Shymkent

Kazakhstan's third-largest city and the cultural capital of the south — around 1.1 million people, at an altitude of 600 m near the Uzbek border. This is the most Central Asian of the country's cities: a warm climate, fruit orchards, eastern bazaars and teahouses, closer in feel to Tashkent than to Almaty or Astana. Locals will tell you it is the country's food capital. It is the gateway to Turkistan, Kazakhstan's foremost pilgrimage site, and to the Aksu-Zhabagly nature reserve.

Main sights

• The old town — the only surviving historic district of Shymkent, with narrow lanes and private houses of the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Shymkent Citadel — a reconstructed hilltop fort in the centre, now a museum.
• Ordabasy Park — the main city park, with the Independence monument.
• Ordabasy — where the three Kazakh zhuzes united in 1726 against the Dzungar invasion. The memorial is not in the city itself but about 100 km to the north-west, in Ordabasy district.
• The Museum of the Victims of Political Repression — the main museum covering the Gulag and the repressions in the region.
• Kentavr Bazaar — the largest market in the city, full of eastern colour, spices and dried fruit.
• The Regional Museum of History and Local Lore — artefacts from the Stone Age to the present.
• Abay Park — a city park with sculptures of the poet Abay Kunanbayev.
• Turkistan — 165 km away, the greatest pilgrimage site in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
• The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi (Turkistan) — a UNESCO site and the largest Timurid mausoleum (1389-1405), often called the "second Mecca" in Central Asia.
• The Aksu-Zhabagly reserve — the oldest in Central Asia (1926), in the Tian Shan mountains 80 km away. Greig's tulips bloom here in April — one of the wild ancestors of the garden tulip.
• Sayram — an ancient town 12 km away, known from the early Middle Ages as Isfijab.
• Tashkent (Uzbekistan) — 120 km away, the main crossing point for the border.

Food and prices

The cooking is Kazakh with a Shymkent accent: beshbarmak (the national dish), Shymkent-style plov, lagman, manti, kuyrdak, baursaki, shalap and kumis. Lunch in a teahouse is 1,900–3,700 tenge ($4–8), dinner in a restaurant 5,600–11,700 tenge ($12–25). A litre of petrol costs about 230 tenge ($0.50) and a Yandex taxi 500–1,400 tenge ($1–3). There is no metro in Shymkent; buses cover the city. Prices are as of 2026.

Getting there

Shymkent International Airport (CIT) is served by Air Astana, FlyArystan, Pegasus and Turkish. From Almaty it is an hour by air (23,000–42,000 tenge, $50–90) or twelve hours by train. From Tashkent it is a two- to three-hour drive including the border crossing. Kazakhstan admits a long list of nationalities visa-free for up to 30 days — check the current rules for your own passport.

When to go

April-May and September-October, at 18-28°C, are ideal. April brings the Greig's tulips into bloom in Aksu-Zhabagly. Summer (June-August) is extremely hot at 30-40°C. Winter (December-February) is cold, −5 to +5°C, and often snowy. Nauryz on 21 March is the biggest holiday of the year.