What to see in Kazakhstan: Silk Road cities, camels, Almaty and its cathedral, incredible landscapes – but don’t mention Borat
- Kazakhstan, the world’s biggest landlocked country, turns 30 on December 16 determined to make the coming decade one in which tourism takes off
- It has a lot to offer – Silk Road monuments, stunning views, architecture ancient and modern, hiking and skiing, and modern entertainments
Oh to be finally free of travel lockdowns! I dreamed about future travels during the long hours spent cooped up in my tiny London flat. But never did I think my first destination might be Kazakhstan.
In mid-December 1991, Kazakhstan became the last republic to declare independence from the Soviet Union, which was dissolved just 10 days later. In the decades that followed, it established itself as one of the most economically successful republics in Central Asia, by the mid-2000s generating more than half of the entire region’s gross domestic product (mainly through the production of fossil fuels).
With the climate crisis – and the need to leave fossil fuels in the ground – in clear view, Kazakhstan is looking to a future of tourism, investing in roads, transport, tourist complexes, landmark restorations and marketing. Much of this has been undertaken over the past 19 months, while the country has been closed to tourists during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a January 2021 speech to the national government, Prime Minister Askar Mamin pledged to invest 1.1 trillion tenge (US$2.52 billion) in tourism infrastructure, with particular attention paid to eco-tourism, national parks and a new high-speed rail line.
Ahead of Kazakhstan’s 30th birthday, which falls on December 16, I was invited, along with a small cohort of journalists and a group of social media influencers, to see the country before a full reopening to tourism in early 2022.
