Almaty Mountains Hiking Tour: Uncover Diverse Trails in the Range of Tien Shan

Discover diverse hiking trails in the Almaty Mountains, ranging from easy to challenging. Choose between relaxing treks or active adventures and explore waterfalls, forests, rivers, and picturesque plateaus.

Duration: 8 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Alma-Arasan - It’s one of the beautiful gorges in the Almaty mountains. The trekking path is easy. You can choose any place from this list.
  • Kok-Zhaylyau - One of the most beautiful routes for hiking. The plateau is a summer spot for nomads and shepherds. You will see horses and cows enjoying the dense grass in the mountainous area. Medium difficulty level. 7km one way.
  • Butakovskiy Waterfall - The waterfall is not as big as others in our region but it is very expressive. It looks like a thin patterned curtain on the slope behind which you can stay and enjoy the cold and fresh air. A long hiking route. Full day.
  • Big Almaty Lake - Almaty Lake is one of the most popular and beautiful places in Almaty. Often presented as a landmark of Kazakhstan. Full day trekking, 8km one way. Ascending the hill to an altitude of 2500m.
What's Included
  • Bottled water
Additional Information

There are several routes for hiking with different levels of difficulties in our Ile-Alatau mountains - range of the Tien Shan
Here are some popular, easy and middle level for full-day and half-dayt rekking.

Tell me about your preferences: easy trek and more time for relax, or active and long path. What do you want to see the most: waterfall or forest, river or plateau covered with grass and flowers. We will find a suitable route for you. Here are some popular hiking trails:

Location
Alma-Arasan
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.7
(14 Ratings)
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Anasl101
Jul 20, 2024
Breathtaking Almaty - The tour was magnificent. My Guide Yelnar is very Kind. You will think that English is his mother tongue. It was very hot in Almaty at that day, but the weather up was amazing. Yelnar showed me very beautiful places in the mountains. I really enjoyed the views and wish Yelnar all the best for his future
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jocelynsk3436ys
Jul 4, 2024
A good morning of hiking - Yelnar and Kazia Tours were great. Really great communication, helpful and extremely accommodating. Yelnar, our guide, was helpful and confident. He took us up to a mountain meadow/valley and to a waterfall where, after a hot morning going up the mountain, we were delighted to dip our feet in the icy cold waters. Yelnar always made sure the pace was right, and made sure we took plenty of photos (he's also great at being the 'instagram husband'). He encouraged us to hydrate and rest when needed, and was discreet when needed, making sure we had some time to explore independently. Yelnar's English was very good. Would 100% recommend and would use again.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jacobac2901ie
Sep 14, 2023
Very cool and smooth trip - Beautiful location, easy quick and confident communication with guides. Overall a great excursion. A+
Review provided by Tripadvisor
245mark096
Aug 27, 2023
Short trip to Waterfall - Elnar was a delightful guide taking me and another guy up a picturesque valley in the Almaty mountains. A short but beautiful hike. Lots of photos gave some good memories.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Josh_t
Aug 24, 2023
Nice quick hike away from the city - Went on a beautiful hike up Alma-Arasan with Yelnar, who guided the way and helped take some really great pictures. The hike itself wasn't too long, but it was a good challenge. The views are fantastic and the weather was great. I didn't try it out, but there are also a few little baths with hot spring water to dip in; so bring a towel and a change of clothes if you're interested. Overall, I'd recommend the hike as a nice way to take a break from the city and get your body moving.
Review provided by Viator
Mohamed_d
Aug 15, 2023
Great Tour - Attentive guide, they accommodated our requests and the tour was fun. Decent English language so communication was not a problem at all.
Review provided by Viator
Avi-sarkar
Aug 6, 2023
Hiking in Shymbulak - I had a great hiking trip in Shymbulak. Elnar my guide was amazing and super helpful. He was always ensuring I was comfortable during the trek. Highly recommend this trek with Elnar.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Anuttam_m
May 16, 2023
A great light hike - I had a great time on this light hike made tricky due to some rainy weather. All the people I met on the way were very friendly and inviting.
Review provided by Viator
Jasonhu9190sa
Jun 27, 2024
Almaty Mountain Hiking to Kok Jailau - We really enjoyed this mountain trek with our guide, who was very professional and kind. Although The trek was more challenging than we anticipated. We exercise regularly but we don’t live near mountains, so it was quite hard. The views were amazing and the air was very clean. The hike was meant to be two hours but it took us five hours to complete. We really enjoyed our hike with our guide but I would caution that it was quite challenging if you don’t regularly exercise in higher altitude with steep terrain.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Shaf_a
Aug 11, 2023
Kok zhailu - Intermediate hike, 10km - Definitely not a basic hike. We went for kok zhailuh, which turned out to be a 10km, 2300m elevation hike. It took us 6hours. Our guide Yelnar was really lovely, helpful, but really young - like a mountain goat with a couple of hippos 😅 The views were great, but not worth the pain tbh. Do I recommend it? Yes, if you are an experienced hiker. No, if you are beginner.
Review provided by Viator
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