The capital of Kazakhstan is an interesting one, and I’m not sure if I mean that in a good way or a bad way. Even now, long after having left Astana, I still don’t entirely know how I feel about it. I initially had no intentions of visiting Astana. I was perfectly comfortable in the vibrant city of Almaty, and my next moves were to head south into Kyrgyzstan. However, to my surprise, Air Astana gave me a pretty solid flight voucher since my flight into Almaty was delayed by a few hours. Not sure when I would be in the region again to take advantage of it, I figured I’d make the detour to Astana, which would have otherwise been a brutal 16-hour long train journey.
It is a long way to go, and with so much to see and do in Central Asia, is Astana really worth the detour? Astana might be sleek, shiny, and futuristic, but is there anything beneath its shiny silver surface? Let’s dive into it.
And hey, if this post helps you out, show some love and support for the blog and help keep my adventures going by buying me a beer! My adventures are entirely self-funded, so any show of support is greatly appreciated. It allows me to keep providing free travel guides and creating travel content to help you all travel the world.
This post contains affiliate links. That means that I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through one of these links
Table of Contents
- Uncovering the History of Astana
- Where To Stay in Astana
- One Day Itinerary For Astana
- Day Trip to Burabay National Park
- Closing Thoughts on Astana
- Buy Me A Beer!
- More on Central Asia
Uncovering the History of Astana
Astana, formerly known as Nur Sultan, is the second-largest city of Kazakhstan, and as of 1997, the country’s capital. The vast majority of modern Astana was built in the 1990s with the intention of it becoming the industrial, financial, and political hub of Kazakhstan. Its central location in the world’s 9th-largest country made more sense than having Almaty, located in the far southeast of the country, serving as its capital. Thus, the city of Astana was planned and rapidly built on the grounds of a former prison camp, with little time for anything else to catch up.
That alone should give you an idea of why Astana is the way it is, at least during my visit in 2025. Astana is barely older than I am. Thirty years is not nearly enough time for a city to accomplish much besides exist. It feels like a massive, futuristic city just popped out of the barren Kazakh steppe, ready to welcome millions of people into its multitude of highrises and office buildings. If you build it, they will come, right?
But, that has not happened, at least not to the extent that Astana seems to have been built for. Astana’s own ambitions very well might be what causes it to fall short of its grand aspirations. Perhaps if it was smaller and the city planning more focused, Astana would feel much more alive. The city is gigantic, yet when I wandered through its massive parks, surrounded by towering buildings, I was often the only pedestrian around. That was a huge reason why Astana simply felt eerie to me. It felt like a ghost town. I went to many public parks, places of worship, large plazas, museums, but no matter where I was, the smattering of citizens was hugely disproportionate to the city’s size.
But that’s the thing about planned cities. It takes a long time for them to catch up to their ambitions. Culture doesn’t develop overnight. With Astana being so young, its citizens haven’t even had a chance to fall in love with the city yet. Much of its population don’t even plan on staying in Astana for long, either immigrating from other countries or other parts of Kazakhstan with the intention to work for a few years before going home. Only a fraction of the people in Astana plan on staying in the city long-term, viewing their time there as a stepping stone rather than as a home to nurture and fall in love with. And without that love for the city, without the ties to connect people in their shared demonym of choice for Astana, then there’s no community and no character. At least, for now.
Most of the restaurants in Astana were chain restaurants located in shopping malls. People haven’t had the chance to start a neighborhood cafe or open up a plov stand. Save for one or two areas, Astana feels all too sterile – a car-heavy big city with apartments and office buildings that I’d be surprised were at even 10% capacity. Nothing feels real in Astana, and the few touristic attractions feel very manufactured. Despite how impressive the eclectic architectural styles were, I was pretty bored by the afternoon of my first day in Astana.
Luckily, Astana did have a redemption arc of sorts, and I left with fonder memories than the bleak first impression than I initially had. I spent four days and three nights in Astana, with one of those days spent as a day trip to Burabay National Park. Four days is far too long, but if you have a spare day and are passing through Astana, here is what I would recommend doing. 24 hours in Astana isn’t the end of the world, and I’ll do my best to make sure you have a good time.
Where To Stay in Astana
Before we head off, where are you sleeping? As a budget backpacker, I ended up at the Caps Lock Future Hotel close to the Baiterek Monument. As long as you’re not claustrophobic, it is pretty cool, and adds to the futuristic feel of the city. The price point was good, the common areas were a nice touch, and of course, the location was unbeatable. Here are a few other hostels in Astana to check out, including a few that seem to have a more social vibe for solo travelers and backpackers.
Alright, now back to where we left off.
Things To Do in Astana: One Day Itinerary for Astana
There isn’t much in Astana that I would consider must-do, but you are staying by the Baiterek, so might as well go up. This iconic landmark, whose name means “Tall Poplar Tree,” is the most popular attraction of Astana and offers a great view from the observation tower at the top. Tickets cost 2,000 tenge, and taking in the skyline of Astana from above gives scope to this vast city.
After the Baiterek, I walked down the main thoroughfare towards the Presidential Palace, enjoying the greenery and walking streets. Be sure to stop to take in the quirky architecture here and there. The architecture is something to behold, if only for how eclectic it is. I’ve never seen such wide buildings before, often taking up multiple city blocks. I had to walk around the same building for about half an hour because I wasn’t permitted to go through, eventually spitting me out at the Ishim River.
