Kazakhstan

What is the best time to travel to Kazakhstan?

There is no need to consider crowds when deciding on a good time to visit - it never gets really busy. A good time to travel depends on where you want to go and what types of activities you are looking for.

As a general rule, spring and autumn are a great time (April/May and October, respectively). Summer is a great time for hiking and visiting the mountains, but Charyn Canyon and Altyn Emel can get very hot during that time of year. That being said, we visited in mid-August and even though it was hot, if you timed your visits right (e.g. morning in Charyn canyon), it wasn't a problem at all.

What languages are spoken in Kazakhstan?

Kazakh and Russian are the official languages of Kazakhstan. If you speak one of them, you get around easily. Most people in larger cities speak English, but outside of them it does get a bit trickier. We did not speak any Russian nor Kazah and were fine - it just requires some pointing and attempts at sign language.

That being said, it does not hurt to learn a bit of Russian and be able to read cyrillic. Duolingo is your friend here: a few weeks of studying Russian there did the trick for us.

What is the currency in Kazakhstan?

The currency is Kazakh tenge - it experienced a sharp devaluation in 2015 making Kazakhstan a very affordable destination. A basic meal costs around 3-4USD and outside of Almaty, we paid 10-15USD for staying in homestays and hostels, with breakfast and dinner usually included.

Outside of larger cities like Almaty, you don't get around cash. Make sure you always carry sufficient with you, as ATMs are not available everywhere.

Is it safe to travel through Kazakhstan?

Kazakhstan is a safe country, also for solo female travellers - it is even considered safer than destinations such as France and Germany! That being said, muggings and theft does happen, but this rarely involves tourists.

If you are driving yourself, be prepared to be stopped by traffic police and asked for a bribe in one way or the other. Even though this did not happen to us, we were told it is a very common occurence and we were just lucky.

What is the best way to travel through Kazakhstan?

Even though Kazakhstan is currently building a highspeed train system between major cities, (shared) taxis and buses are still the main way of transportation - especially if you are looking to explore remoter regions. Tours to the major sights in the region leave from Almaty regularly and are a great option if you do not have your own means of transportation.

We recommend to rent a car - it does come with a bit of paperwork, but is a relatively affordable option and you are independent to explore the vast country.

If you're visiting cities, we suggest to get a SIM card so you can easily take taxis - Yandex operates in all large cities and is both affordable and super convenient.

Nomad Score:

5/10 - is the score for the country as a whole. In Almaty, we would hike this up to a 6/10. The city has a wide range of cute cafes that have a good WiFi connection, although it will not be super-fast and we did experience some interruptions. Also, we came across a few new co-working spaces when there.

Outside of bigger cities, both cellphone reception and consistent WiFi will be hard to come by.