Capital of Kazakhstan
To be honest, getting to Astana by plane is not very convenient. He flies from St. Petersburg once a week, on Saturdays (as of April 2007), from Moscow more often, but also not convenient, departure at one in the morning : ( Although this is a foreign country, you can fly with a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation. Or you can use a passport "At the Kazakh customs, you need to fill out a small card indicating the purpose of visiting the country and the timing. If you visit the country for more than 5 days, you will need to register with the local Ministry of Internal Affairs. But if at the border clearly indicate the purpose of arrival and the date of departure, then you will immediately put a second seal.
Astana is a young city. Astana is translated from Kazakh as "capital". The capital was moved here to develop the city, because. Almaty can already be equal to Moscow : ) The local currency is tenge. 1 ruble is equal to 4.75 tenge. The course may differ by a few cents. The lowest rate at the airport. Large amounts should not be exchanged.
A taxi from the airport to the old city costs 2.500 tenge on average. It is better to take a new yellow taxi, because watchmakers in the morning can bend the price. It is better to agree on the price immediately and at least approximately know the destination. Those. not only the name of the hotel, but also the district of the city and the street. Because 90% of taxi drivers are not local, and they came from other cities to earn money and they know the city superficially. By the way, you can pay in rubles, but it is better to warn about this in advance.
The city itself is divided into two parts. New and old. The old one is the buildings of the Soviet era. In principle, everything is the same as in any city in Russia. Street names in two languages - Russian and Kazakh. The most important thing is that recently the addresses on many streets have changed and you can see two different numbers on the same house - the address in the old and new style. The new city is small Dubai. High-rise buildings amaze with their architecture and beauty. And everything is illuminated at night, even in the old city, built in the 80s. This creates additional beauty. The city itself is clean, ie. no rubbish is left on the street. But very dusty. Constantly something is being built and this construction dust is everywhere. This was not the case before.
It is safe to walk around the city, if you ask someone how to get to the right point, they will answer you and smile back. Didn't notice any rudeness. Probably more than 100 nationalities live in Kazakhstan. In Soviet times, many were resettled to the territory of this state, as well as to Siberia. Everyone is here - Germans, Russians, Chechens, Kazakhs, etc. Moreover, there is no question of any national hatred. Representatives of all nationalities work in banks, shops, restaurants. And everyone speaks Russian. Therefore, there should not be any problems in communication.
The weather in Astana (namely in Astana) is quite capricious. In winter it can be -42, summer +35. And at the end of April it was +27 and stuffy. The sun was so hot that walking around the city during the day, you can get a tan as if you went to the solarium for a week : ) And then the next day it can be +13, cloudy and windy. Therefore, it is good to watch the weather forecast in advance. But in Almaty, the climate is completely different.
Food. Wherever I went, it was delicious everywhere : ) True, I tried only two cuisines - local and Russian. But everywhere they cook delicious, but sometimes it’s not realistic to finish it. Because you want to try everything at once, but everything will not fit : ) The prices in the restaurant are almost the same as in Russia. But you can find places where for 250 rubles. you can taste the first, the second and walk all day full.
Housing. There are many hotels in the city, and many of them are home-type. Very tidy and with a high level of service. On average, a single room can be rented for 1500-2000 per day. Suite - for 3000-4000 rubles. You can pay with a credit card everywhere, but payments in rubles are not accepted everywhere : ( In many hotels there is a checkout time, and if you check in, for example, 3 hours earlier, you will have to pay half the cost of living for one day. And this is very important, considering that planes from Moscow and St. Petersburg arrive early in the morning, the time differs from Moscow by two hours ahead.
Astana is a very beautiful and developing city. Housing prices are rising every hour. New projects and buildings appear every day. If you wake up in those parts, I advise you to visit the local aquarium and the Baiterek observation tower. This city is developing very dynamically and having been there today, visit it for sure in a year, you will not recognize it : ) And the most important thing is that it is a resident of the city. Always friendly and smiling. Thank you for the warm welcome, I will definitely come again : )
