Things to Do in Almaty in April

Lets you absorb the city's layered identity, from the solemn, incense-scented quiet of the Zenkov Cathedral, a wooden structure built without nails, to the busy cacophony of the Green Bazaar where vendors call out over pyramids of dried fruits and barrels of pickled vegetables. You'll ascend to the city's viewpoints, seeing the grid of Soviet-era avenues framed by the jagged, snow-dusted peaks of the Zailiysky Alatau range.

Plunges you into landscapes of surreal scale and color, from the rust-red labyrinth of Charyn Canyon, where you can hear the wind whistle through sandstone towers, to the profound, pine-fringed stillness of Kolsay's alpine waters. An overnight stay in a guesthouse offers the chance to taste home-cooked beshbarmak and feel the sharp clarity of the mountain air as stars blanket the sky.

An ambitious foray into the rugged terrain southeast of Almaty, where you'll stand on the canyon's edge gazing at stratified cliffs the color of burnt sienna, then journey upward through fragrant spruce forests to the startling turquoise mirror of Kolsay Lake. The sunken forest of Kaindy Lake, with its ghostly, needle-like spruce trunks piercing a cold, clear surface, presents a scene of eerie beauty.

A voyage into the silent language of millennia, where you'll walk among volcanic rock galleries etched with thousands of sun-bleached images of hunters, deities, and animals, feeling the rough texture of the stone under your fingertips under the vast, open sky of the steppe. The site's remote silence, broken only by the call of a distant bird, amplifies the connection to the ancient herders who carved their world here.

An expansive cross-border adventure, moving from the apple orchards of Almaty to the stark, otherworldly shores of Kyrgyzstan's Issyk-Kul lake, where you might taste the slightly salty tang of the water and smell the juniper smoke from a roadside grill. It includes busy bazaars, serene mountain passes, and the profound hospitality of a homestay, feeling the cultural shift as the landscapes develop outside your window.

A condensed sampler of the city's contrasts: the crisp, thin air and sight of year-round skiers on the slopes of Shymbulak, reached by cable car, the panoramic city views from Koktobe hill, the tactile experience of selecting sticky, sweet baursak pastries in the market, and the solemn, golden glow of icons inside the cathedral at the park.