Kazakhstan’s Kolsay Lakes: How to Visit from Almaty

One of the most majestic places in Southern Kazakhstan, Kolsay Lakes National Park is an essential place to see on your Almaty itinerary. While you can visit it on a day trip, I visited it as part of a two-day, one-night tour.

It was paired with Kaindy Lake, which we visited on that same day, as well as Charyn Canyon and a few other canyon viewpoints, which we visited on the next day on our way back to Almaty.

While Kaindy Lake is technically part of the same national park as Kolsay Lakes, it’s very different visually. Both are absolutely worth visiting, and each have their own special highlights.

Kaindy Lake is unique, with incredible colors and an otherworldly look with the trees poking through the electric blue water. But Kolsay Lake is more of your typical alpine lake, with pristine water nestled in the bottom of the valley, surrounded by a nest of trees.

Kolsay Lake also has more space for people to spread out. The shores of Kaindy Lake can get quite busy, as there isn’t a ton of space for foot traffic.

Kolsay Lake has a long boardwalk and lots of dedicated places to sit and enjoy the view, so even if it may technically get busier, it does not feel that way.

I really liked going to the TARY for a coffee overlooking the lake: it had beautiful views, although there are a ton of stairs up to the café (but worth it for the views, in my opinion!)

You can also go out on the water of Kolsay Lake by renting a paddleboat, which seems to be a popular thing to do here judging by how many boats I saw out on the water!

This is not possible at Kaindy Lake, which you can only look at, because the tree ecosystem at the bottom of the lake is rather fragile.

As for the plural… why is it Kolsay Lakes and not just Lake? I’ve only shown the one!

Well, the other two lakes (there are three in total) are much more difficult to get to and require quite a lengthy hike… 8 kilometers to the next lake, in fact!

As you can see in the above picture, you can reach Kolsay Lake 1 by car and a short walk… just 500 meters down a paved path. But reaching Kolsay Lake 2 requires a lengthy 8 kilometer hike — hardly doable on a day trip from Almaty like I was doing!

If you were to try to visit multiple of the Kolsay Lakes, you could want to organize a hiking trip through a guesthouse in Saty or speak with the Kolsay Lakes Visitor Center.

This is unfortunately not something I can advise on, as I only visited Kolsay Lake 1 as part of two-day, one-night trip that was focused on sightseeing rather than hiking. This resource has some information on how to hike from Kolsay 1 to 2, and it notes that you cannot always hike from Kolsay 2 to 3 due to its proximity to the border with Kyrgyzstan.

Amenities at Kolsay Lake

Kolsay Lakes is rather developed and has a number of amenities to enjoy. There’s a restaurant up top near the parking lot, as well as the coffee shop TARY shown above.

There’s also a place where you can rent a paddle boat, an area with Kazakh flags where you can take a picture in front of the pier, a few different photo areas, restrooms, and vendor stalls selling things like ice cream and drinks.

You can also go for a horseback ride with locals to a vantage point over the lakes for an even better view!

Be sure to carry cash for any additional extras like horseback riding, renting a paddle boat, etc. Take out cash when you can, because there is no ATM in Saty to my knowledge. So you will want plenty of cash for extras while you are in this remote part of Kazakhstan.

Getting to Kolsay from Almaty

By far the easiest way to get from Almaty to Kolsay Lakes is by an organized tour. It’s far better to take a two-day, one-night tour (this is the one I did). It’s inexpensive, includes almost everything including your night of accommodations and meals, and it simplifies all transit.

If you prefer a private tour, this can also be arranged and it can actually be far cheaper than the organized tour above if you have three or four people in your party. This is the private tour I would suggest, if your budget or amount of travel companions allows it.

If you are severely limited on time in Almaty, you can do this on a one-day tour. However, it will be a full day — we’re talking a 16-hour day trip — and you’ll need to meet your group around 5 AM.

If you prefer to DIY and make your own adventure, you absolutely can travel to Saty independently, but you will need to rent a car because there is no public transit to Saty, and transit options are limited. You could pay a driver to bring you to Saty and back, but it would be rather expensive.

Staying Overnight in Saty

If you’re renting a car and staying overnight in Saty, there are a few cool accommodation options that are a bit different from the normal guesthouse!

• Kolsay Kazakh Village has yurts and wooden cabins for a cozy stay near Kolsay Lakes National Park
• Tau Saty is a brand-new property with gorgeous A-Frame cabins and a boutique feel
• Tau Village Villa has a 3-bedroom property perfect for a longer stay with family and/or friends
• Kolsay A Frame Yessen has beautiful A-Frame cabins that look stunning against the Tien Shan mountains in the background

Allison Green

Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016, visiting 75+ countries in total. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. As a former educator, she merges her writing and educational experience to encourage ethical, sustainable travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and TBEX. Her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. When she’s not on the road, she lives in Bangkok, Thailand.