Almaty - Things to Do

In general, a fun city; we had no problem getting around with the kids, felt like we could pretty much ‘blend in’. Up until 1997 (?) this was the capital of Kazakhstan; it has a lot to offer visitors, the mountains are beautiful - a lovely city. We're really glad we opted to spend our last couple of weeks in Kazakhstan here - it's a really neat city to explore, and we felt pretty comfortable here. There were a fair number of people that spoke at least some English, and we met up with several other families from the US that were adopting children.

We stayed at the Hotel Kazzhol. (site in Russian and English.) We were there just after they had done some pretty significant renovations - the rates went up (took us by surprise), but we were able to get cribs for both children, breakfast each day was part of the rate.

We got a map from one of the other adoptive families we met here from infokz.com (link here), which helped a ton.


We went with some of the other adoptive families that we met in Almaty to Panfilov Park. The park has military statues and such, which we wanted to get a chance to go back to see another day (but never got the chance). We did see the Svyato-Voznesenski Cathedral (have also seen it referred to as Zenkov Cathedral), a Russian Orthodox church that’s an Almaty landmark. It was built in the early 1900s (so now about 100 years old) by Paul Zenkov. It is said to be built of wood, and no nails were used. Outside the church are some lovely flower gardens and an open area where pigeons gather – the kids had a great time trying to chase them!


There is a plaza type area with stores (including a Silkway City), open/outdoor seating restaurants, a beer garden type place or two; a fun area to walk around. We wandered this area several times, a nice place to meander.




There is an Open Market (we think perhaps called the Green Bazaar?) within walking distance from the hotel – enjoyed exploring it.







We hired someone to take us to Shymbulak (Chimbulak), we were on the edge of the Tien Shan mountain range… On the way up to the ski resort, we stopped at several scenic spots and a sports complex - for speed skating, named Medeu Ice Skating Stadium. It was built in 1972, and was a training center for soviet Olympic hopefuls. Awesome view, it’s near a giant dam and beautiful gorge. At the ski resort Shymbulak/Chimbulak we wanted to go up the mountain in the lift, but we were too leary of taking the kids as they were the old style kind. It is not a “huge” resort by Colorado standards, but it certainly did look like a beautiful place to ski, and they did have some nice facilities. If we had been there in a different season we certainly would have liked to try to do a bit of skiing there.





















Went to the Almaty Zoo(the Zoo Park). This area is really a set pf activity parks. We had been to the premise before, but couldn’t find the zoo itself; we were assured that it really is there, so we took a taxi again and tried a different approach. (The first time we were there we saw the waterpark, the gardens, etc. ) It really is there – we just had to walk further down a path to another gate specifically for the zoo, pay a bit more (if it was the equivalent of $5 for all of us I’d be surprised). I’d still say it is worth the visit, but it is an older zoo. Some of the large animals were in cages that seemed to be much too small; they did have quite a few animals, though, I must say. Taxis were easy to get out front of the park premise.