This booming city was founded in 1854 as a Russian frontier fort when the Kazaks were still nomads and was capital of Kazakstan until late 1997. Almaty has become a honeypot to Kazakstanis and a mixed bunch of foreign traders, diplomats and financiers jockeying for position in the race to carve

The weekend playgrounds of Medeu and Shymbulaq are in the foothills of the Zailiysky Alatau, 15km (9.3mi) from Almaty. Situated at an altitude of 1700m (5576ft) , Medeu consists of a smattering of buildings built around one of the world's largest speed skating rink. Between October and May, hal

These three pretty green lakes lie amid the steep forested foothills of the Küngey Alatau, 110km (68mi) east of Almaty. The lakes are strung along the Köl-Say river at an altitude of around 2000m (6560ft). The camping and trout fishing are great. June and August are the best months to

From the time of the first rock paintings the culture underwent a great number of metamorphosis, but still today, as thousands years ago, it is included into the list of necessary to a human being civilization goods along with asphalt and central heating. Exactly culture, its “effect of

The weekend playgrounds of Medeu and Shymbulaq are in the foothills of the Zailiysky Alatau, 15km (9.3mi) from Almaty. Situated at an altitude of 1700m (5576ft) , Medeu consists of a smattering of buildings built around one of the world's largest speed skating rink. Between October and May, h

Lately, Baikonur space launch site has become very popular for the space tourism. This has been possible after opening the site more to the world community as a result of transparency policy pursued Russia, which rents and administers city from Kazakhstan.

Building on th

Until the 19th century, the steppe of northern Kazakstan was largely untouched except by Kazak nomads and their herds. Since then much of the region has been ploughed into wheat fields, thanks to Nikita Krushchev's Virgin Lands scheme, and one particularly unfortunate 15,000 sq km (9300 sq mi)