. I'll go into the anecdotes and travel observations some other time. For now, let's cover some of the basics for travelling Kazakhstan.
Borat: Let's not deny it - for many, Sasha Baron Cohen's movie is still the first thing that comes to mind when they hear "Kazakhstan." Let's leave aside that it was actually filmed in Romania, and look at the aftermath of its release. Probably unsurprisingly, Kazakhstan officials were not too keen on the movie and it was initially banned in the country. But since Borat came out in 2006, the atmosphere has changed. In 2012, Kazakhstan's foreign minister said: "I am grateful to 'Borat' for helping attract tourists to Kazakhstan." Ten times more people were applying for visas to go there than before the movie. So there you go.
When you walk through a city like Almaty, the big skyscrapers, the electric scooters and SUVs, the cafes, shops and restaurants all contribute to a modern and almost European vibe. That is, until the mountain range in the background and the smell of Shashlik from the BBQ restaurants bring you back to Central Asia.
Visa: Nationals of Australia, Canada, all EU-countries and the USA don't need a visa for stays of up to 30 days. When entering Kazakhstan, you will receive a white registration card. You must retain this card throughout your stay in Kazakhstan. When you cross a border - like we did when we went to Kyrgyzstan - you hand over the registration card and receive a new one on re-entry. On some border crossings, things will take time. We arrived at a tiny hut in the middle of nowhere, guarded by barbed wire and various soldiers who were all evidently bored. The border control guy read my passport with the slow, but insistent thoroughness with which one goes through an entire furniture magazine in the waiting room of a dentist's office.
Getting there: We first considered flying into Kyrgyzstan with Pegasus Airlines to then take the bus to Kazakhstan, but after reading some truly horrendous online reviews, we decided to turn the order around and flew to Kazakhstan with Air Astana. The airline was cleared from the blacklist in the EU in 2015 and is now considered one of the best airlines in the world. The only adrenaline rush we had happened when we tried to reach our connecting flight in Nur-Sultan. Border controls can be very tedious and time-consuming and the long lines meant we would've clearly missed our connecting flight, had not a flight attended pushed us through the crowd, waving to the security to let us through.
Getting around: As the country has a lot of space, it uses it. The few big cities are vast and while there are electric scooters and bike sharing companies (and some of the best bike lanes I've seen anywhere - too bad almost nobody uses them), most people rely on the car to get around. Hitchhiking is a normal and rather popular way to get around in the cities. Cab rides are really cheap, too (just around €0.3/km). To simplify the logistics, we organized a driver/guide with an SUV, who drove us to a number of great destinations in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. There also is an extensive network of train and bus connections, which might be a bit less comfortable, but also significantly cheaper.
Traffic: While we were not involved in any accidents, we saw two happening live, and drove by a third, more serious one - all within barely two weeks. While there are a lot of new cars on the streets, there are quite a few old ones around also, and people tend to drive with varying levels of attention paid to the road - or traffic laws, for that matter. The heavy reliance on cars in the country also means that traffic is responsible for the vast majority of air pollution in big cities like Almaty. The city has banned the construction of buildings taller than three floors in the foothills of southern Almaty, which is supposed to ensure some wind circulation from the mountains.
Plug adapter: Kazakhstan uses the standard European plug, so no adapter needed if you travel from that region.
Crime & Safety: The current U.S. Department of State Travel Advisory assesses Kazakhstan at Level 1, which means it is considered to be safer than destinations such as France and Germany. We felt perfectly safe throughout the stay and while petty theft and pickpockets exist, you'll be fine if you take normal precautions. As mentioned before, traffic might be the biggest danger for the regular traveler.
Food: If you're vegetarian or vegan, you are in trouble there. It might go back to the nomad roots of the Kazakh people, who were traversing the steppes and were forced to withstand cold winters relying on meat, but there is a reason for the local saying that “the only creatures that eat more meat than Kazakhs are wolves.” The meat section in the markets is usually huge, and people buy vast amounts of horse and lamb meat as well as beef (no pork due to the Muslim majority in the country).
Health: The photo of the meat market, where meat and intestines lie or hang around without additional cooling already hints at the fact that things are handled a bit differently here. Bills and coins go from customer to vendor who than handles the goods with this glove-less hands. You get the idea. That said, we were lucky during our stay and did not have any food-related problems. In general, tap water is not safe to drink in the region, and you should go for bottled water to stay on the safe side.
Money: The local currency in Kazakhstan is the Kazakh Tenge (at the time of writing, one Tenge equals 0.0024 Euro). You can pay by card in many places, but in more rural areas, cash is recommended. Dollars are also usually very welcome, the Euro a bit less so, and the currency of the neighboring countries received the least warm welcome. Prices are generally low. To use a German measurement: You can get a 0.5l beer for around 500 Tenge (~€1.2) in a restaurant.
Language: The official language is Kazakh, though Russian is widely spoken as well. In the bigger cities, you'll get by with some basic English, though things might be different once you leave the urban areas.
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Any more questions about the regions? Drop me a message.
In the meantime, here are some more shots from Kazakhstan:
