Astana, Capital City of Kazakhstan
Written: Oct 17 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The capital city of Kazakhstan, very modern and in progress.
Cons: Very new, not much to see, swamp and mosquitoes.
The Bottom Line: Kazakhstan's capital city, very modern. Not many sights, swamp, mosquitoes and high prices. Good stopping over spot on your way elsewhere.
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| LRai's Full Review: Astana Kazakhstan |
I'm not sure what to say about Astana other than it's new! Now that doesn't mean it's brand new but in terms of a country capital it's new. The reason that's important to know is if you're coming to see anything historic, Astana isn't the place to come.
I've lived and worked in Kazakhstan over the past few years and I've spent most of that time in the "old" capital city of Almaty. I happen to find Almaty a wonderful city to explore, full of history and interesting things to see. Almaty is very cosmopolitan for a Central Asian city and I highly recommend visiting it.
Astana however is a city of contrasts. It was created to be the new capital of Kazakhstan in 1996 shortly after Kazakhstan became independent from Russian. The capital was moved to the far north of the country for the following reasons, first Almaty is a known earthquake zone and second Astana is closer to Russia and Europe supposedly that would make travel easier.
Prior to becoming the capital city nothing really existed in Astana, in fact the city was a swamp. Keep that in mind if you come for a visit. Astana is a city of extremes, very rich and very poor, very new and nothing old, very hot and very cold, nothing here is just average.
President Nazerbayev decided on Astana and with a stroke of a pen the government left Almaty and went north. Funny thing is not many of them wanted to go, in fact many of them come home to Almaty every weekend, not something you can do without flying. It's a 3 hour flight, and about an 8 hour drive from Almaty to Astana, similar to the distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Nazerbayev saw Astana as a blank canvas that he could use to create his vision of a perfect capital city. The problem is the architecture is more about tall than about having a sense of design. There is a hodgepodge of designs from the Presidential Palace that looks like a replica of the US White House topped with a mosque dome, to the Supreme Court House that looks like more like a 5 star hotel with the front of a mosque attached. Their version of the House of Representatives are two gold towers that rise up seemingly out of nowhere. The center piece of the town is a huge tower called Baiterek which rises up like the Seattle needle but is crowned with a sphere at the top that supposedly represents the egg of some mythical bird that brings good luck.
Nazerbayev also commissioned the museum building near to the Baiterek tower and it too resembles and egg. Then he had a pyramid built on the outskirts of town called the Pyramid of Peace and Harmony. It is suppose to represent all the "tribes" of Kazakhstan living in peace. It's an interesting site but very hard to get to since it sits at the edge of town, or what is now the edge of town.
Astana is a city still being built, in fact it won't be completed at least for another 30 years or so. The plans call for Astana to house a world class sports stadium, a concert hall, several huge parks for the residents to use for recreation and the list goes on. All of this would be great if not for the fact that Astana used to be a swamp so the city is pestered by mosquitoes for most of the year. In the summer the heat can be unbearable due to high humidity, and in the winter you'll freeze as temperatures plummet into the negative zone for days on end. Then there's the steppe winds that never seem to let up. They blow the desert dust into the city and keep the storm systems from staying too long.
I had the chance to visit Astana towards the end of May which is probably one of the better times to go. The last of the tulips were in season making the place rather nice. The 5 days I spent there were typical late spring weather, short but nice mornings followed by a quick rain storm, followed by hot humid afternoons with plenty of wind, and finally temperate evenings full of mosquitoes looking for a meal.
Don't get me wrong it's not that I didn't enjoy some of my visit, but after living and working in Almaty, Astana just didn't impress me. On the positive side, the bus system once you figure it out is pretty good so getting around isn't hard. Shopping here is expensive, nothing is a bargain. If you want high end anything you can find it in Astana. Food is also on the expensive side, in fact living in Astana can compare to living in New York City or Moscow. Most of the town works for the government so they can afford to pay more, the ones that don't barely hang on.
Astana can boast that it is home to the World's largest aquarium farthest from an ocean. It's worth a visit and can be seen easily in about 3 hours. The pyramid is also worth a visit but the guided tour wasn't that good. Although the tour guide spoke English they were hard to understand and because I was the only English speaker the guide spent more time speaking Kazakh and Russian. Seeing the Baiterek Tower I'm told is a must, however the time I was there it was closed for repairs. Across from the tower is a park that at night has "dancing" waters and that was rather a nice way to spend a few hours.
Since I went at the end of May I was there for what they call "white nights", this means it doesn't get dark until very late in the evening. The night we went to see the dancing waters I hadn't realized that it was after 10pm before the sun had set. Because of this Astana comes alive after 11pm and rocks until the wee hours. I'm told the club life here is good but I didn't partake.
There are several chain restaurants that have recently made their way to Astana including "Friday's". While the food is typical the prices are very high. I had the Friday's signature burger which set me back nearly $15 USD, a little pricey for a burger.
Accommodations range from moderate to very expensive. I was lucky to be staying with friends, otherwise a decent hotel room can set you back about $200 per night or more. We had flown to Astana on a special deal with Air Astana that was around $150 round trip usually it's about double that to fly from Almaty to Astana round trip. The Astana airport is very nice and I have to say very clean. Another way we saved expenses was to cook ourselves otherwise plan to spend a minimum of $50 per day for basic meals.
There are many things to see in Astana but you can see them all in about 3 days so staying longer than a week is probably overkill. Astana is a good jumping off point to places in Russia or Europe so my recommendation is to use it as a place to see in-between stops. If you are into hodgepodge architecture and swamp then Astana should be on your must see list, otherwise I'd skip it for now and wait for Nazerbayev to create more of his vision.
One final point, there is a local joke here that goes; Nazerbayev and his wife wake up one morning and she goes to the window and exclaims, "You sold the mountains!", to which he replies, "No we are in Astana." Now if you are from Kazakhstan this joke is hilarious, but if you're not then let me explain that the common perception is Nazerbayev has sold most of the natural resources of his country in an effort to create his dream. The other reality is at least in Almaty you have the majestic Tian Shan mountain range surrounding the city, in Astana you only have swamp and steppe.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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Epinions.com ID:
LRai
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Member: L Rai
Reviews written: 190
Trusted by: 14 members
About Me:
Business consultant, Business Instructor and English teacher working abroad China and Kazakhstan.
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