Things to do in Turkistan
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Turkistan
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is the best window, warming from March to May, with Nauryz crowds and full hotels on 21 to 23 March.
Summer heat is extreme, July highs average about 37 C and the hottest days pass 40 C, with almost no rain.
Autumn is the second best window, September near 29 C and October near 21 C, with thinner crowds and harvest bazaars.
Winter is cold and quiet, January averages below freezing with lows around minus 7 C, wind and some snow.
What's on
- Nauryz 21 to 23 March
Kazakh New Year celebrations bring the year's most festive and most crowded days at the shrine, and full hotels.
Best things to do in Turkistan
Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi
Timur's vast unfinished mausoleum over the Sufi saint's tomb, a UNESCO site and an active pilgrimage shrine above all.
Kultobe Settlement
The excavated hill of old Yasy beside the mausoleum, layer on layer of the city that was here centuries before Timur.
Hilvet Semi-Underground Mosque
The small underground mosque built around the retreat cell where Yasawi is said to have spent his final years.
Eastern Baths
The domed 16th century hammam built for pilgrims, the most human scaled building in the mausoleum quarter.
Mausoleum of Rabiga Sultan Begim
A small 15th century Timurid family tomb beside the great mausoleum, the intimate counterpoint to its giant neighbour.
Uly Dala Eli Ortalygy
The new town's multimedia history centre on Kazakh statehood and Turkistan, a polished air conditioned orientation.
Karavansaray
The 2021 canal leisure complex of shops, boats, horse shows and an evening water parade, best after dark.
Altyn Samruk Flying Theatre
A flying theatre inside a golden egg building, carrying riders on a simulated flight over all of Kazakhstan.
Where to stay in Turkistan
New Town, Karavansaray district
comfort, families and resort evenings
B. Sattarkhanov Avenue holds the Rixos, the Karavansaray hotels and the Hampton, the canal complex and the evening show, a short taxi ride from the mausoleum.
Old Town, mausoleum quarter
pilgrimage access and budget stays
Smaller local hotels within walking distance of the Azret Sultan reserve, early nights, simple rooms and the lowest prices in the city.
Best restaurants in Turkistan
Sandyq Restaurant
Kazakh fine dining in a museum like room with live traditional music, beshbarmak and horse meat done seriously.
KazakhAsia
The Rixos hotel's main restaurant, Kazakh and Asian dishes in the new town's most polished dining room.
Top Tobe Grand Hall
A large local celebration hall with international and Central Asian menus, the mid range choice beyond the Kazakh canon.
Shanyrak
The documented cheap eat in the city listings, plov, lagman, manti and shashlik at day to day local prices.
Turkistan Meyramkhanasy
A local lunch room recommended for its signature plov, busiest at midday with families and lunch specials.
Outdoor things to do in Turkistan
Archaeological Site of Otrar
The vast ruined Silk Road city that defied Genghis Khan in 1219 and where Timur died in 1405, an imagination site.
Arystan Bab Mausoleum
The tomb of Yasawi's teacher near Otrar, visited before the saint's own tomb by pilgrim tradition, with a holy well.
Sauran
Kazakhstan's best preserved medieval city walls ring an empty Silk Road city in open steppe, usually in silence.
Best hotels in Turkistan
Rixos Turkistan
The city's flagship five star by Karavansaray, with spa, indoor pools and the best service English in Turkistan.
Karavansaray Turkistan Hotel
Five star rooms inside the Karavansaray complex over the canal, with flying theatre entry bundled in the stay.
Hampton by Hilton Turkistan
The reliable international mid tier in the new town, predictable rooms and breakfast within reach of Karavansaray.
Boutique Hotel Silk Way
The best reviewed small hotel in the city, a boutique house with garden and restaurant and personal service.
Hotel Edem
The old town budget standby, simple rooms at walking distance from the mausoleum quarter at local prices.
Is Turkistan expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | KZT 15,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | KZT 40,000 a person |
| Splurge | KZT 95,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Rixos Spa: a few days ahead
- Archaeological Site of Otrar: a few days ahead
- Rixos Turkistan: weeks ahead
- Karavansaray Turkistan Hotel: weeks ahead
- Boutique Hotel Silk Way: a few days ahead
- Sandyq Restaurant: a few days ahead
- Book the Rixos, Karavansaray and Silk Way hotels ahead on pilgrimage weekends and Nauryz.
- Arrange a private car and guide for Otrar, Arystan Bab and Sauran a few days out in season.
- Reserve a dinner table at Sandyq, especially for an evening with live music.
Is Turkistan safe?
- The working risks are heat, cold, long steppe road journeys and thin English outside the big hotels.
- At the mausoleum women cover head, shoulders, arms and legs, men wear long trousers, voices stay low and pilgrims at prayer are not photographed.
- Carry water on every outing; summer days pass 40 C and winter lows fall well below freezing with wind.
- Carry cash tenge for small entry fees and taxis; cards work in the new town hotels and larger restaurants.
Turkistan travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Midday sightseeing in summer turns Kultobe, Otrar and Sauran into an endurance test with no shade.
- Karavansaray is a 2021 leisure complex, not the historic city; the real Turkistan is the reserve across town.
- Do not try to fit Otrar, Sauran and the mausoleum into one day in the heat.
- Agree taxi fares or use an app at the station and airport before setting off.
Getting around Turkistan: public transport and more
- Turkistan is about 165 km from Shymkent, two and a half to three hours by road, with trains taking about three and a half hours.
- Hazret Sultan International Airport, HSA, has domestic flights including direct Astana services, about thirty minutes by taxi from town.
- Use taxis or ride hailing between the old town and the Karavansaray new town, a few kilometres apart, and do not walk the gap in summer heat.
Who Turkistan suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Turkistan your trip
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