A trip that will truly take you to ‘another world’! This rocket launch in Kazakhstan adventure is one of our favourite trips and gets 10 out of 10 for originality mixing the excitement of a launch with meaningful homestays and local interactions of communities struggling with the demise of the once beautiful Aral Sea.

This is a truly unique expedition. Indeed, it combines the ancient past and the far away future in an unusual way. You will travel across the silk road, traditionally the first commercial route to connect West and East. From there you will go to see a rocket launch in Baikonur, home of the Russian space programme.

The city of Almaty

This 10 day adventure will start in Almaty, which used to be the capital until the construction of Astana. You will receive a guided tour to explore this city full of history.

The tour includes the beautiful Zenkoff Cathedral, the Moreo, a big outdoor ice-skating.

You will then visit the Museum of Kazakh Musical Instrument, and the Panfilov Park, dedicated to the soldiers who defended Moscow during the WWII.

The rocket launch

From the big city you will transfer to Bailkonur, in the Kazakh desert steppe. The Kazakh government has leased the place to Russia untill 2050 to be the base of the Russian space programme. Astronauts go there before their spacial expeditions.

There you will visit the town and the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This is the first and largest operational spaceport. From there departed Yuri Gagarin, the first person to ever go in the outer space. Also Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, was launched from there. And in this spaceport you will experience something very few people have the privilege to see: a rocket launch into the space!

Get deep in the Kazakh culture

The adventure is not at the end yet. You will have the chance to visit Aralsk, a very peculiar city with a sad history. Once the major fishing port on the Aral sea, it lost its life-blood -water- after the Russians diverted the rivers in the 60s.

Today a number of NGOs are working to help this community to flourish again. You will have the chance to visit one of them, Aral Tenizi, and get to know the people who work there. You will also meet locals and spend an evening with them in a local home stay.

After that you will go to the city of Turkistan, with the highest number of historical and cultural sites in the country. One of the most stunning sites is probably the Kozha Akhmed Yasaui Mausoleum, an important religious place for Muslims. It is said that visiting the Mausoleum three times equals visiting la Mecca once.

The last step is Sayram, one of the oldest Kazakh cities. You will be able to appreciate the ancient architecture of mosquees, minarets, and mausoleums. To spend the night, though, you will transfer to Shymkent, full of bazaars, restaurants, and pubs.

To know every detail of this unusual adventure check out the expedition page. If you want to send us an enquiry, do not think twice and contact us!