Ski Resorts near Almaty

Almaty is one of the few cities in the world where you can ski a 3,000 m mountain and be back in a restaurant downtown for dinner. Three resorts sit within an hour of the city, and they are genuinely different from one another: one is high, steep and busy, one is a wide family mountain in the forest, and one is the cheap, quiet option that freeriders like. This guide compares all three – terrain, prices, how to get there, and who each one actually suits.

Prices below are from the 2025/26 season, the most recent published tariffs. Each resort re-prices in the autumn, so treat these as a guide to what to expect and check the resort’s own channels before you travel.

The three resorts at a glance

Two smaller ski bases, Tabagan and Pioneer, also operate near the city. They are compact and their opening hours change, so check directly before making the trip.

Shymbulak – the flagship

Shymbulak is the best-known resort in Kazakhstan and the highest of the three, sitting at 2,200-2,500 m with its top station at 3,200 m. It is 20-30 km from the centre, about 50 minutes door to door. The season runs from roughly mid-to-late November until close to May – the longest of the three – and around 20 km of runs cover green, blue and red grades. In a good snow year there is freeride terrain, though usually not before late February or March.

Getting there: taxi is simplest – Yandex and Uber both work well in Almaty. Bus 12 runs to Medeo for 150 ₸ with an Onay card, 300 ₸ without, though you may be charged extra for ski equipment. Driving, parking is 500 ₸ per two hours. Either way you go to the Medeo base station and change onto the cable car – the stop is “Medeo Cable Car”.

Prices: a weekday adult full-day pass was 9,000 ₸, rising to 12,000 ₸ at weekends. Morning and afternoon sessions are cheaper, and there is night skiing on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 8,500 ₸. A youth rate (11-23) applies on weekdays in main season only. Over the New Year period a roughly 30% surcharge applies. Full detail is on our Shymbulak page.

Worth knowing: it is the most expensive of the three, it gets genuinely busy at weekends with queues on the lifts, and the terrain is less forgiving for complete beginners. February and March usually bring the best snow and more comfortable temperatures than the deep cold of December and January.

Oi-Qaragai (Lesnaya Skazka) – the family mountain

Officially Oi-Qaragai, universally called Lesnaya Skazka – “Forest Fairy Tale” – this is a single resort with two names, and the family option of the three. It spans 1,550-1,820 m with a newer Ak-Tas zone reaching 2,140 m, and has the most terrain of the three at 25+ km across 20+ pistes and 14 lifts, mostly blue. Runs are wide and not especially long, which is exactly what you want when learning.

Getting there: 35-45 minutes by car from the centre, around an hour from the airport. Bus 210 runs directly from the Palace of Sports in about an hour. Taxis are roughly 4,000-5,000 ₸ each way, and the resort runs its own transfer service.

Prices: the most expensive of the three – a full day was 24,000 ₸ for an adult, 8,500 ₸ for a child. The morning session at 16,500 ₸ is the best value. Children under 6 ski free, and there is a national park eco-fee of 595 ₸ per person. Full tariffs are on our Oi-Qaragai page.

Worth knowing: being lower and sheltered means less wind but also less snow and a shorter season than Shymbulak. Queues are minimal, the ski school is the strongest of the three with over 100 certified instructors teaching in English, and the accommodation – forest chalets, treehouses, yurts – makes it work as a weekend rather than a day trip. Rental is on the expensive side.

Ak-Bulak – the budget option

Ak-Bulak sits in the Soldatskoe gorge near Ryskulovo village in the Talgar district, 10 km from Talgar town and 40-45 km from Almaty, at 1,600-2,200 m. It is the smallest of the three with 12 km of runs and 8 lifts, and the season runs from around late November to the end of March. It has a reputation among freeriders and good, uncrowded learning slopes.

Getting there: a car is much the easiest option. A taxi can run to 7,000-10,000 ₸. Bus 224 exists but takes up to two hours and runs irregularly, so it is not a reliable plan.

Prices: substantially cheaper than the other two.

Over the New Year window rates rise sharply – a full day was 22,000 ₸ and a Full Day pass running 09:00-22:00 cost 27,000 ₸. The ski pass card is 2,000 ₸ and there is a national park eco-fee of 589.8 ₸. Veterans, pensioners and people with disabilities ski free.

Worth knowing: there is no online booking – tickets are sold at the resort ticket office only. Infrastructure is basic compared with the other two, and winter access can be awkward without your own vehicle.

Which one should you choose?

• You ski well, or want freeride terrain and altitude. Shymbulak. Highest, longest season, night skiing, and the best restaurants and hotels. Accept the price and the weekend queues.
• You are travelling with children, or someone in the group is learning. Oi-Qaragai. Wide blue runs, the strongest ski school with English-speaking instructors, almost no queues, and somewhere comfortable to stay in the forest.
• You want to ski cheaply, or you are here to learn. Ak-Bulak. Passes from 3,600 ₸, excellent learning slopes, no crowds, plus freeride and tree skiing. Bring or arrange a car.

If you are in Kazakhstan for longer and serious about snow, it is worth heading east to Ridder in the Kazakh Altai, where the terrain is opened by snowcat and snowmobile and the winters are properly cold – see our guide to freeride skiing and snowboarding in Kazakhstan.

Almaty Superski: the mega-resort taking shape above the city

Everything above describes Almaty skiing as it is today. It is about to change scale. In July 2026, construction began on Almaty Superski – a state-backed project to link Shymbulak, Oi-Qaragai and the smaller Pioneer, Kimasar and Butakovka areas with an entirely new resort core at Kok-Zhailau and Kumbel, creating a single connected ski domain of more than 200 km. For comparison, that is Alps scale: the plan takes the region from 16 lifts today to 58.

The headline numbers, from official announcements: eleven new cable cars are under construction by the French lift manufacturer POMA, the resort masterplan is by Foster + Partners with buildings in mass timber, access roads and engineering infrastructure are targeted for September 2027, and the first phase aims to open in December 2028. A second stage, planned from 2027, develops Pioneer and Oi-Qaragai and connects them into the network by cable car. The 2025-2029 regional programme behind it is worth 92.8 billion tenge, most of it private investment.

You will feel the first effects sooner than 2028. At Shymbulak, seven new lift lines started construction in May 2026, with the first two due to be running by the end of the year – expect some construction activity around the resort this winter, and noticeably better uplift after that.

One honest note: the new resort core sits on Kok-Zhailau, a high plateau inside Ile-Alatau National Park that is also one of the best-loved hiking areas near the city – a previous resort plan there was stopped in 2019 after a major public campaign. The project remains genuinely contested between development and conservation, and we cover that side of the story – and what it means for the trail – on our Kok-Zhailau hiking page. Timelines for projects of this size also have a way of moving, so treat every date above as a target rather than a promise. The full story – numbers, timeline and the fight over the plateau – is in our Almaty Superski explainer.

Not skiing? The mountains still work in winter

Winter around Almaty is not only about lifts. The lower trails stay walkable, the ice grottos inside the Tuyuksu glacier are a winter-only sight, Medeo is the world’s highest skating rink, and the hot springs are at their best when there is snow on the ground. Our guide to winter hikes and activities near Almaty covers the alternatives, and we run private guided trips through the winter for anyone who would rather walk than ski.