Almaty Day Trip: Charyn Canyon & Kaindy Lakes
Day Trips from Almaty
The largest city in Kazakhstan is Almaty. Most cities in Kazakhstan are very isolated, like the capital of Astana. Therefore, if you would like to see the diverse nature of Kazakhstan, you will need to take a day trip from the Almaty. There are several options, including to Big Almaty Lake, Almaty Gorge, and Bear Waterfall. However, the most popular tour is a full day trip to Charyn Canyon and mountains in the east. We used Panda Tours (no affiliation) who did an amazing job and we recommend. We had to wake up at 3-4am to get to the meetup spot
Charyn Canyon
Charyn Canyon is the largest canyon in Central Asia and possibly the world. This massive canyon winds for hundreds of miles across the landscape, with several distinct areas with varying appearances. Although it is claimed it is the largest canyon in the world, it highly depends on how you measure it. Canyons are measured by length, depth, width, or volume, and the method of measurement can impact the results. Regardless, the point is that Charyn Canyon is absolutely massive. Half of the Almaty day trip takes place at several points in the canyon, meaning we had plenty of time to explore this natural beauty.
Valley of Castles
After four hours of driving through vast stretches of empty land, we arrived at the Valley of Castles. The drive was very bumpy, with roads either in disrepair or entirely dirt, making for the roughest ride in my entire life. If you are a light sleeper, don’t plan on catching up on the way there. Thankfully, we arrived safely, and it was immediately apparent why this location is so special. This area is often called “the Grand Canyon of Kazakhstan” due to its amazing rock structures.
We were given a short 45 minutes to explore the canyon, either from the easier hike from above or the trail through the valley. We wanted to see it up close, so we went down below. It was an amazing experience, I have never seen anything like it in my life. Yemisi lived in Arizona, so she has seen the Grand Canyon, but we both loved the experience nevertheless. The further you go, the taller and wider the walls become. There are many interesting towers and crevices, and seeing it filled with snow was an interesting experience as well. Our only complaint was that 45 minutes was far too short, and we wished we had more than an hour. That being said, the rest of the group was lagging behind, so we could have taken a bit more time.
Yellow Canyon
Because our group arrived back to the van quickly, we were able to take a quick 15-minute stop at Yellow Canyon. This stretch of Charyn Canyon was not far but had a completely different landscape. At this point, the Charyn River that flows through the canyon is visible, with large bluffs and sandy hills far in the distance. We were able to take some awesome pictures on a cliff overlooking the river, which was an awesome bonus. As soon as we arrived, we had to leave on to our next destination.
Black Canyon
A bit later, we arrived at Black Canyon, the last stop in Charyn Canyon on our trip. Once again, we only had a short time to view it, but for this location, it was okay. This stretch gets its name from the black basalt in the rocks. It is a much sketchier-looking canyon, with sharp rocks and rapidly flowing water. According to our guide, they used to do white water rafting in the river below but after some accidents it was banned. Our guide said it is sometimes called the valley of death because of weather phenomena allowing for rapid cooling and freezing that often caught travellers off guard.
Kaindy Lake
From the canyon, we had another long drive into the mountains to get to our next few destinations. If you’ve researched anything about Kazakhstan’s nature, you’ve likely seen Kaindy Lake, and for many people, this was their main destination on their Almaty day trip. The lake was created when an earthquake redirected water into a valley, but instead of wiping everything out, a lake was formed and the trees petrified, allowing them to stick permanently above the water. This otherworldly look has made the lake famous.
Getting to Kaindy Lake
Before we could see the lake, we had to get there. There are no access roads, so getting there is tougher than it seems. We all got in a massive bus with huge ice chains and made our way on a very sketchy, icy road. Remember when I said the drive to the canyon was the bumpiest drive in my life? I lied. This is the new bumpiest ride of my life. The bus was swinging wildly as we bumped over ice falls and teetered over massive cliffs. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. Thankfully, one of the guides did an amazing job standing up front and acting cool. He hyped everyone up and played dance music to get everyone having a great time. We even drove into the river several times. This was the most thrilling part of our Almaty day trip, and it’s a memory I’ll never forget.
Eventually, we could go no further. Our guide explained we could take a van for a small fee, ride horses along the cliff (also for a small fee), or hike. We chose to hike because we love to hike and wanted as much time outside as possible. The hike was not bad, and anyone who is reasonably healthy can do it. We had a great time out in nature as we made our way into the forest. It started snowing and we found ourselves alone in the quiet pine woods. We felt the magic of Kazakhstan wash over us, and we were so thankful we took the risk and went on this trip.
Frozen Lake
After 20 minutes of light walking, we arrived at Kaindy Lake. Usually, this is a crystal clear lake. Since we were there in the dead of winter, the lake was frozen solid with snow piled high. Sadly, this reduced the effect of the trees sticking out of the water. The plus side is that we were allowed to walk out over the lake. Usually, you aren’t allowed to swim or boat on the lake, but we were able to get much closer to the trees than normal. Although we were sad we didn’t get to see the vibrant water, we were thankful to be in such an amazing environment.
At first, we were scared to go on the water, but after the rest of the group arrived, we realized the ice was over a foot thick. Even though there were protective barriers stopping people from going too far out, there was no reason not to go further. We might as well have been walking on concrete. Our guide helped us take some pretty incredible pictures as the snow started really coming down. It was a magical experience to be sure.
Lunch
It was finally time to eat. After such a long day, we were getting ravenous. We stopped at a group of yurts in the middle of nowhere, where our guide asked everyone for their meal preference. There were several options, including lagman noodles, dumplings, plov, and a vegetarian dish. We went for the dumplings and lagman noodles. I’m sure the plov was good, but we had out-ploved ourselves in Uzbekistan. To be honest, the lunch wasn’t amazing. Nothing was bad about it, but it was very mild in the flavor department. For a week, we had been experiencing non-stop flavor bombs in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. We were starving, and the meals definitely filled us up, so we weren’t complaining. At this point, the sun was setting and the snow was coming down hard. We were getting chilled to the bone, so we drank as much hot tea as we could and headed off to our last destination.
Kolsay Lake
To end the trip we arrived at Koslay Lake. There are three lakes in this system, and we visited the largest and lowest one. To get to the lake we had to climb down a sketchy road covered in ice. When we got to the bottom we realized how beautiful this lake is. Like Kaindy Lake, this lake is usually crystal clear blue water glistening in the sun. However, it was also frozen solid. We opted out of walking out on this lake as we were so exhausted and struggling to even walk.
We made our way down an incredible snowy boardwalk surrounded by large pines. As we reflected on the day, we were so glad to be ending at such a serene location. Again, we wished we had a bit more time to look around, but our feet were freezing off, and we knew it would take a while to get back to the van, so we turned around. On the way back, our van got caught in a nasty blizzard which slowed us down. We finally arrived safely in Almaty late at night and our day trip adventure was over.
Final Thoughts
Our Almaty day trip was an amazing adventure. We had to get up early and come back late, but it was worth it. The nature of Kazakhstan is some of the best we’ve seen. Even though it was winter, we are so glad we decided to go. It was freezing cold, but we made memories we will never forget, and even made some friends on our trip.
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