Astana Kazakhstan, the capital of capitals, or Nur-Sultan, the city of ten names, boulevards with five lanes in each direction, and a shockingly low number of people on the street (coming as I was from overcrowded China). It felt something like Valencia or Brasilia with their architecture, and a little like Tbilisi or Baku.
From China into the Republic of Kazakhstan
It was a relief to cross from Urumqi, China, into Kazakhstan: unrestricted web access, people who also spoke English, food that suited my taste, and ideal weather at 25–28°C.
At first glance the city struck me as very vast, with wide boulevards, buildings spread far apart, developed and modern. I had ended up exactly where I needed to be.
Things to do in Astana, Kazakhstan
Astana Kazakhstan, known as Nur-Sultan between 2019 and 2022, became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997, relocating from Almaty, the country's former administrative center.
Kazakhstan's first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, initiated the move from Almaty to Astana to support the economic development of the country's north. In 2019 the city was renamed Nur-Sultan in his honor, before they reversed course in 2022 and renamed it Astana once again, a name that simply means capital. The capital of capitals.
Astana is obsessed with futuristic architecture. The whole city is built around geometric shapes and buildings with surprising forms. I was staying near the Kazakh Eli Monument, so that is where I started, among vast open spaces with very few passersby and a great deal of white. I liked it.
Because Astana is a new city, the important areas connect to one another with a certain urban logic to them, no scattered fragments. The center can be explored on foot, even if it stretches a few kilometers from one end to the other.
What can you do in Astana? Quite a lot for two or three days: the main sights are concentrated along the city's central axis and can be combined without effort into a single walking circuit.
Palace of Peace and Reconciliation
The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation is a pyramid designed by architect Norman Foster, but it already felt dated to me, despite having been built in 2006. The surrounding park is more construction site than anything else; I picked my way through ditches just to photograph the Presidential Palace on the other side of the river.
Baiterek Tower, Symbol of Astana
The main attraction in Astana is Baiterek Tower, which you can climb for a panoramic view. The tower represents a tree holding a golden egg, inspired by a Kazakh legend about the mythical tree of life and the bird of happiness, Samruk.
If you walk past Baiterek Tower in Astana, you reach Khan Shatyr, another project by Norman Foster. It looks like a giant tent and houses a very large shopping center.
Across the river you'll also notice the Abu Dhabi Plaza, a cluster of towers that includes the tallest building in Kazakhstan. It's mostly office and residential space, not a tourist attraction per se, but it's hard to miss on the skyline and worth photographing from the riverbank near the Presidential Palace.
The Botanical Garden
The next day I headed toward the Botanical Garden. When I got there I found a large park with grass and small trees and no Botanical Garden in sight. It turned out the entire garden consisted of a few rows of pansies next to an arch. That was genuinely it. They probably wanted a Botanical Garden for their new city, and that was the best they could manage. 🙂
Nur-Astana Grand Mosque
The Nur-Astana Grand Mosque is one of the largest mosques in Central Asia, with a capacity of five thousand worshippers and four minarets rising 63 meters each. It's free to visit outside prayer times. Cover your shoulders and bring something for your head if you're a woman.
Nur Alem Museum
The nouveau riche urge to impress is endearing; the result is something like an amusement park. The Nur Alem Museum is shaped like a sphere and has eight floors you can climb for yet another panoramic view of the city. It makes for a pleasant science museum if you have children with you, but the upper floors were unbearably hot and I didn't stay long.
Useful to know: admission to Baiterek Tower costs 2,000 tenge, and the Nur Alem Museum1,500 tenge.
Astana Opera
If you're there long enough and have any interest in classical music, the Astana Opera is worth checking. Opened in 2013, it looks exactly as you'd expect a brand-new opera house in a brand-new capital to look: very grand, a little unearned, and remarkably well-programmed. Tickets are cheap by any European standard.
Kazakhstan on a First Visit
Kazakhstan: 70% of the population is Muslim, but it's a tolerant form of Islam. Older women wear headscarves, sometimes younger married women too. I didn't see a burqa anywhere, but in Astana people also walk around in shorts.
At the hostel, a girl from Kazakhstan asked where I was from.
"Romania"
"Oh, wow, and you came from there...?"
"Not directly, but yes"
She told me tourism isn't developed in Kazakhstan, which is why she asked. From what I saw on the streets, foreign tourists are very few, but that makes Astana all the more interesting. There's no crowding anywhere. And many locals speak English, at least at a basic level.
Food in Astana, Kazakhstan
Supermarkets carry products you'd find in Romania too, with small differences. At Small, for example, they made pancakes every morning, which seem very popular in Kazakhstan.
Their cuisine is meat-based, so it's not unusual to see horse on the menu, alongside lamb, beef, or camel.
Getting to Astana
Astana International Airport has direct connections to the main Central Asian hubs and to a handful of European cities, mostly through Air Astana or FlyArystan, its low-cost subsidiary. From Europe you'll usually connect through Istanbul, Dubai, or Frankfurt. I had a flight from Urumqi, China.
If you're already in Kazakhstan, the Almaty to Astana route is well-covered: there are frequent flights (around an hour) and a train that takes roughly 12–14 hours overnight, comfortable and cheap. Most people fly, but the train is worth it if you're not in a hurry and want to see the steppe from the window.
Where to Stay in Astana
I stayed at Sulu Hostel. Eight nights in a small private room came to 100 USD, small meaning windowless, but with access to a living-coworking space and a large kitchen. I felt comfortable there: modern, clean, good internet.
For getting around I used taxis ordered through the Yandex app. I never figured out where to buy bus tickets. I bought a SIM card from Beeline (7,000 tenge for a month, 68 lei) to have mobile internet and a number to receive SMS messages and verify my Yandex account.
Uber doesn't work there through the main app. There's an Uber Kazakhstan, but I couldn't install it; it's not available for Romanian users. Everyone uses Yandex, which is far more popular.
Astana Weather: When to Go
Astana weather is extreme in the technical sense of the word. Summers run warm to hot, 25–35°C, with long days and very little rain. That's when I visited and it was ideal. Winter in Astana is another matter entirely: temperatures regularly drop to -30°C and the wind off the steppe makes it feel colder. The city functions perfectly in winter (it was built for it), but unless you're specifically curious about what -30 feels like, May through September is the obvious window.
Spring and autumn are brief and unpredictable. If you're planning around the weather, aim for June–August for outdoor exploration, or accept that in any other month you'll spend more time indoors than you planned.
A trip to Astana is surprising precisely because it's on no one's list; and the city is more interesting than you'd expect. 😊
