Off Beat Kazakhstan with Baikonur, Semey, and Aralsk

Day 2 – Train to Aralsk

After breakfast, we will catch the 11 am train to Aralsk, a 20-hour train ride over the vast Kazakh steppe.

Trains in Kazakhstan are very comfortable. They all have a café wagon selling all sorts of local foods and beverages. They’re also a great place to interact with local people.

Overnight on the train.

Day 3 – Aralsk and the Aral Sea

Our train will arrive around 7 am.

During the 60s, the Soviets decided to become one of the world’s top exporters of cotton. However, cotton is a product that requires huge amounts of water to grow and, since the steppe was practically a desert, they had no other choice but to divert the two major rivers that fed the Aral Sea.

That, and the poor quality of the water pipelines, resulted in 75% of the water either evaporating or being lost en route, leading to the almost complete disappearance of the Aral Sea.

Today, Aralsk is home to an enormous, rusty and abandoned industrial complex, all proof that back in the day, Aralsk used to be a prosperous town.

We will spend the whole day visiting Aralsk, and part of the Aral Sea.

Overnight in Aralsk.

Day 4 – Baikonur

Baikonur is home to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is the Russian equivalent of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. This is none other than the place where both the dog Laika and Yuri Gagarin (the first human in space) were launched.

Despite being located in the middle of Kazakhstan, today this is Russian territory. They actually rent it for an enormous yearly fee, so Russian rules apply here: they use the Russian ruble and pretty much everyone is Russian.

Also, a Kazakhstan visa is not valid here, so we’ll need to apply for a special permit.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, visiting the Cosmodrome is no longer possible. However, we can still visit the town, which is really interesting, since it’s a very Soviet town packed with Cosmodrome-related monuments and history.

Overnight in Baikonur.

Day 5 – Kyzylorda and Karaganda

Day 5 will be a travel day. First, we’ll drive to the domestic airport of Kyzylorda, a 3-hour drive from Baikonur. We’ll take a domestic flight to Astana, then from there we’ll drive to Karaganda, another 3-hour drive. It will be a long day, but then we’ll be spending 2 nights in Karaganda.

In the evening, we’ll take a stroll down around Karaganda.

Overnight in Karaganda.

Day 6 – Karaganda

Karaganda is the 5th largest city in Kazakhstan, and one of the most Soviet and industrialized cities in the country.

We will have a slow morning to recover from the last few hectic days, before heading for Karlag, a museum built in what used to be the largest gulag in Central Asia, today the Museum of Political Soviet Terror.

Next, we’ll do a tour around the city, visiting Soviet-style buildings and monuments. Then, only if possible, we’ll go to Karipbek Kuyukov’s house, the world-wide famous armless painter, specialized in painting nuclear and radiation-related themes.

Mr. Kuyukov was born in the Semey area and he claims that his physical problems are the result of Semipalatinsk radiation.

Please note that Mr. Kuyukov is not always in Karaganda, so we can’t guarantee he’ll be there during our visit.

Day 7 – Temirtau and Eagle Hunter’s village

Temirtau is home to one of the largest factories in Kazakhstan, producing 1% of the world’s total steel. It’s also a very controversial place, since it’s also the most polluting factory in the country.

The factory is huge and impressive to see, and we’ll check it out from outside. We’ll also visit all the Soviet monuments from Temirtau before heading on to Astana.

On the way to Astana, we’ll stop at a small village, where we have the chance to meet an actual Eagle Hunter. Kazakhstan is the most modern country in all Central Asia, so the eagle hunting culture is fast disappearing, with no more than 20 or 30 men left practicing this small part of Kazakh folklore.

We’ll learn everything about this culture and enjoy a hearty Kazakh meal at their house.

Overnight in Astana.

Day 8 – Astana

As you may already know, Astana is a city with little soul, built not so long ago just to serve as the capital, meaning everything here is pretty fake – but still interesting to see.

In the morning, we’ll visit the center of Astana and all its particularly weird monuments, including Khan Shatyr, Bayterek Tower, Ak Orda, Central Concert Hall, Nur Astana Mosque, the circus, Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, and many more.

At 6 pm, we’ll catch a night train to Semey.

Overnight on the train.

Day 9 – Semipalatinsk Testing Site

For many travelers, this is the highlight of a trip to Kazakhstan.

In 1949, the Soviet Union built a nuclear test site in the middle of the vast and remote Kazakh steppe.

They named it Semipalatinsk-21 – popularly known as The Polygon – the facilities of which stretch across more than 18,000km2, and where 456 nuclear tests were conducted from 1949 to 1989, including the detonation of the atomic bomb.

We’ll put on our anti-radiation gear and visit a crater produced by the detonation of a hydrogen nuclear bomb, among many other crumbling Soviet facilities.

In the evening, we’ll drive to Kurchatov.

Overnight in Kurchatov.

Day 10 – Kurchatov and Semey

Kurchatov is a town that was built exclusively to accommodate all the people working in Semipalatinsk, including scientists, drivers and everyone related to the site.

The location of Kurchatov was always held secret, and it was even renamed multiple times to keep it that way.

Today, Kurchatov is a partially abandoned town although there are plenty of things to see, including the abandoned former KGB building, which was the largest KGB office in Kazakhstan.

After lunch, we’ll go back to Semey and tour the city.

End of the tour. You can choose to either take a night train back to Astana, or fly to Almaty the next day.