Get in kazakhstan

Virtually everybody requires a visa in advance for visiting Kazakhstan, and for most the visa application has to be supported by a letter of invitation (although this is technically not required for single-entry tourism or business visas for citizens of most industrialized countries). See the Kazakh Embassy to the US [1] for the details of the day. Once you have your documents lined up, issueing the visa takes 3-5 days and costs from US$25 (single-entry tourist visa) upwards.

All visitors arriving by air and some obtaining their visas in Western countries are preregistered with the Office of Visas and Registration (OVIR), but those who don't fit either category have to tackle this bit of bureaucracy in person at the OVIR offices in Almaty or Astana.

By plane

Air Kazakhstan stopped flying at the end of March 2004. The most important carrier is now Air Astana which flies to Almaty, Astana, Aktau, Aktobe, Atyrau, Uralsk, Dubai, Moscow, Delhi, Beijing, Istanbul, Bangkok, Hannover, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Seoul.

Lufthansa has also seven days flights to Almaty, from where you can go anywhere via local carrier SKAT, which flies to most cities in Kazakhstan. British Airways (Almaty-Heathrow route taken over by bmi from Sept 2007)and KLM now fly several times a week to Heathrow/Schiphol. Turkish airlines is good passenger carrier, with flights to Istanbul (ask a travel agent about the student fares, which can be a great deal). There are twice a week flights from Seoul to Almaty, one is Asiana Air Line and the other is Astana. Airbaltic also flies to Almaty, if you reserve tickets in advance you can go there for 130 euro (from Riga).

By train

Popular routes include Almaty to/from Moscow (77 hours), Novosibirsk (35 hours) and Ürümqi, China.

The trains are a great way to meet people. A lot has been written about the pitfalls of being included in a vodka drinking party on a train, but for the most part fellow travellers are friendly, and keen to find out about you ("why aren't you married?" and if you are "why don't you have children?" and if you do "why don't they have children?"!). Most travellers take food for the journey as restaurant car provision is sporadic (and they expect you to share yours too!). If you don't have enough to last the distance, the trains generally stop for 15-20 mins at each station and there are always people on the platform selling food and drink, at any time of day or night.

By bus

It is fairly easy to travel from Urumqi China to Almaty via sleeper bus, especially if you aren't in a hurry and don't mind living on a bus for a good 24 to 36 hours. The border crossing itself is a bit of a hike, and you may be made to carry all of your belongings with you for quite a ways in some seriously warm weather. The bus trip and "baggage fees" are around 45$ US. You can pick up your Kazakhstan visa at the embassy in Urumqi as well, but be prepared to chill for at least a week waiting, and be sure to get a copy of your passport before handing it over.

By boat

As of 2007, there appear to be no scheduled passenger services across the Caspian. However, a ferry from Baku, Azerbaijan to Aktau, Kazakhstan is reported by some travellers to run once or twice a week across Caspian Sea.

Hitch-hiking

If you are an adventurous and open-minded person, you can travel from Poland to Kazakhstan with one of the trucks of TELS Polska Transportation Company (+48 22 813 45 54 or e-mail sales@telsgroup.pl). They have regular transports.