TravelTill

Travel to Kazakhstan


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Kazakh government has set certain policies regarding which countries do not require LOI's, this does not always reach the embassies. Be prepared for the worst and coming up against an official who might flat out refuse to give you a visa without a LOI. This is an issue at the Kazakhstan Embassy in Moscow (Australian Passports).



By plane

Air Kazakhstan stopped flying at the end of March 2004. The most important carrier is now Air Astana which flies to Almaty, Astana, Aktau, Aktobe,Atyrau, Abu Dhabi,Uralsk, Kyzylorda, Moscow, Delhi, Beijing, Istanbul, Bangkok, Hannover, London, Amsterdam, Baku, Kuala Lumpur, Frankfurt, Seoul,Ho Chi Minh City, and Hong Kong.

Lately in 2011, Air Astana stopped flying to/from Dubai, but started its flights from Abu Dhabi.

Air Astana keeps monopoly on the international routes by limiting the outside airlines to Kazakastan.

Lufthansa has also seven days flights to Almaty, from where you can go anywhere via local carrier SKAT, which flies to most cities in Kazakhstan. British Airways (Almaty-Heathrow route taken over by bmi from Sept 2007) and KLM now fly several times a week to Heathrow and Schiphol. There is also non-stop connection twice a week from Prague, operated by Czech airlines. Turkish Airlines is good passenger carrier, with flights to Istanbul (ask a travel agent about the student fares, which can be a great deal). There are twice a week flights from Seoul to Almaty; one is Asiana Airlines, and the other is Astana. Airbaltic also flies to Almaty; if you reserve tickets in advance, you can go there for €130 (from Riga).

By train

Trains in Kazakhstan are slow but comfortable and clean. Popular routes include Almaty to/from Moscow (77 hours), Novosibirsk (35 hours) and Ürümqi,China (34 hours). Count with 3–4 hours stay at Russian border or 6–8 hours at Chinese border. Trains in Kazakhstan can also be booked online.

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