Astana Kazakhstan

Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan. The modern city was declared the capital in 1997. In this short time, the city has undergone massive changes and has become one of the largest cities in Central Asia. Currently, the city has over 1.5 million inhabitants and the number is growing rapidly. The idea of moving the capital from Almaty to Astana was based on its location. While Almaty is in the south-eastern corner of the country, Astana is in the heart of Kazakhstan, making it accessible to all corners of the country. Another good reason for moving the capital is that Almaty has become too big, with increasing traffic, pollution and other problems. The decision to refresh and build a new capital was simply a perfect idea.

Now you can see many modern architectures was built on the left bank of Ishim River. The right bank of the city is mainly old buildings and where the old town of Akmola was built.

The weather in Astana is sharply continental, with hot summers and extremely cold winters. It is known as one of the coldest capitals in the world.

The name of the town has changed many times. The first Akmola was founded in the 1830s and Akmola means “white grave”. In 1832 the name was changed to Russian and it became “Akmolinsk”. In 1961s under N.Khrushchev it was renamed to Tselinograd. After the independence of Kazakhstan the city got back its old name Akmola.

In 1997, the first president of Kazakhstan, Mr Nazarbayev, moved the capital from Almaty to Akmola and gave it the name Astana, which literally means “capital” in Kazakh.

More recently, in 2019, the city was named Nur-Sultan after first President who announced his retirement from politic, and three years later, in 2022, it regained its original name of Astana. And now the city holds the Guinness record for the most changed capital names in modern times.

The city of Astana hosted the World Expo 2017. It attracted more than 2 million visitors from around the world. The theme of the Expo was ‘Future Energy’. The city has built a new Expo city with a number of masterpieces of modern architecture.

There are many must-see attractions in the capital.

The symbol of Astana is a Baiterek and it is highly recommended to visit this place and go to the top for a beautiful panoramic view of the city.

Most of the modern buildings are located around the Baiterek and you can take a walk through the best street that starts from the Government House “Ak Orda” to the Khan-Shatyr and enjoy the beautiful parks and buildings along this walk.

Our Astana city tour will take you to the largest mosque in Central Asia. The new Astana Grand Mosque has a capacity of 30’000 people and is built with the best Islamic architecture.

Visit an Expo city where you will find a huge mall with many attractions, branded shops, cinema and almost everything. You can also visit the main museums and theatres in the city and take a walk in the parks.

Our city tour includes visiting the best restaurants in the city with traditional food and amazing atmosphere.

There are several best options if you want to see around Astana. The best is to visit Alzhir prison – the camp for the wives of traitors. The Soviet Union built this prison in the 1937s and over 18,000 women were imprisoned in the camp during its existence.

You can take a day trip to the Burabay National Park. Here you can enjoy the beautiful scenery and the legend of the mysterious island stone in the middle of the lake.

For activities you can choose to visit the countryside and meet the locals, go horse riding and enjoy the traditional meals.

Come & enjoy your ideal Astana tour with our team!

Hope to see you soon!