Karkaraly develops, first of all, as a resort city. It is surrounded by natural resources, with small wooden houses and narrow streets. The name has descended from a traditional type of hats decorated by beads and a lace, which was worn by women of the region.
At a considerable height above sea level, there are mountain lakes feeding from floods and underground springs.

Karkaralinsk town is located 224 kilometers from Karaganda to the east at the height of 815 meters above sea level.
Primeval beauty of Karkaralinsk mountains and woods, exuberance of vegetation of valleys, lakes pure as tears; all these are a long time memory for everybody who visited it once. A unique museum of the nature operates near Karkaralinsk.
There you may find thousands of exhibits, which demonstrate resources of flora and fauna of this mountain-forestland.

Karkaraly is a charming small town of wooden houses and narrow streets. People are keen to welcome you to their homes to share their way of life, and their delicious home cooked (and often home grown) food.

The name comes from a traditional type of hat worn by the women of the region the “karkara”, decorated with beads and lace.
There are cafes and shops where rural Kazakh life can be appreciated. Try out your Kazakh language skills.
Walk in the mountains, which are not too steep and suitable for most abilities. Search for the elusive “Devil’s Lake” well disguised among the curious rock formations. Evidence of the earliest settlers of the region, who lived there at the beginning of the first millennium C.E., can also be found in the mountains.

In the National Park there are six tourist routes; three walking, one for horse riding, one for ski-ing and one for cycling.

See traditional Shamanistic “prayer trees” in the park.
Just relax and enjoy the peace and warm welcome in the middle of Kazakhstan

Karkaraly can be reached by train from Almaty.
The fast but quite expensive (approx 6000 T one way) Spanish Talgo train leaves Almaty 2 at 18.23 every day, arriving in Karaganda at 05.26 the following day.

There are several slower trains daily, the most convenient being the 17.09, which arrives at 13.35 the following day. The cost is approximately 2000 Tenge.
Karkaraly can also be visited from Astana. The train takes about four hours.
From Karaganda it is necessary to take a taxi for the 3 hour journey to Karkaraly. This in itself is an adventure, driving through miles of empty steppe, with hardly another vehicle or person or sign of life in view.