Private, on your own dates · Kazakhstan
A seven-day private tour of south-east Kazakhstan from Almaty: the Shymbulak cable car and Kok Tobe, Charyn Canyon, the Kolsai and Kaindy lakes with a night in Saty village, Issyk Lake and the Turgen waterfall, and a final day at Ayusai Gorge and the Almaty sights.
Twin share · land only, flights extra
Almaty sits at the foot of the Tian Shan, and the reason to come is what lies within a few hours of the city: red-rock canyons, alpine lakes and forested gorges. This tour uses Almaty as its base for five of the six nights, so there is only one short hop away from the hotel — a night in Saty village, close to the lakes.
The mountains start on the first full day, with the cable car at Shymbulak rising to about 3,200 metres and the view over the city from Kok Tobe hill. The next day is the long one: Charyn Canyon and its Valley of Castles, then on to Kolsai Lake, turquoise water ringed by pine forest, before the night in Saty.
From Saty it is a short drive to Kaindy Lake, where the trunks of drowned spruce trees rise straight out of the water, and then the Black Canyon on the way back to Almaty. The last two days stay closer to the city: Issyk Lake and the Turgen waterfall, then Ayusai Gorge, the Almarasan hot-springs area and a city tour of Panfilov Park, the wooden Ascension Cathedral, the Green Bazaar and the Rakhat chocolate store.
The tour is private, with an English-speaking driver-guide from the second to the sixth day, airport transfers, a four-star hotel in Almaty, daily breakfast and the entrance fees to the national parks on the route.
Hotels are named on your confirmation — all are of the stated category.
You leave from a different place than you arrive — book an open-jaw flight, not a return.
Private return airport transfers are included.
Kazakhstan
Summer (Jun–Aug) is the main travel season. Spring is pleasant for the steppe landscapes.
Yes. The transport and the English-speaking driver-guide are for your party only, from the second to the sixth day, and the airport transfers are private too.
Five nights at the East Palace Hotel, a four-star hotel in Almaty, and one night in a guesthouse in Saty village, close to the Kolsai and Kaindy lakes. Breakfast is included throughout.
Only a small overnight bag. The night in Saty is a single stop on the way between the lakes, and you return to the same hotel in Almaty the next day.
The lakes and mountain roads are most reliable from late spring to early autumn. In late autumn and winter the roads to Kolsai and Kaindy can close after snow, Kaindy Lake can freeze, and the Shymbulak cable car can pause for maintenance between seasons; these are reconfirmed before booking.
Breakfast every day. Lunches and dinners are not included, and your driver-guide can suggest places along the route.
That depends on your nationality. Many visitors can enter without a visa for a short stay, but the rules differ by passport, so check them before you book flights.
Tell Tulli what you'd change — hotels, dates, an extra city — and she'll price it with our team and come back to you.