Kazakhstan - Central Asia - page 63

offering trekking and mountaineering in the
central Tian Shan, the mountains south of Al-
maty and the Pamirs, plus bird watching, other
nature tours and more.
Trekking Club ( % 226 82 28; www.trekking
club.kz; Svezhest 217) Expert agency offering
hikes, treks and climbs in the mountains south
of Almaty and treks in and around the Turgen
gorge east of the city, where they have a well-
equipped tent camp. The office is on the road
towards Ozero Bolshoe Almatinskoe, about
15km southwest of the city centre.
Valentina Guesthouse ( % 777-668 6399, 360
30 92; http://valentina-gh.narod.ru; Zhabaev
62A, Akzhar) Valentina's is a guesthouse out in
the southwest suburbs, 14km from the centre,
that also functions as a travel agency, providing
ticketing, accommodation bookings, inexpen-
sive tours and visa support for guests and
nonguests alike. Arrangements can be made
by email. English-speaking manager marat is a
former mountain rescuer and knows the Almaty
region like the back of his hand.
Trips out of Almaty are typically around
US$150 to US$200 per day, plus US$10 per
person on day trips and US$50 per person per
day on longer trips (including accommodation).

52 72; gorodskoy Aerovokzal, Zhibek Zholy
111; h 24hr) opens round the clock. Transavia
(www.transavia-travel.kz), with branches found
at the Airport ( % 270 33 01; h 24hr), Dostyk
( % 261 04 14; Dostyk 85; h 9am-9pm) and Zhel-
toksan ( % 258 33 06; Zheltoksan 104, entrance
on Ayteke Bi; h 9am-9pm) is useful for tickets
on most airlines including some lacking their
own sales oices such as SCAT, Hainan Airlines,
Uzbekistan Airways and Rossiya.
Air Arabia ( % 328 04 04; www.airarabia.
com; Keremet Travel, Kabanbay Batyr 49/76;
h 9am-7pm mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sun) To/from
Sharjah.
Air Astana ( % call centre 244 44 77; www.
airastana.com; Hall 2B, Nurly Tau Business
Centre, Al-Farabi 19; h call centre 24hr) many
domestic and international destinations.
Asiana Airlines ( % 356 32 35; www.flyasiana.
com; Aksunkar Hotel, Airport) To/from Seoul.
Bek Air ( % 270 32 32; www.bekair.com; Air-
port) To/from Astana and Uralsk.
British Airways ( % 272 40 40; Pushkin 63/30;
h 9am-6pm mon-Fri) To/from London.
China Southern Airlines ( % 250 13 68;
www.cs-air.com; Tole Bi 23A; h 9.30am-1pm
& 2.30-4.30pm mon-Fri) To/from Ürümqi.
Czech Airlines ( % 261 12 56; www.czechair
lines.com; Zheltoksan 144; h 10am-6pm
mon-Fri) To/from Prague.
Etihad Airways ( % 330 30 00; www.etihad.
com; CDC1 Business Centre, Furmanov 240g;
h 9am-5.30pm mon-Fri, 1-6pm Sat) To/from
Abu Dhabi.
Hainan Airlines ( % 321 85 85; http://hnair.
com; mametova 29; h 9am-6pm) To/from
Beijing.
KLM ( % 250 77 47; www.klm.com; makataev
127/9; h 9am-6pm mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat)
To/from Amsterdam.
Lufthansa ( % 333 50 25; www.lufthansa.com;
Rahat Palace Hotel, Satpaev 29/6; h 10am-
6.30pm mon-Fri) To/from Frankfurt.
Mahan Air (www.mahan.aero) To/from Tehran.
Pegasus Airlines ( % 273 17 17; www.flypgs.
com) To/from İstanbul.
Rossiya (www.rossiya-airlines.com) To/from St
Petersburg.
S7 ( % 315 33 66; www.s7.ru; Dostyk 40) To/
from Novosibirsk.
SCAT ( % 228 65 01; www.scat.kz) Several
domestic destinations.
Somon Air ( % 397 63 48; www.somonair.com;
Office 207, makataev 47; h 9am-6pm) To/from
Dushanbe.
Tajik Air ( % 397 63 48; www.tajikair.tj; Of-
fice 207, makataev 47; h 9am-6pm) To/from
Dushanbe.
Transaero ( % 250 20 02; www.transaero.ru;
Furmanov 53; h 9am-9pm) To/from moscow.

8 Getting¨There¨&¨Away
Almaty is Kazakhstan's main air hub and is
linked to most major Kazakhstan cities by daily
trains. minibuses and shared taxis run to many
places in the southeast of the country. Longer
hauls are generally more comfortable by train.
For information on transport to the borders with
Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Uzbekistan, see p132.
AIR
The airport (www.almatyairport.com; maylin
2) is 13km north of the centre; its website gives
schedules and daily light information.
Within Kazakhstan, Air Astana lies around
nine times daily to Astana (21,540T) and once or
more daily to cities including Aktau (28,800T),
Aktobe (28,470T), Atyrau (38,190T), Karaganda
(21,785T), Kyzylorda (17,340T), Shymkent
(18,050T) and Ust-Kamenogorsk (20,760T).
SCAT lies daily to Astana and Semey (both
from 15,500T) and a few days each week to
Aktau (from 27,000T), Atyrau (from 27,500T),
Karaganda (from 15,500T), Petropavlovsk (from
25,000T), Shymkent (from 16,500T), Taraz
(from 17,500T) and Ust-Kamenogorsk (from
19,500T). Bek Air has a daily light to Astana
(from 15,000T) and three weekly to Uralsk (from
29,000T).
Airlines
You can buy air tickets at many travel agencies
and aviakassy (air-ticket oices) including sever-
al in the gorodskoy Aerovokzal (p70), where the
agency International Airport Almaty ( % 279