Astana used to be called Akmola when it was founded as a city back in the day and then Astana and then Nursulatan after their ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev who was president since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 until he finally resigned in 2019 after almost three decades in power. This might cause some confusion since the city is almost always referred to by those two names. Astana remains popular, though, and still used by many airports.
The flight from Warsaw took 6 hours overnight. Immigration was flawless, although it took a bit more time because the officer kept on looking at my passport pages with a magnifying glass. I am not sure if 30 days is the standard validity of stay per entry. Questions were few before I was officially welcomed to the country. There are two buses leaving the airport for downtown but are said to take forever because of many stops. What I suggest is to install Yandex on your phone.
Smart roaming does not work in Kazakhstan for some reason, which means I couldn’t get the OTP Yandex is sending to my phone for me to use the app. You can buy a Beeline sim card at the Arrivals hall of the airport. The sim is free but you need to purchase a plan with it. The 7 GB data plan valid for 30 days is the cheapest at KZT 4,600 (~PHP 575). Once you get Yandex to work, you can finally book a taxi which will cost you around KZT 1,750 (~PHP 220) for the 30 minute ride, which is cheap in my book.
Most of what you will want to see in Astana are concentrated in the Baiterek and Presidential Palace area straddling the Ishim River. It was a leisurely half an hour stroll from IBIS because the walkways are well-paved and this zone of the capital is lined up with many green parks. You will also find the US embassy as well as the Hazrat Sultan Mosque, Monument Kazakh Eli, and the National Museum of Kazakhstan right across one another.
Cross the street towards the pyramid. That’s the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, a cultural center that lights up in various neon colors at night. From here, you can walk towards the river where they installed benches and huge swings along the banks. There are two bridges on both sides which you have to use to get to the Presidential Palace which is heavily guarded. The park right in front of it is also huge but seems off limits to tourists. At least, that is what the roaming security personnel told me.
The street bisecting Baiterek and the Presidential Palace complex has an elevated walkway whose entrance is barricaded. Baiterek is easily accessible any time of the day because it has its own public park. The palace, you can access in the morning but the closest you’ll ever get to it is via that elevated walkway usually guarded by military men. Ask them if it is possible to go up to take photos. They allowed me that afternoon. At night, this is close to impossible.
Farther afield after Baiterek, you know, that tourist attraction that looks like a Bird’s Nest, is another mosque as well as shopping centers and cinemas which I no longer explored because I was already happy with what I saw. My suggestion for Astana is to do a night stroll before or after your morning or afternoon sightseeing. Many buildings here light up colorfully after the sun goes down, and you might not be able to maximize your appreciation if you just see them under broad daylight.
Of course there are attractions that will defo catch your attention under sunlight. The Monument Kazakh Eli as well as the futuristic blue Shabyt building and the National Museum to the right and the mosque to the left are magnificent sights during daylight too, while the pyramid across the street is impressive both before and after dark.
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