I crossed over the bridge to what I found out was the “Old City” despite it looking brand spanking new. I ended up in the impressive Independence Plaza, where there are a few museums that you could check out. The National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan should be the priority, but I also enjoyed popping into the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation. Afterwards, I relaxed in the grounds of the Hazrat Sultan Mosque, perhaps the emptiest mosque grounds I’ve ever been on. Loitering around Independence Plaza is a good way to kill an hour or two.
After this, I’d take a Yandex to the futuristic Expo 2017 Park, where a major international expo was held. It was the first international expo to be held in Kazakhstan, or any former Soviet country, for that matter. Astana went all out, building futuristic structures that seem like something out of an alien world. Nowadays, it is mostly empty and unused, aside from the few tourists that come to pay a visit.
How to Spend an Evening in Astana
To cap off the day, I’d head to my favorite part of Astana, the area near Atyrau bridge and the Astana Central Park. This was the liveliest part of Astana that I visited, particularly around sunset. There were lots of people walking around, and even a few pop up street markets and street food stalls. The restaurants in this area were the few non-chain restaurants that I found in the city, and most of them were really well-designed. The Astana Central Park was a fun area to wander around too, with lots of family-oriented attractions like carnival rides and games. After how lifeless the other parts of Astana felt to me, it was just nice to be surrounded by other people. Being here brought an energy to my visit that I felt Astana had been lacking beforehand.
Like I said, it’s not the most exciting city, but there is enough to fill up a day’s worth of things to do in Astana. If you have another day, then consider making the day trip over to the beautiful Burabay National Park.
Day Trip to Burabay National Park
Day trips are the best thing to do in Astana. However, even the fun little trip that we took to Burabay National Park was only a fraction as impressive as the natural wonders that you’d find elsewhere in Kazakhstan.
Our day trip to Burabay started off with a stop at a maral (red deer) breeding farm located in a fairly depressing village. The walk to the deer farm took you through what appeared to be an abandoned carnival, with dismembered statues and overgrown grass. For some reason, it seemed to be a fairly big attraction, and there were hundreds of people there.
Our next stop was to a forest that was nothing more than a forest. There was nothing impressive about it, but most of the people on my tour were posing next to a stream that was nothing more than a trickle of water. Astana was home to the mighty Ishim River, so surely everyone had seen more exciting bodies of water by that point, right? Who knows, apparently there were some legendary backstories to some of the places we visited, but alas, I did not speak Russian. To me, a stream was but a stream.
Our tour guide carried with him a massive speaker and the peaceful walk stopped being so peaceful and turned into a dance tutorial of Shakira’s “Waka Waka”. So there I was dancing with a bunch of Kazakh grandmas in a random forest. The younger girls in the group also taught me the Kara Jorga dance, imitating a trotting black horse. It was lovely, but I don’t think that was part of the itinerary, so I can’t guarantee that it will happen to you.
The grand finale was thankfully a lot more exciting, and by this point, I had made a few friends on the trip and their company made the remainder of the day more enjoyable. We went on a boat ride along the lake and hiked to a gorgeous viewpoint overlooking the lakes, forests, and mountains. It’s beautiful, but the national parks near Almaty definitely are much more impressive. If you’ve got time to kill, then by all means, explore Astana to your heart’s content, but if going to Burabay means missing out on Kaindy, Kolsai, Charyn Canyon, Big Almaty Lake, Altyn Emmel, or any of the month’s worth of excursions and day hikes near Almaty, then I cannot in good faith recommend it.
The highlight was making a few friends, including a girl from Astana who was hosting another friend from Almaty. Even she was apologetic that there wasn’t much to do in her city, and hearing that I’d come from Almaty, she knew Astana stood no chance. However, the girl, whose name meant “Eyelashes of a Baby Camel”, did her best, and her local insight helped make Astana a much more memorable place than before. Wandering around the Astana Central Park area with them was a lovely way to spend my last night in Astana, and she taught me a ton about Kazakh culture and history.
Closing Thoughts on Astana
It is a quirky place, unlike any other city that I’ve been to before. Never have I been to a city that felt so grandiose and impressive, yet lacking in charm and character. It was surreal being surrounded by such magnificence and feeling like I was the only one on the planet, a sentiment that I’ve heard people share about cities like Ashgabat in Turkmenistan or Pyongyang in North Korea. However, the novelty wore off pretty quickly, and by halfway through my first day, I was mostly over it.
Is there a Michelin Star type rating for travel destinations? Because I would give Astana perhaps one Michelin star. It is worth exploring if you are already in the city, but not worth going out of your way for. With Astana being a major flight hub in the region, there is a chance that you end up there in between other destinations. But otherwise, your time in Kazakhstan would be better spent in Almaty or exploring the multitude of national parks in the country.
Buy Me A Beer!
If this post helped you out, show some love and support for the blog and help keep my adventures going by buying me a beer! My adventures are entirely self-funded, so any show of support is greatly appreciated, and allows me to keep writing helpful travel guides and creating travel content to help you all travel the world on a budget.