Nur-Sultan (Astana), Kazakhstan
After a lovely flight from Minsk, a representative from the Ritz Carlton, Astana, was there to greet us at the airport. We paid $35 for the ride to the hotel, which is more than a Yandex would have cost, but worth it given the crazy arrival time in a new country.
The check-in process was a breeze, and soon enough, we were in our gorgeous 2 queen bed room with a city view. I can’t get over how nice this room was. The craziest part was the value. This room was about $250 per night, including breakfast. It’s definitely expensive for the region, but in Boston this summer, any hotel of this caliber is easily 3x the price.
There’s a new St. Regis hotel in town, which is also supposed to be spectacular, but the location is less desirable. At the Ritz Carlton, you’re located just across the street from the Ministry of Defense and Baiterek observation tower.
We woke up at 1pm and decided to do a walk around the city. First off, we headed to see the Baiterek observation tower, which is in the center of the main boulevard, Nurzhol. Then, we turned to the left towards the Khan Shatyr mall. It was so lovely seeing people out walking and enjoying the weather! And the people here in Nur-Sultan were just so friendly. My mom and I were walking by the Tourist Police office, and a police officer started waving at us with a huge smile!
Nurzhol boulevard allows pedestrians to have ice cream and walk among flowers from the Presidential Palace to the mall on the other end. The buildings lining this road are huge, and there are more popping up! The Kazakh government seems to be investing heavily in making Nur-Sultan a showcase city.
The mall was chock-full of Western brands, so not very interesting from a store perspective, but the building was quite interesting.
After stopping there, we turned towards a bridge designed to look like a fish. From there, we took a Yandex Go back to the hotel. The hotel booked the Qazaq Gourmet restaurant for us, which I’ll cover in more detail in a separate post.
The following day we walked more around the city: this time to the Presidential Palace and Nazarbayev Mosque.
The Presidential Complex is a site to behold. When approaching it, you’ll pass some soldiers as you head up the stairs. Then, you can see the palace and other official buildings. From there, you’ll also have a great view down to the Khan Shatyr mall.
If you’re pressed for time, you can skip the mosque since it’s pretty new and not nearly as ornate as others in the region.
We then returned to the hotel for some food before heading to the airport for our 9:30pm flight to Almaty.
Overall, Nur Sultan is definitely not geared towards tourists; people working in our hotel were shocked to hear we weren’t in town on business. That being said, it is a pleasant place to walk around and get a taste of Kazakhstan before heading into other parts of the country.
Kazakhstan is UN Country 66/193 and TCC Region 83/330 for me.