KZ · Curated travel guide
Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Kazakh Uplands, Betpak-Dala and 7 more — what each one is, and why it is worth the detour.
Chosen from everything Wikidata knows about Kazakhstan and ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions describe them, which is about as close to "famous" as open data gets. One is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
World Heritage
Historic site in Turkestan, Kazakhstan
A mausoleum in Turkestan, a city in southern Kazakhstan, ordered in 1389 by Timur, who governed the region within his vast Timurid Empire. It replaced a smaller 12th-century mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi (1093–1166), the famous Turkic poet and Sufi mystic.
Photo: Yuriy75, CC BY-SA 3.0
Geological formation in Kazakhstan
Also called the Kazakh Hummocks, and in Kazakh the Saryarqa, a large peneplain stretching across central and eastern Kazakhstan.
Photo: Coopypasted, CC BY-SA 4.0
Semidesert in Kazakhstan
Also written Betpaqdala, a desert zone in Kazakhstan's Zhambyl, Turkestan, Karaganda and Ulytau regions.
Photo: Nikolay Yushnikov, Public domain
Lake in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
An endorheic salt lake that had Kazakhstan on its northern side and Uzbekistan on its southern. It started shrinking in the 1960s and by 2007 had mostly turned into desert. It lay in Kazakhstan's Kyzylorda and Aktobe regions and in Uzbekistan's autonomous region of Karakalpakstan.
Photo: NASA, derivative work by Zafiroblue05 at en.wikipedia, Public domain
Desert in the former lake bed of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
A desert that has formed since 1960 on the bed of the former Aral Sea, south and east of what is left of the Aral Sea's Eastern Basin, in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Photo: NASA, Public domain
Desert in central Kazakhstan
Lying northeast of the Aral Sea: a Kazakh desert.
Photo: CorvusCorax, CC BY-SA 3.0
Lake in southeastern Kazakhstan
Also called Lake Balqash, a lake in southeastern Kazakhstan, one of Asia's biggest lakes and the 15th largest in the world.
Photo: NASA, Public domain
Official workplace of the president of Kazakhstan
Also spelled Akorda, the official workplace of Kazakhstan's president, in the capital, Astana. The Palace took three years to build and officially opened in 2004.
Photo: Vyacheslav Bukharov, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Landmark observation tower in Astana, Kazakhstan
A monument and observation tower in Astana, Kazakhstan's capital, popular with Kazakhs and foreign visitors alike, and a symbol of the city, which became the capital in 1997.
Photo: Matti Blume, CC BY-SA 4.0
Officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, a landlocked country mostly in Central Asia, with part of its land in Eastern Europe. Russia lies to its north and west, China to its east, Kyrgyzstan to its southeast, Uzbekistan to its south and Turkmenistan to its southwest, and it has a Caspian Sea coast. Astana is the capital; Almaty, the capital until 1997, is the biggest city and main cultural and economic centre.
Officially The Republic of Kazakhstan. Known locally as Qazaqstan Қазақстан, Kazakhstán Казахстан.
Based on the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: the facts are Wikipedia's, the wording is this site's.
This guide lists 10: Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Kazakh Uplands, Betpak-Dala and Otrar and others. Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
By machine, from open data, with no human ranking them and nobody able to pay for a place on the list. Everything Wikidata records in Kazakhstan that is a building, a landform, a protected area or a tourist attraction, has coordinates, a photograph and an English Wikipedia article, is ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions wrote about it. Provinces, cities, airports, stations and stretches of sea shared with the neighbours are filtered out.
1 of the 10 in this guide: Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. That is not the full count for Kazakhstan, only the listed sites that made this guide.
Kazakh, Russian. The currency is KZT.
A travel eSIM is usually the cheapest way, and avoids a roaming bill. The plans suggested at the foot of this guide start at $2.15 for 2GB per day. The eSIM is data-only and sits alongside your normal SIM, so calls, texts and WhatsApp keep working on your own number.
Beeline. Your phone picks whichever has the best signal where you are, the same way a local phone does.
Maps, tickets and translation all want data, and roaming is the expensive way to get it. A Computatus eSIM eSIM connects to Beeline once you land, and installs by QR code before you leave.
| Plan | Data | Valid | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2GB per day Cheapest | 2 GB | 1 day | $2.15 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 15 days | 3 GB | 15 days | $3.69 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 30 days | 3 GB | 30 days | $3.92 | Get it → |
| 3GB per day | 3 GB | 1 day | $4.17 | Get it → |
| 5GB for 30 days | 5 GB | 30 days | $6.14 | Get it → |
| 10GB per day | 10 GB | 1 day | $6.62 | Get it → |
No app needed. Install by QR code before you fly, keep your own number for calls, and it connects the moment you land.
A commission on plans bought through these links is what pays for this guide. Nothing above depends on it: the places are chosen before any price is looked up.
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