Kazakhstan in 10 days: Almaty, Charyn, the Silk Road cities and Astana
Almaty → Charyn Canyon → Kaindy Lake → Shymkent → Turkistan → Astana
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Kazakhstan’s spiritual capital · Kazakhstan
Turkistan travel guide
The great Timurid mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi.
Turkistan grew around the shrine of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, a 12th-century Sufi poet and teacher. At the end of the 14th century Amir Timur ordered a vast mausoleum over his tomb; it was never finished, but it remains one of the largest and best-preserved Timurid buildings.
Nearby are the mausoleum of Arystan Bab, Yasawi’s teacher, and the ruined Silk Road cities of Otrar and Sauran.
- Time needed
- 1 day
- Best time
- April–May and September–October
- Getting there
- Trains from Almaty and Shymkent; about 4–5 hours by road from Tashkent via Shymkent.
- UNESCO World Heritage
- Inscribed 2003
Don’t miss
What to see in Turkistan
- 01
Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi
A Timurid masterpiece with an enormous unfinished portal.
- 02
Arystan Bab
The mausoleum of Yasawi’s teacher, near Otrar.
- 03
Otrar
Ruins of the Silk Road city where the Mongol invasion began.
- 04
Sauran
A walled medieval city in the steppe.
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