Almaty

Almaty stands at about 700–900 metres at the foot of the Ile-Alatau, the northern range of the Tian Shan, and its southern streets look straight at peaks of more than 4,000 metres. Russian troops founded a fort here in 1854 called Verny, near the remains of an older settlement known for its apple orchards; the name Alma-Ata, later Almaty, is usually linked to the Kazakh word for apple. It was the capital of Soviet Kazakhstan and of the independent republic until 1997, when the government moved to Astana, and with some two million people it remains the country's largest city and its cultural and business centre.

The city

The centre is a grid of tree-lined avenues watered by irrigation channels, sloping gently uphill, so that 'up' means south and towards the mountains. Panfilov Park, named after the soldiers of a division raised here in the Second World War, surrounds the Ascension Cathedral, often called the Zenkov Cathedral after its engineer: completed in 1907, it is built almost entirely of wood and survived the severe earthquake of 1911. Nearby, the Green Bazaar sells dried fruit, nuts, cheeses, horse-meat sausage and, in season, the region's famous apples. The Central State Museum covers Kazakh history and nomadic culture and displays a replica of the Golden Man, the gold-clad Saka warrior found near Almaty in 1969.

Views and mountains

A cable car climbs from the city to Kok-Tobe hill for a view over the whole grid against the mountains. Further up, the Medeu valley and Shymbulak ski resort are only half an hour away, and Big Almaty Lake lies in the next valley west. The city is also the base for Charyn Canyon, the Kolsai lakes and Altyn-Emel.

How to experience it

Almaty rewards slow days: cafés, parks, the bazaar in the morning and Kok-Tobe at sunset. Two to three days cover the city and one big excursion. The metro is small but handy, and ride-hailing apps work well. Almaty's air can be smoggy in winter; late spring and early autumn are the clearest seasons.