Cheap Flights to Kazakhstan

Discover Kazakhstan

Cheap Flights to Kazakhstan

Stretching from the Caspian Sea to China, Kazakhstan is a cultural crossroads that fuses the boundaries between Europe and Asia. Most flights to Kazakhstan arrive at or depart from either Astana International Airport (TSE) or Almaty International Airport (ALA).

Flights to Kazakhstan

In 2014, Almaty International Airport and Astana International Airport were Central Asia's largest and third-largest air travel facilities.

Almaty was Kazakhstan’s capital until 1998 and is still the country’s economic and cultural center. Almaty International Airport is located approximately 10 miles northeast of the city. The airport has two terminals for domestic and international flights, and it handles more than four million passengers a year. The terminals provide free Wi-Fi and offer a few small gift shops and restaurants as well as several 24-hour food concession stands. Cheap flights to Kazakhstan are provided by the low-cost Turkish carrier Pegasus Airlines. Municipal buses to the center of Almaty cost only the equivalent of 25 cents, but most passengers end up taking taxis, which cost approximately $10.

Astana International Airport is a more modern airport located approximately 10 miles outside the city. It has a single terminal that’s divided into a domestic and an international sector. There are a few small souvenir stands and cafes, and free Wi-Fi is also available. Frequent buses allow passengers to travel comfortably to and from Astana for a fare that’s equivalent to about 45 cents. Taxis and rental car services are also available here.

Attractions in Kazakhstan

In the Kazakh language, “Almaty” means “city of apples,” and many botanists believe that apples did indeed first originate in this area. The city nestles in the foothills of the dramatic Tian Shan mountains, which are rapidly becoming an international center for winter sports. An enormous earthquake leveled most of Almaty’s historic buildings in 1887, but the ornate Russian Orthodox Ascension Cathedral survived the shake and is widely thought to be the second-highest wooden building in the world.

Almaty’s Green Bazaar attracts food vendors from all parts of Central Asia. Local favorites include kymyz (fermented horse milk), shubat (fermented camel milk) and horse meat. If those don’t appeal to you, try the freshly squeezed pomegranate juice or bite into a juicy apple.

Most of Kazakhstan’s historic destinations are near the southern Kazakh Desert. Flights to Kazakhstan allow travelers to explore old Silk Road locales like Kyzylorda, Taras and Sayram. Turkestan is the location of the great Mongol warlord Timur’s mausoleum. UNESCO has declared this mausoleum a World Heritage Site.

Travel Tips for Kazakhstan

Take advantage of cheap flights to Kazakhstan to attend the annual Navroz Festival. The festival originated as a Zoroastrian New Year celebration but is now observed as a non-sectarian holiday in many parts of Central Asia. Feasting, dancing, making music and playing polo are a few of the ways Kazakhs celebrate this day.

Be sure also to attend an aitys, which is like a poetry slam or a hip-hop battle where respected poets called akyns improvise poems and songs on a variety of political, economic and cultural topics. Akyns are the true pop stars of Kazakhstan.