Altyn-Emel: Roads and Nearby Sights

The dirt roads within the Altyn-Emel National Park are with chatter bumps, which, unfortunately, damages vehicles.

Within the Altyn-Emel National Park, the road is paved only from the village of Basshi to the villages of Nurym and Aktobe, the length of this section is about 16 km.

When visiting the Singing Dune and the Aktau Mountains, you can enter the national park only through the village of Basshi. You cannot drive to the Aktau Mountains from the Zharkent highway and back.

When visiting the Besshatyr Mounds, you can enter the national park only through Checkpoint 1 from the village of Shengeldy. Passage through the park from the Besshatyr Mounds to the Singing Dune and back is prohibited.

Some car rental companies in Almaty provide vehicles for self-drive trips to Altyn-Emel.

The divided toll road between Almaty and Konaev passes through the "entertainment city" of Konaev, with its casinos, cafes, and a museum of Soviet cars.

The road then leads across the Kapchagai Bridge with picturesque views of the Ili River, then along the Kapchagai Lake and through the Arkharly pass to the village of Saryozek.

The single-lane asphalt road from the village of Saryozek to the village of Basshi (the main entrance to Altyn-Emel National Park) passes through the picturesque Altyn-Emel mountain pass and is about 80 km long.

After descending from the Altyn-Emel mountain pass (serpentine asphalt road), take a right turn toward the village of Basshi (an asphalt road), where the Altyn-Emel National Park office is located.

After Konaev, approximately halfway through the village of Shengeldy, you can turn right through the village and enter the Altyn-Emel National Park for the Besshatyr Mounds via Checkpoint 1, provided you have pre-purchased a pass/permit online.

The distance from the village of Shengeldy to Checkpoint 1 is about 20 km.

From the village of Shengeldy to the bank of the Kapchagai Lake, there is a paved road in poor condition. Then, along the bank, all the way to Checkpoint 1, there is a hilly dirt road.

You can also reach Basshi via the Zharkent highway after visiting the Charyn Canyon, passing through the village of Koktal (17 km from Zharkent). The road is paved and passes through the village of Chundzha (Shonzhy), the Ili River, and the Tigroid Mountains.

The distance from Zharkent to the village of Basshi is approximately 120 km (approximately 1.5 hours' drive).

The distance from Almaty to the Basshi village is 250 km. The Ili River is very picturesque in its widest place when driving across it over the bridge between the stone rocks.

Just before reaching the bridge, you can turn to the left towards the village of Kazakhstan to enjoy the magnificent view of the rocky Kapchagai Mountains cut through by the Ili River.

At the Arkharly pass, off the highway, you can find petroglyphs in rocky gorges on patinated cliffs. In total, about 4,000 rock carvings have been found here, ranging from the Bronze Age to the early 20th century - argali, sheep, goats, bulls, deer, horses and riders, tamgas (family insignia) of ancient Turkic clans, and Kazakh ornaments.

The Arkharly petroglyphs are a historical monument protected by the state.

Before reaching the Altyn-Emel mountain pass, you can stop for a rest in a picturesque valley with a small lake overlooking the Altyn-Emel ridge of the Dzhungarian Alatau Mountains.

On the way back from Altyn-Emel to Almaty, near the entrance to the city of Konaev, you should definitely visit the Tulpar Retro Car Museum with unique expositions of the Soviet era.

On the way from Zharkent to the Altyn-Emel National Park or back, along the Zharkent road, you can visit the so-called Tigroid Mountains, with an unusual striped coloring of the constituent rocks.

From the village of Basshi, a road leads to Zharkent, a city bordering China. Its main attraction is the Zharkent Mosque, built in 1895 and designed in the style of a Chinese pagoda.

Not far from the city of Zharkent, in the village of Aulieagash, there is a place of pilgrimage - the sacred tree Aulie Agash, with a trunk 6.5 m in circumference, which is more than 700 years old.