East Kazakhstan: the Altai, Sibin Lakes & Bukhtarma Reservoir

Most visitors to Kazakhstan see the south – Almaty, the Tien Shan, the canyons. The country’s east is a different planet: Siberian taiga instead of steppe, the Altai instead of the Alatau, and water everywhere. If your map of Kazakhstan ends at Charyn, this region – a two-hour flight or a long drive from Almaty – is the expansion pack.

The Kazakh Altai

The Altai range runs along the region’s eastern edge – snowbound crests, steep forested flanks and deep river gorges, crowned (just across the border ridge) by Belukha, the massif’s highest and most sacred mountain. The Kazakh side is the quiet side: genuine wilderness trekking, and in winter the deep-snow country around Ridder that we covered in our freeride guide.

The Sibin Lakes

Five lakes in a chain – Shalkar, Tortkarakol, Korzhynkol, Sauyrkol and Karakol – set in granite hills, with water so clear it reads emerald on a sunny day. The name comes from the nomads who rested and refitted their herds here; the legend comes from the Dzungars: a 17th-century Buddhist monastery stood nearby, and a golden Buddha is said to lie sunk in one of the lakes. Petrol boat engines are banned, which keeps the water as quiet as the story. The lakes fish well – pike, carp, perch – and yes, the locals will tell you about the unofficial nudist beach. Our full guide: the Sibin Lakes.

Bukhtarma and the Blue Bay

Created in 1960 on the Irtysh river, the Bukhtarma reservoir covers some 5,500 km² – one of the largest artificial waterbodies in the world, bigger than Kapshagay and more varied than Borovoe, with a shoreline of coves and bays running to 50 km deep. The resort strip around Novaya Bukhtarma village holds the holiday bases and sanatoria; the showpiece is the Blue Bay, whose water is an implausible bright blue that no photograph quite convinces anyone of. Summer here is the East’s answer to a sea holiday – beaches, boats and fish in every size.

Practical notes

• Getting there: fly Almaty to Ust-Kamenogorsk (Oskemen), then drive; the Sibins are an easy day trip from the city, Bukhtarma a weekend.
• Season: summer for the lakes and reservoir; deep winter for Ridder’s snow.
• Pace yourself: distances in the East are honest – this is a region you give days, not hours.

Closer to home base? The mountains above Almaty are our home ground – start with the weekend hikes or the trips we run.

🎒 Other routes

Peak Maria (3,685 m) from Mynzhylki: Route, Couloir & Winter Notes

Pila Peak (3,780 m): the Saw-Tooth Summit of Prokhodnoye Gorge

The Almaty Mega-Traverse: 30 km, Two Passes, Two Peaks, One Day

Medeo to Shymbulak on Foot: the Small Almaty Gorge Walk

Karabastau (3,972 m): the Wildest Trek in the Issyk Mountains

Aksay Gorge: the Closed Valley and its 3,735 m Peak

Kumbelsu Gorge & Lake 13: the Wild Route to Molodezhny Peak

Tamgaly-Tas: Buddha Carvings & Climbing on the Ili River