The Golden Ring of Zhetysu is our most complete route: five days from the desert of Altyn-Emel to the mountain lakes of Kolsai and Kaindy, with your own guide-driver the whole way.

Day 1: Leave Almaty at 07:30 for Basshi village, the Altyn-Emel park headquarters. After lunch at a guest house, trek about 7 km through the Aktau Mountains: the main canyon, a small canyon and a summit, among layered coloured hills. On the way back you stop at a 700-year-old willow, then spend the night at the guest house.

Day 2: Climb the Singing Dune (Aygaykum) in the morning, then walk 2 km through the Sculpture Valley. In the evening you visit the Zharkent Mosque and spend the night at a hotel in Zharkent.

Day 3: Charyn Canyon. Walk the Valley of Castles, then visit the Lunar Canyon, the Stone Shelf and the Napoleon and Austrian viewpoints. On the way to Saty village you stop at the Black Canyon.

Day 4: Trek from Saty Lake, the first Kolsai lake, to Mynzhylky Lake, about 8 km each way, with lunch by the lake brought from the guest house.

Day 5: Visit Kaindy Lake, where spruce trunks rise from the water, then have lunch at the guest house and drive back to Almaty, arriving around 18:00.

This is a private tour: only your group travels in the car, with a guide who speaks English or Russian. We run it all year; May to early October is the best time, and June and September have the best balance of warm days and cool nights.

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