Wow! Fantastic! Beautiful! These were the only words that were coming out of our mouths during our April road trip through Kazakhstan
We live in Almaty, a great city right at the foot of the mountains. There are a lot of great trails for hiking and roads to extraordinary places.
In April of 2026, we rented a car for a weekend and took a trip to the southeast of the country, almost to the Kyrgyz border. Kolsay Lake was our main destination. But in that direction there is a lot more to see: Charyn Canyon, Black Canyon, and Kaindy — the lake with a drowned spruce forest still standing in the water (we didn't get to Kaindy)
Great thing about Kolsay Lake — it's actually three lakes connected with the trails. We came to the first lake in the morning and almost got to the second lake. But it was the beginning of trail season, so the trail was closed. But we weren't upset — the trail is amazing, not exhausting, and really beautiful. The third lake sits right on the Kyrgyz border, so you need a border zone permit to go there, and you have to arrange it in advance — people say it's worth it, but that's a trip for another time
We had two days. So on Saturday we hiked toward the second Kolsay Lake and then had a night in Saty, a really great village. On Sunday we went to the canyons and came home. The road is good quality, but I wanna warn you — the mobile internet is not so good, and there were a small number of shops along the road
We really enjoyed the trip. Now we have plans for Issyk Lake, Kairak Waterfall, and the Assy Plateau.