Almaty is surrounded by mountains and, weather permitting, there is some fantastic hiking. See above for getting to Medeu, from where you can hike, or get the cable car to Chimbulak, where you can find good hiking.
There is also good hiking around the Big Almaty Lake area up in the mountains (the lake is at 2,500m and there are peaks overlooking it, some of them above 4,500). The lake and surrounding area are beautiful. The lake freezes in the winter and in the autumn it is a stunning turquoise blue colour. You can reach the area by:
bus and hike: the 28 bus goes from the roundabout at Al-Farabi and Navoi up Dulati street and terminates at the last left turn before Almaarasan. This is a good way up towards Big Almaty Lake; the remainder can be done on foot: the hike is about 15km and a 1000m altitude increase (to 2,500m). Follow the road about 8km until you reach a big water pipe, and then follow the water pipe - the first bit is steep but beyond that it gets easier. If you don't take the water pipe the journey is much longer.
bus and taxi: when you get off the 28 bus there are taxis waiting: they will take you up to within 4km of the lake for 2,000 KZT (22/20/2011) - but you might as well skip the bus (see below).
taxi: from the roundabout at Al-Farabi and Navoi a taxi will take you to within 4km of the lake. You should be able to barter them down to 2,000 KZT (22/10/2011) for a one-way trip.
Organised tours
You can also hike up above the lake to the Observatory.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Almaty
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Almaty - updated Apr 2024
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Almaty Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
