Air and railway tickets

Information on arriving and departing flights to/from Almaty airport is available on the Almaty airport official website. Seasonal timetables of outbound and inbound flights are also available on the site.


The main air operator in Kazakhstan is the Air Astana, which operates both domestic and international flights. As many air companies, Air Astana has a frequent flyer program called Nomad club. The web-site offers a weekly view of possible outbound and inbound flights depending on your dates and shows all options of available tickets. Tickets can be booked either online, or by e-mail, or by phone +7 727 24444 77. Depending on the way the ticket was reserved, changes can be made to your booking. If you booked a ticket by sending an e-mail, another e-mail will be needed to make necessary changes.When you see the price, everything is included (taxes, food and baggage drop), you do not need to pay extra money.

Some other flights are also available by other air operators, but they operate less flights and their services and airplanes are not that good. However, they have flights that are not operated by the Air Astana, like Semey Avia, which operates flights Almaty - Semey and back.

If your destination is not listed in Air Astana's coverage, you may approach a tourist agency and they will make reservation for you offering different flights depending on your dates. The biggest tourist agencies are Transavia, CGTT Voyages, Gulnar Tour, Zhana Tour, etc. For business trips I would suggest using the services of CGTT Voyages, which is a subsidiary of the CGTT Voyages in France. Though they have small office, they provide good services. The agent's name is Dina and she's really good in organizing your trip, she is very fast (she sent me the bookings 1 hour after I made a request) and she offers different options, she would warn you of any Company's rules regarding no-shows, changes and other penalties. Many companies also use the services of Transavia, which is also good, but when I booked a ticket with them, they made a mistake and were not very quick, I had to remind them also, so I decided not to take risks.

For leisure services, Gulnar Tour is very good, everything is well organized, but they charge more than other operators. When I traveled with them, there were no flight delays (the flight was a charter one), the flight was operated by a very good well-known air company, they have guides in the destination cities who will offer you different tours and help you, if you need assistance. Of course, another option is different websites like expedia, travelocity, and etc.

Travel agencies usually provide a number of other services, besides ticket reservation, like assistance with visa and registration, hotels, tours, and etc.

Railway tickets can be purchased at railway stations, travel agencies, or online (this website is in Russian and Kazakh only). There is no booking! Tickets need to be purchased right away. Railway tickets are much cheaper than air tickets, but you'd better buy them in advance, because they can be sold out. It would be advised to buy tickets a week before your departure date, or even earlier. There are three different types of carriages (economy class, compartment and luxe). If the number of your seat in economy class or compartment is odd, it is a lower one, if even - upper. I would not suggest taking an economy class, because it is very inconvenient, and there are many people in one carriage. Unlike airplanes, the staff in trains is not English-speaking.