Almaty Qalasy Travel Forum

What are my options if I want to travel between Almaty to Tashkent? I'd rather not fly. any information about buses, trains and shared taxis would appreciated. thanks

How to travel from Almaty to Urumqi?

Can we travel by plane or by train?

How often are there flights ?

Sincerely yours


Bjørn Myrvang

i am preparing for a business trip to Almata at the end of Nov. 2007, would you please advice regarding the weather condition, rate of money exchange and shall i have Tenge or US dollars?

Hi, I am going to Almaty, Kazakhstan, at the end of May. I am a keen mountain biker and unfortunatly I will not be able to travel with my bike. Anyone knows if you can rent a decent mountain bike in Almaty for a week or is there some mountain bike fanatics I could contact.......I am not afraid of steep climbs and rocky single tracks. Will bring my helmet, automatics pedals and shoes anyway....

Where can you rent a mountain bike in Almaty?

Ive been hearing mixed reports on going about getting a new L visa for China in Almaty. I will be coming from Kyrgyzstan and only have about 5 days before I need to get to China, so I'd need to get a visa pretty quick. Ive been hearing this thing about needing some letter of invitation or something from a chinese company to get back to china?? Or is the application strait forward like in other chinese embassys/consulates abroad? Would I be able to re-enter china by land with a double entry visa? I wonder if I can even get a double entry visa in Kathmandu (Im going from china to nepal to china (tibet) again to kyrgyz to kazakh and then back to china). Thanks

In month time I will be moving to Almaty, I want to know about the facilities to play Squash in Almaty. If any body knows about the details of Squash courts in Almaty please let me know.

Syed

I have to travel from Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt or Hamburg) to Almaty in Kazakstan. I alrready take a look with KLM, Air Astana,etc) But I did not find any good deal. I can travel on tuesday 13 but late in the night, but not after wednesday 14...! I am looking for something cheap arround 400 to 550 euros.
HEEEEEEEEEEELP....! s.o.s !!!!!!!

Does anybody know how much snow Chimbulak ski resort annually? Can I expect a lot of powder in March? Thanks.

Reference the previous queries regarding this topic, has anybody recently had any success on this route i.e. Urumqi - Almaty, has it improved at all? Lonely Planet currently says to expect 8 hours, with difficult officials and no plumbing facilities. To save all that, is it easier to fly from Urumqi to Almaty?
All views welcome.

I will have one full day (enough for a day trip outside the city) and one half day in Almaty in August (NOT consecutive - I have business in between). Please give me suggestions on what to see & do, food to try, art & music, shopping - anything that will give me a small slice of Kazakhstan in my short stay. Thank you!

Does anyone have a current streetmap of Alamaty that they would be willing to give me? I will be travelling there in a few months but I can't find any current maps online. Help!

I will be sending my fiancee to Almaty in December for her K-1 Visa interview at US Consulate.

We are having a difficult time trying to get info on some budget/low cost hotels (* Less than $55 per night) in Almaty as most of the internet listing for these hotels seem to be old and their phone numbers have changed.

For example: Hotel Issyk/Luch, Hotel Miras, Hotel Saltanat, Hotel Aliya, etc...

We have contacted; Uyut, Kazzhol, Zhetzyu --- but they all seem to want to charge more than their internet advertised rates.

If you know of something safe, decent, that may or may not have a continental breakfast and is not to far from city center and has single economy rooms under 6500 Tenge -OR- You can tell me the current phone numbers/email address of the hotels listed above, or any other budget hotel. IT WOULD BE A BIG HELP!!!!!!

Thanks :o)

Can anyone assist with info on making the trip by train in early Mar? I'm understand its still cold but wondering if too cold to make it a sensible trip at that time.

We are a Danish/Dutch family with 2 small girls who are maybe moving to ALMATY for some years (expat). We would like to get in contact with other expats which would give us useful information how it is to live there with kids etc.

Kindly mail to Fam. Kaas., email (KKR@CATTINAIR.COM)

are there any flights between Almaty and Bayan Olgii, Mongolia?
if so when

hi, i am planning a trip to almaty in november, and i would like to get some info on staying inexpensively in almaty. i also want to travel to the polygon area of the country because i am scouting locations for a friend who wants to make a documentary about the country. i would like to get info about in-country travel and if there are restrictions.
any advice would be most welcome!

I'm thinking about going to Almaty for a few days... but how many days is enough? is 2-3 days enough to the see the city & the mountains?

thanks in advance!

Hi There!

I'm planning a train journey this summer for a train trip that will start in Beijing and end in Athens (a little crazy, I know!) To exit China, I'm thinking that the best way is to take the Urumqi-Almaty train. From Almaty, it looks like I have several options. I can either go through Tehran and then from Tehran take the train to Istanbul and then into Greece. But the people that are traveling are a little aphrensive about cutting through the Middle East. Or, it looks like I can go from Almaty to Moscow and then from Moscow make my way into Greece.

I have several questions that I was wondering if fellow VT members can help with.

1) From Urumqi to Almaty, there are 2 trains in operation -- one operated by the China railway system and the other from the Kazakhstan side. Does anyone know which is the better one to use?

2) If I decide to go the Almaty-Tehran route, does anybody have any info on this train route? Cost? Duration? Where and how to book? Can I do it online or is it safe to book while I'm there?

3) How about the Almaty-Moscow route? Does anybody have any info on this route? Again...cost, duration and where and how to book.

4) Are there other routes that I am not thinking about?

Thanks for the help!

Amy

Hey gang, this is a long shot but I figured I'd ask anyway. I'm going to be in Almaty over May 14-15-16, and I'm free as a bird. Is anyone interested in getting together for a meeting/exploring? I'm really excited to see the city again, since I haven't been there for ten years. It would be great to have a sightseeing companion, especially a resident!

Please respond if you'd like to meet up. I have no idea where to meet besides the lobby of the Hyatt Regency, but I'm sure we can come up with something!

I am going to fly into Kazakhstan through Almaty. Can anyone advise what items I should not bring into the country besides the obvious, illegal drugs, etc. I have traveled many times to the Middle East and those countries are very strict on many things. Don't know if Kazakhstan is as strict as theMiddle East. Also, are Credit Cards widely accepted?

Can anyone recommend a good place to find a translator (English/Russian) and driver for a short trip to Almaty I'm taking in Sep-03?

Thanks,

J

Thanks to all who wrote about my question regarding traveling to St. Pete or Moscow. My sincere appreciation. After all that said, I am going to Almaty (Alma-Ata) Kazakhstan instead. Check my page.
Any pointers and tips on how to get there from Chicago? What is best way to get visa, through our own US embassy?
Thanks and regards.