Astana travel guide

Kazakhstan · Top sights · trending spots

Astana was a provincial town on the steppe until the capital moved here in 1997, and it has been an architectural experiment ever since — Foster's pyramid and tented mall, the Bayterek tower, a national mosque of white and gold.

It is also one of the coldest capitals on earth, with January regularly at minus thirty. Come between May and September, when the Ishim embankment is walkable and the steppe is green.

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Top 10 sights in Astana

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

© Matti Blume · CC BY-SA
Bayterek
The observation tower at the centre of Nurjol Boulevard, its height of 97 metres chosen for 1997, the year the capital moved here. The name means 'tall poplar', and the golden sphere at the top stands for the egg of Samruk, the mythical bird of Kazakh legend.
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© jtstewart · CC BY-SA 2.0
Palace of Peace and Reconciliation
A glass pyramid sixty-two metres high by Norman Foster, opened in 2006 to house a congress of world religions held in Astana every three years. An opera house sits in its base and a hall of stained-glass doves at the apex.
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© Лаззат Хайдаров · CC BY 4.0
Khazret Sultan Mosque
A Friday mosque in Astana opened in 2012, mixing Ottoman domes with Central Asian ornament and holding several thousand worshippers. It was the largest mosque in Central Asia until larger ones were built.
Tiqets Klook
© Ken and Nyetta · CC BY 2.0
Independence Square, Astana
The main square of Astana, laid out in 2009, closed at one end by the Palace of Independence and overlooked by the Kazakh Eli column. Norman Foster's pyramid, the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, stands at the other end of the axis.
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© Presidential Press and Information Office · CC BY 4.0
Otan Korgaushilar Monument
A monument on Defenders of the Fatherland Square to the Kazakhs who fought in the Second World War — around a million and a half were mobilised and something like six hundred thousand did not come back — and to the soldiers of the modern republic.
Tiqets Klook
© Polk · CC BY-SA 4.0
Our Mother of Perpetual Help Cathedral, Astana
The Catholic cathedral of Astana and the seat of an archdiocese covering most of northern Kazakhstan, serving a community descended largely from Poles and Germans deported here under Stalin.
Tiqets Klook
© Davide Mauro · CC BY-SA 4.0
Presidential Park, Astana
One of the largest parks in the capital, laid out in 2008 across the Ishim from the Ak Orda presidential palace. The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation stands within it, and the riverside path is the city's main walk in the four warm months.
Tiqets Klook
© Kaiyr · CC BY-SA 3.0
Assumption Cathedral
A Russian Orthodox cathedral in Astana, Kazakhstan. Built between 2005 and 2010, it is the largest Orthodox building in Central Asia and the seat of the diocese of Astana and Almaty.
Tiqets Klook
© Davide Mauro · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lovers' Park (Astana)
A park opened on Capital Day in July 2005, between the KazMunayGas headquarters and Khan Shatyr, and known equally as Youth Park. Fountains, benches and wedding photographers occupy it through the summer.
Tiqets Klook
© Demir Berisha · CC BY-SA 4.0
Botanical Garden
The largest botanical garden in Astana, with a fountain pond crossed by three bridges and some nine thousand trees and shrubs from Europe, Asia and North America laid out along cycle and walking paths.
Tiqets Klook

Popular tickets & tours in Astana

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Trending now

Based on 2025 Wikipedia pageviews — popular places beyond the top 10.

© Ayratayrat · CC BY-SA 4.0
Jetisu Park
A park in Astana laid out to evoke the Zhetysu region of the southeast — the seven rivers country around Almaty — with planting, fountains, cycle paths and playgrounds standing in for a landscape a thousand kilometres away.
Tiqets Klook
© Gfrc360 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Astana Triathlon Park
A park on the right bank of the Ishim opened in 2016, given over to running, cycling and cross-country skiing, with circuits marked for training through both summer and winter.
Tiqets Klook

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Top 10 sights in Astana

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

Bayterek

The observation tower at the centre of Nurjol Boulevard, its height of 97 metres chosen for 1997, the year the capital moved here. The name means 'tall poplar', and the golden sphere at the top stands for the egg of Samruk, the mythical bird of Kazakh legend.

Tiqets

Klook

Palace of Peace and Reconciliation

A glass pyramid sixty-two metres high by Norman Foster, opened in 2006 to house a congress of world religions held in Astana every three years. An opera house sits in its base and a hall of stained-glass doves at the apex.

Tiqets

Klook

Khazret Sultan Mosque

A Friday mosque in Astana opened in 2012, mixing Ottoman domes with Central Asian ornament and holding several thousand worshippers. It was the largest mosque in Central Asia until larger ones were built.

Tiqets

Klook

Independence Square, Astana

The main square of Astana, laid out in 2009, closed at one end by the Palace of Independence and overlooked by the Kazakh Eli column. Norman Foster's pyramid, the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, stands at the other end of the axis.

Tiqets

Klook

Otan Korgaushilar Monument

A monument on Defenders of the Fatherland Square to the Kazakhs who fought in the Second World War — around a million and a half were mobilised and something like six hundred thousand did not come back — and to the soldiers of the modern republic.

Tiqets

Klook

Our Mother of Perpetual Help Cathedral, Astana

The Catholic cathedral of Astana and the seat of an archdiocese covering most of northern Kazakhstan, serving a community descended largely from Poles and Germans deported here under Stalin.

Tiqets

Klook

Presidential Park, Astana

One of the largest parks in the capital, laid out in 2008 across the Ishim from the Ak Orda presidential palace. The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation stands within it, and the riverside path is the city's main walk in the four warm months.

Tiqets

Klook

Assumption Cathedral

A Russian Orthodox cathedral in Astana, Kazakhstan. Built between 2005 and 2010, it is the largest Orthodox building in Central Asia and the seat of the diocese of Astana and Almaty.

Tiqets

Klook

Lovers' Park (Astana)

A park opened on Capital Day in July 2005, between the KazMunayGas headquarters and Khan Shatyr, and known equally as Youth Park. Fountains, benches and wedding photographers occupy it through the summer.

Tiqets

Klook

Botanical Garden

The largest botanical garden in Astana, with a fountain pond crossed by three bridges and some nine thousand trees and shrubs from Europe, Asia and North America laid out along cycle and walking paths.

Tiqets

Klook

Trending now

Based on 2025 Wikipedia pageviews — popular places beyond the top 10.

Jetisu Park

A park in Astana laid out to evoke the Zhetysu region of the southeast — the seven rivers country around Almaty — with planting, fountains, cycle paths and playgrounds standing in for a landscape a thousand kilometres away.

Tiqets

Klook

Astana Triathlon Park

A park on the right bank of the Ishim opened in 2016, given over to running, cycling and cross-country skiing, with circuits marked for training through both summer and winter.

Tiqets

Klook