Almaty-Moscow: traveling by car

Despite the fact that since 1997 the capitalKazakhstan is Astana, the largest city of the country, its cultural, scientific and industrial center is Almaty (Alma-Ata). It is named after the southern capital of the republic, and the population is almost 2 million people.

Almaty is the most popular destination amongtravelers inside the country, and among foreigners. In 2014, Almaty was included in the top ten of the list of cities that must be visited. According to statistics, the city accounts for almost 80% of the total flow of tourists coming to Kazakhstan. Travelers are attracted by picturesque mountains and geographical location, because once there was the Great Silk Road.

How to get there

The distance from Moscow to Almaty is almost 4thousands of kilometers. If you go by train, then all the way will take 70 hours (3 days), on the plane - 4.5 hours. Flights Moscow - Almaty are sent daily. Most of them are transplanted in Astana, but there are also direct ones.

Moscow - Almaty by car

Despite the speed of the aircraft and the comfort of the train, some are traveling on their own car. In this case, the route will be as follows:

1. Moscow is the point of departure.
2. Nizhny Novgorod.
3. Kazan.
4. Ufa.
5. Chelyabinsk.
6. Troitsk.
7. Kostanay.
8. Astana.
9. Balkhash.
10. Almaty.

The Moscow-Almaty trip by car takes 70hours (about 3 days) of clean time, but since on the road it will be necessary to periodically make stops, in order to rest, taking into account this, the journey time is doubled. The time difference between Moscow and Almaty is +3 hours.

Public transport

About 25 transport companies operate in Almaty. In total, 2 thousand buses, 191 trolleybuses and 46 trams are circulating around the city. In addition to land transport, you can use the local metro to move around the city. The travel costs 80 tenge (about 14 Russian rubles) for passengers over 15 years old, 40 tenge for children from 7 to 15 years old and free of charge for preschool children.

National cuisine

In addition to visiting attractions andshops, on the journey Moscow - Almaty it is worth trying traditional Kazakh dishes. Initially, the territory of Kazakhstan belonged to nomadic tribes, the main occupations of which were cattle breeding and gathering, that is why almost all national dishes of the republic are prepared from meat (usually lamb, beef and horse meat), fish, cereals, dairy products, berries and mushrooms. This beshbarmak, manti, Kazakh plov, kuyrdak (meat fry), shish kebab and others. All dishes are rich and caloric.

Traditional Kazakh drinks are koumiss(stale and fermented milk of the mare) and black tea with cream. Sweets for tea are also mainly prepared from dough, honey and seeds are often added - for example, all known halva and chak-chak.

Most Popular Attractions

Kazakhstan is a state where most of theof the population professes Islam, so an integral part of Almaty is the Central Mosque of white marble and with domes covered with gold plates, which symbolizes nobility combined with simplicity. This is one of the largest mosques in the country, at the same time there can be up to 7 thousand worshipers.

In 1937 a zoo was built in Almaty. To date, it has collected several hundred species of animals, some of which are threatened with extinction. Here you can see African giraffes, bears, antelopes, predators from the cat family, turtles, crocodiles and others, in total - about 5 thousand animals.

The best way to learn about local culture andtraditions - to visit the Central State Museum, which presents the history of Kazakhstan, beginning with the Middle Ages. In this museum you can see national costumes, artisans' products, household items, a collection of military weapons and armor. The most interesting is the hall of anthropology.