Almaty travel guide: adventure and awe in Kazakhstan

Explore Kazakhstan’s largest city and the region’s extraordinary landscapes

Almaty is located in southeast Kazakhstan
Almaty is located in southeast Kazakhstan
(Image credit: Tjetjep Rustandi/Alamy Stock Photo )

Of all the things I expected to find in Kazakhstan, some 1,691m above sea level, a 7ft ice skate wasn’t one of them. Nor, granted, did I expect to find the rink it was attached to: a veritable colosseum of Soviet concrete standing stark and indestructible at the foot of the Tien Shan mountains.

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