Ile-Alatau National Park

Ile-Alatau National Park runs along the northern edge of the Tien Shan, directly above Almaty. It is the reason you can leave a city of two million in the morning and stand on a glacier by lunchtime - the first trailheads are 30 minutes from the centre, and the range climbs past 5,000 m at Talgar Peak.

The park is organised as a series of gorges running north out of the main ridge, and choosing a gorge is really how you choose a hike:

• Malo-Almaty Gorge - the busiest and most accessible, holding Medeo, Shymbulak, the Tuyuksu glaciers and most of the four-thousanders.
• Big Almaty Gorge - Big Almaty Lake, the Cosmostation, and the peaks above it.
• Prohodnoye and Kaskelen - quieter western valleys, and the way onto the long multi-day traverses.
• Butakovsky, Gorelnik and Kim Asar - waterfalls, hot springs and forest walks close to the city, good for a half day.
• Talgar - the wildest sector, and the approach to the highest summit in the range.

Altitude is the thing to plan around. Trailheads sit at 1,500-2,500 m and routes climb to 3,000-4,500 m, so the high passes are open roughly mid-June to mid-September, while the lower forest trails and waterfalls are walkable from April into November.

National park entry fees are included in every tour we run, along with an English-speaking guide, round-trip transport from Almaty, lunch and a first aid kit.