Almaty, and the canyons and lakes in reach of it

Kazakhstan is enormous, and much of it is steppe: flat, open grassland running to the horizon in every direction. But in the far south-east, where it meets Kyrgyzstan and China, the land rises abruptly into the Tian Shan, the Heavenly Mountains, and at their foot, on a slope of orchards and avenues, is Almaty.

It was the capital of Soviet Kazakhstan and then of the independent country until 1997, when the government moved north to Akmola, now Astana. It is still the country's commercial and cultural centre, often called the southern capital, and for a visitor it is the obvious place to start.

The city

Almaty is a green, leafy, relaxed place by the standards of Central Asian capitals, laid out on a grid of tree-lined avenues that slope gently uphill towards the mountains, which close the view at the end of almost every street. The Soviet past is visible in its grand public buildings and its apartment blocks, and the older Russian city in places like Panfilov Park, where the wooden Ascension Cathedral, painted in pastel colours, stands among the trees. The Green Bazaar is the place to see the city shop: fruit and nuts, horse meat, dried cheeses and spices.

In summer, people escape the heat by going up into the mountains. A road and a cable car climb from the edge of the city into the valleys above it, to the high-altitude ice rink at Medeu and the ski slopes of Shymbulak, and Big Almaty Lake, a turquoise reservoir in the mountains, is a favourite day trip.

Charyn Canyon

The great sight within reach of Almaty is Charyn Canyon, a few hours' drive east towards the Chinese border. The Charyn river has cut a canyon about 154 kilometres long through the steppe, its walls of red, orange and yellow sandstone eroded into towers, pillars and battlements. The best-known stretch, the Valley of Castles, is a narrow gorge between fantastic rock formations, with a path down to the river at the bottom. It is often compared to the Grand Canyon, which is unfair to both; it is smaller, but strange and beautiful in its own way.

Kolsai and Kaindy

South of Charyn, in the forested foothills of the Tian Shan, are two lakes that turn up on every traveller's camera. The Kolsai lakes are a chain of three mountain lakes, set among spruce forest at rising heights, with a path between them for walkers and horses.

Not far away is Kaindy, which looks like something out of a dream: a narrow, turquoise lake from which the dead trunks of spruce trees rise straight out of the water, their branches long gone. The lake formed when an earthquake in the early twentieth century caused a landslide that dammed the gorge and drowned the forest.

Tours that go there

G Adventures' eleven-night Kyrgyzstan & Kazakhstan: Colourful Canyons & Nomadic Living starts in Bishkek, crosses Kyrgyzstan by way of Iskra Village, Shatyly and Tamga, the Skazka Canyon, Barskoon and Karakol, then enters Kazakhstan for Kaindy Lake, Saty Village, Charyn Canyon and Almaty. It departs in April, May and June.

Explore's fourteen-night The Three Stans of The Silk Road also starts in Bishkek, with Tokmok, Kochkor, Lake Issyk Kul, Kyzyl Tuu, Bokonbayevo and Karakol, then crosses into Kazakhstan for the Kolsai Lakes National Park, Charyn Canyon and Almaty, before going west to Turkestan and Shymkent. It departs from April to October.

Travelsphere's twenty-night Silk Road Adventure - the Five Stans begins in Almaty, with Charyn Canyon, before travelling through Kyrgyzstan, by way of Karakol, the Jeti Oguz Gorge, Cholpon Ata, Chon Kemin and Bishkek, and on to Tashkent, Khujand, Dushanbe, Samarkand and Bukhara.

Late spring and early autumn are the best times: May and June for green mountains and wild flowers, September and October for clear skies and autumn colour around the lakes. Summer in the steppe is very hot, and winter is cold, though Almaty's mountains then become a ski resort. Give the city a day and the lakes and canyon at least two more. They are a long way from anywhere you have been before, and they are worth it.