KZ
Turkistan
Kazakhstan's spiritual heart and a Silk Road pilgrimage city
Kazakhstan's spiritual heart and a Silk Road pilgrimage city
This unfinished masterpiece of Timurid architecture soars with a vast ribbed turquoise dome and intricate tilework, sheltering a huge bronze cauldron and the tombs of Kazakh khans.
💡 Dress modestly; the surrounding park is lovely at golden hour.
A modern caravanserai-style complex of shops, restaurants, hotels and a flying theatre, built to welcome pilgrims and tourists, ringed by canals and a giant glass arch.
💡 Come in the evening for the fountain and light shows.
An hour away lie the eroded mudbrick ruins of Otrar, a once-great Silk Road city sacked by Genghis Khan, where you can walk among excavated walls and citadel mounds.
💡 Combine it with Arystan Bab on a half-day driver trip.
The tomb of Yasawi’s teacher is a key pilgrimage stop on the way to Otrar, a serene domed shrine set amid the semi-desert.
💡 Pilgrims traditionally visit here before the main mausoleum.
Around the mausoleum, a reconstructed citadel, hammam and bazaar quarter recreate the medieval city, with craft stalls and museums telling the region’s Silk Road story.
💡 The small hammam and citadel museums are worth the modest entry.
Turkistan’s food is southern Kazakh and Uzbek-influenced: fragrant plov, samsa baked in tandoor ovens, laghman noodles, grilled shashlik and plenty of fresh non bread. The Keruen Saray complex has the widest choice of restaurants and cafes, while stalls near the mausoleum sell tea, sweets and dried fruit for pilgrims. It is a conservative, largely alcohol-free city.
Explore the Khoja Ahmed Yasawi mausoleum and the reconstructed old town, citadel and bazaar around it.
Take a driver out to Arystan Bab and the ancient ruins of Otrar to trace the Silk Road story across the steppe.
Return for dinner at the Keruen Saray complex and its evening fountain and light show.
This is a major pilgrimage site; cover shoulders and knees, and women may wish to carry a headscarf.
Comfortable trains link Turkistan with Almaty, Shymkent and Astana; book sleeper berths ahead.
Otrar and Arystan Bab have no public transport; arrange a half-day taxi or tour.
Summers are fiercely hot; sightsee early and late and carry water.
Offline Russian and Kazakh for a region where little English is spoken.
Free
Leafy Almaty, futuristic Astana, the pilgrimage city of Turkistan, the red-rock Charyn Canyon and the alpine Kolsai Lakes — the many faces of vast Kazakhstan.