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Nestled in the foothills of the Tian Shan range, Almaty balances the country's nomadic traditions with influences from its seven decades spent under Soviet rule. Heavily canopied green avenues meet more modern developments in Kazakhstan's largest city and former capital, until Astana took the title in 1997.
If you are looking for an unconventional summer destination and are happy to swap the beaches for hiking, Almaty is well worth consideration. Fantastic value, relaxed and somewhere well off the beaten path.
After a somewhat underwhelming month in Baku, I prioritised Almaty as the first destination for a summer spent travelling through Central Asia. Most research pointed to it as one of the most liveable cities in the region, and a more lively alternative to Astana, the nation's administrative and political capital since 1997.
My prevailing knowledge of Kazakhstan did not stretch much further than the first 15 minutes of Sacha Baron Cohen's 2006 comedy 'Borat'. Even after spending just two hours in the city, this rather shallow depth of knowledge felt remarkably inaccurate.
There's a reasonable stock of apartments on Airbnb, yet the prices aren't entirely reflective of general costs in the city. There isn't the same volume of new-build apartments in the core of the city that keep the prices generally so low as in the major South East Asian cities, with larger condo developments generally being slightly further out than where you would ideally aim for.
Given that your daily expenses are almost certainly going to be lower than most other destinations, you may want to consider allocating more of your budget to accommodation than you may originally expect.
During the peak summer months, at around the £1,000 mark on Airbnb, you should be able to find a good-quality one-bedroom apartment, with prices likely to dip out of season going into the winter. Given how stretched out the city is, I'd resist any temptation to opt for a cheaper deal based on location, as it may hamper your ability to explore on foot.
I stayed in the 'ЖК Rayimbek' apartment complex, which has a high number of spacious, modern units on Airbnb. I would happily recommend searching there if you're looking to balance cost and location.
Considering how dispersed Almaty feels, there's generally good coverage across the city for coworking spaces. There didn't feel like any particular stand-out places from my research prior to arrival, but I was very happy with my decision to spend the month at Fifty Four, which I've written about in greater depth further below.
SmArPoint looked like one of the biggest and most popular facilities in the city, but its location closer to the Auezov Theatre metro station felt like too big of a walkable commute from Arbat. Coworking Square, Level 8 and Sail also looked like decent options, but again felt too far from the core areas where you'd want to stay.
Coffee shops are open later into the evening, often closing past 22:00, and can make for practical options for some short periods of work. Voronka and Six Coffee+Wine both had acceptable Wi-Fi speeds and could prove to be good short-term solutions.
Almaty presents some of the best value for money I can recall, particularly when eating out. By global standards, the prices are undoubtedly low, but it's actually the quality which is truly noteworthy.
You won't find prices equivalent to street food in South-East Asia, but you've got a wide range of quality international restaurants at costs significantly lower than in Europe. An authentic Neapolitan-style pizza from Extra Virgin costs around £4. A bibimbap from a casual Korean restaurant costs £2.50. A hoppy local beer at steakhouse Irwin can be found for under £3. An Instagram-worthy poached egg breakfast with speciality coffee and dessert costs £8 at Voronka. If you want to opt for local cafeteria-style buffets, the prices can be even lower.
These are not what you could interpret as 'cheap and cheerful' establishments, but venues that would hold their own against comparable restaurants and cafés in first-tier European cities.
Journeys by taxi are particularly inexpensive, with most journeys, even from the airport, rarely exceeding £3. Prices in supermarkets are notably lower than what you might expect in Europe, with imported items feeling much better value than in neighbouring Azerbaijan.
As always, it's worth noting that the significant underlying contributing factor to this is the very low cost of wages in the country by Western standards. With the comparatively weak purchasing power that local wages provide, this value for money is certainly not necessarily felt by residents.
Almaty is by no means the most dynamic or exciting city you'll encounter. And yet that is part of its charm. With very low perceptible levels of conventional tourism, it's somewhere you feel you can slip into the rhythms of daily life with ease. If I had to equate it to somewhere similar within Europe, I'd place it somewhere between Warsaw and Riga, in terms of the general liveliness of its ambience.
Whilst the city isn't famed for its nightlife, the summer months welcome a range of music festivals in the nearby countryside and there's a strip of late-night venues to the east of the Almaly metro station, but they appear to be predominantly serving something of a younger crowd.
The key draw for anyone visiting the city is likely to be the convenient access to the mountains on the city's perimeter. If you're unlikely to make good use of them, Almaty may feel somewhat underwhelming.
Almaty operates on Kazakhstan Time, which is GMT+5 throughout the year, as the country does not observe daylight saving time, making visiting during the summer months marginally better for maintaining alignment with Europe. Up until 2024, the country was at GMT+6, which you may still see referenced in some previous articles, and some databases still reference that previous time structure.
If you are maintaining hours with European colleagues, this means a later start to your working day. I would generally start around 10:00 and finish up at some point in the early evening.
Personally, I found this a great structure as you could enjoy a leisurely morning heading to the gym or for a run, whilst still having enough time to make the most of your evening without altering your schedule as significantly as somewhere like Thailand.
It's worth noting that during the summer months the sun rises particularly early, fully bright by 04:30, with sunsets coming in just before 20:00.
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Almaty has a peculiar layout. There is no epicentre or conventional city centre, at least by European standards. There's no core hub where you can expect to see thousands of commuters piling in every morning, or immediately noticeable hubs of concentrated nightlife.
As a first-time visitor, this can make it somewhat difficult to work out where to base yourself, but once on the ground, this dispersed nature of activity makes for a calm stay.
