Almaty sightseeing tour · 1-day tour

Visit the Zenkov Cathedral of 1907, one of the tallest wooden churches in the world, assembled without a single nail and surviving the earthquake that leveled half the city. Inside is a late-19th-century iconostasis, and outside are 56-meter golden domes. In the first half of the day, visit the Green Bazaar, operating since 1875, a true Eastern market with piles of dried apricots, apricots, and raisins, rows of kazy and shuzhuk (horse sausage), barrels of honey from the summer pastures, and friendly vendors who let you taste everything before you buy. Around lunchtime, stroll through Republic Square, the central square with the Independence Monument topped by a replica of the Golden Warrior, and views toward the snow-capped peaks of the Alatau. In the afternoon, drive past the campus of the Kazakh-British Technical University with its modern architecture and atrium, one of the symbols of new Almaty. After lunch, stop for photos at the Kazakhstan Hotel, a 25-story building from the late 1970s with a huge smalt mosaic on the facade, a classic example of Almaty socialist modernism. By evening, take the cable car up to Kok-Tobe (1070 m), a signature city viewpoint. Almaty lies spread out below, with the Alatau mountains at your back; sunset is especially striking, when the peaks turn pink and the lights of the metropolis come on in the valley.