To provide a rough estimate, if you are south of Rayimbek metro, north of Abay metro, and within a 45-minute walk of Arbat G. Almaty, you can't go too far wrong.
Once in Almaty, some people warned me that the more northerly districts towards Rayimbek metro are 'rougher' than the more southerly areas heading up towards the hills. Perhaps they are a little more unpolished, with some ageing Soviet-era housing, but I couldn't detect any real cause for concern, having explored the area exhaustively around the clock.
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Having done some extensive research prior to visiting, Fifty Four was the first place I viewed and I signed up on the spot. The offices are in a recently renovated commercial space, around a 15-minute walk from Rayimbek metro.
The coworking area is on the 2nd floor of the building, with around 30 dedicated desks in a large, airy and bright space, featuring private offices, communal spaces with soft furnishings and phone booths. Desks are spacious and are accompanied by professional office chairs. Key card access is required when coming up from the café, making it safe to leave your belongings indefinitely. The kitchen provides drinking water and food-making facilities but no coffee.
I felt fairly confident I was the only non-Kazakh or non-Russian in the space throughout the duration of my stay, and it clearly had a more professional, work-orientated focus, which suited my needs at the time perfectly. Importantly, the space is well-ventilated during the heat of the summer months, with strong AC available across the building.
The ground floor café serves coffee and light meals throughout the day, is also open to the public, and makes for a more ambient workspace. A well put together eggs and avocado on sourdough costs a very reasonable £3.50.
The building itself is set in something of a residential part of the town, so there aren't many amenities in the immediate surrounding area, but within a 10-minute walk you've got a great range of lunch options such as Korean street food, Kelinka, Express Ali Stalovaya and the MEGA Park Mall on Mukagali Makataev Street.
A dedicated desk costs 100,000 KZT (£140) for the month, which gets you access seven days a week from 07:00 to 23:00. If you are looking for a quiet, calm and professional space to get work done, I would look no further. If you are looking for somewhere to act as more of a social base, you may want to try something else.
Kazakhstan introduced the Neo Nomad Visa (B12-1) in 2024 as part of its strategy to attract digital nomads and remote workers. The visa allows citizens of eligible countries with strong economies to live and work remotely in Kazakhstan for up to one year, with the possibility of extending for an additional year.
Applicants must demonstrate a minimum monthly income of $3,000 USD and work for companies based outside Kazakhstan, as local employment is prohibited under this visa. The multiple-entry visa includes family members and permits travel in and out of the country.
To apply, candidates need to submit their application to a Kazakhstani embassy or consulate with documentation including a valid passport, proof of income, and verification of remote work arrangements.
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If you want to pluck out some vintage relics, head over to this large market at the weekend.
Situated on the city's outskirts, it's home to a huge range of traders selling everything under the sun. Vintage clothing, furniture, local fruits and vegetables, dogs, cats and even roosters are all available for bartering.
Bring some cash and fully expect to make heavy use of a translation app, as there will be next to no English spoken.
Look out for traders selling generous portions of plov from carts rolling around, and some particularly rustic BBQs if you want to test how strong your stomach is.
A fun expedition for a few hours on a weekend morning, transporting you back to a time that feels more like 1975 than 2025.
My four weeks were spread across late May and June, with peak daytime temperatures hovering between a comfortable 24 degrees to more sauna-esque temperatures in the early 30s. A mix of haze from the mountains and pollution means truly clear, bright blue skies were a rarity, but most days were mainly sunny with occasional showers.
The further up you climb out of the city into the mountains, there's a perceptible drop in temperatures, even on the hottest days. At night the temperature drops equally significantly.
Unless you are visiting specifically for winter sports, you probably are best swerving the core winter months from November to March, where the snowfall and temperatures hovering around zero will hamper your ability to explore the outdoors in the same manner.
A month is an ideal amount of time to plan to be in the city if you plan on making the most of the hiking and other outdoor activities at weekends during the summer months. Given how far it is likely to be from where you are starting off, it would be difficult to justify any shorter trip.
Despite its seemingly isolated geographic location, Almaty is surprisingly diverse on the ground.
Kazakhstan as a whole is home to over 100 nationalities, and Almaty has the most cosmopolitan population within the country. Ethnic Kazakhs make up the majority of the population, followed by a significant population of Russians who relocated there during the Soviet years.
Prior to visiting, I was intrigued by the dynamics between these two communities. There is some visible segregation in professional and social spheres, stemming from cultural differences between the two communities. Even second or third generation Russians will still refer to themselves as 'Russian' rather than Kazakhstani. But from what I could witness, both groups appear to coexist harmoniously, at least within Almaty.
Russian is by far the dominant language in Almaty, serving as the de facto default even for many ethnic Kazakhs, despite the government's attempts to reinvigorate its use.
Somewhat surprisingly, there is a significant, fully assimilated Korean community, a result of forced migration during the Stalin era in the 1930s. You'll also encounter smaller numbers of Uzbeks and other Central Asian neighbours. To cap it off, there is a large population of Indian students based at the city's universities.
In terms of conventional tourism, the main groups appeared to be Indians and visitors from Arab countries, whilst I occasionally picked up on a stray North American accent. As a place to mix with fellow remote workers or a wider expat community, unless you are a Russian speaker, you're almost certainly better off looking elsewhere.
Whilst the majority of the population is nominally Muslim, similar to Azerbaijan, the presence of Islam on the ground feels incredibly discreet. Kazakhstan is constitutionally secular, and Almaty especially is known for being particularly liberal, so if you did not know beforehand, it would be difficult to make any association with the religion. Alcohol is served and enjoyed freely, and whilst you may see some more conservative dress from women, there's little to identify with the religion.
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