Stress-free way to see more of Kazakhstan - While visiting Almaty, my son and I wanted to get out of the city and see some of the natural beauty of Kazakhstan. Our guide, Diyas, was great-- super friendly and personable. He made us feel completely at ease and was a great conversationalist. He explained the area and answered all of our questions. The river and canyon werev beautiful, and we enjoyed our hike. Lunch was at a local establishment along the road back to Almaty. The food was great, and we had a nice time eating with Diyas and our driver. If you want to see more of the area, this is the way to go. They picked us up and dropped us off at our hotel and the day was simple and stress-free. Highly recommend!

Beautiful trip from Almaty - Good transport, great guide Elena from Kazia Tour, good lunch and unique experience of the trip. I recommend it to everyone.

Excellent day trip - Excellent trip! Friendly guide, comfortable car and beautiful nature. 100% recommended if you are in Almaty.

A Charyn canyon day tour with Yerbo and a pair of Aussies in the Stans. - 24/08/2023. Our guide Yerbo (or however his name is spelt) made for a good visit to the Charyn canyon. He met us at Kazakhstan Hotel. He had fairly good English, we chatted & waited about 10 min for hisour driver Berick to arrive & set off on the drive. Berick's vehicle is like a Hyundai Staria or Toyota Hiace, which I think seats 7 in total, so 5 payers. Berick has no English, but with a few hand gestures and shared phone images we still managed some connection. After about 1 hour we stopped at a service station for some gas, where we could go to the WC and buy stuff (a drink). Drinks are said to be included in the cost but don't expect an esky full of icy cold beer, wine and water. Yerbo might/will provide you with a bottle of unchilled water while walking in the canyon, but it might not be big and I didn't test him to see how many he had available. The walk in the canyon was good. Yerbo liked to point out the shapes in the rocks and had some knowledge of the geology. He was keen to take us off the beaten track to areas (small gorgescanyons) where you might not go alone or with other guides. It can be a bit of a scramble. The ground under foot can be steep, but it is the looseness of the gravel presenting the bigger challenge, just to not slide down. It was OK for me, but my friend found it quite a challenge and she didn't come with us up the Witches canyon. After making it to the bottom and the river she opted to catch one of the ~12 seater taxi trucks back to the visitors centre, while Yerbo and I went on. It was kind of cool helping Yerbo install some new ropes to replace old broken ropes in the Witches canyon. The canyon is what I would call a rock scramble, not a climb. I did use the ropes a little, but could have made the scramble without and did where they were missing. The canyon and river are picturesque and worth a visit, even if a bit expensive, but don't expect the grand canyon, more of a mini mini grand canyon. I got some very good photos and there are some cool rock formations, but again don't expect the grand canyon. I was quite dry after the walk so bought myself a very expensive but cold bottle of water at the visitor centre shop. On the way back we stopped at a pair of Yurts beside the highway where we paid 100T/piece of the sour dried cheese ball thingys (my first try, no rancidity, just a clean but sour flavour). Then after about an hour we stopped at a roadhouse restraunt for "Lunch" at about 1600, this was included in the cost. We could choose anything on the menu. My vegetarian friend had Margaretta pizza. I said I'd have whatever Yerbo had, which turned out to be horse meat noodle soup (no vegies, just meat & noodles). It was OK, but I'm generally vego and would have preferred the meal which Berick had which appeared to have lots of vegies & meat & a good looking (maybe even spicy) sauce. We liked the Cumquat drink here, refreshing, not too sour and a bit sweet. Then about another hour driving and dropped off at our hotel. A good, if a bit expensive (though we got door to door service a guide & a driver, so got to expect $$$), possibly even great day trip (I don't know how to score such things). But well worth it. Go & enjoy. By a pair of Aussies in the Stans.

Spectacular - You need to take a tour. Doing it alone may be too hard. The canyon is spectacular both from top and bottom. Everyone seems to be happy to have made effort.

Breathtaking - Our guide Yerbo was very knowledgeable of the area. We were glad he was with us. I hope everyone sees this canyon while visiting Kazakhstan

Charyn Canyon Review - The trip with Dmitry to Charyn Canyon + 2 lakes was excellent. He is a very knowledgable and friendly guide, and I had a great time. We had an excellent stop over lunch at a local village. He is also very good at taking camera pictures, which i appreciated since i travelled solo!

A trip of a life time - Amazing trip our guide was totally wonderful she was so knowledgeable and really happy all the time. Also our driver was amazing. Both were explaining things to us about history, culture and places which made the trip amazing .

A must do! - I'm so grateful for Yerboo the guide and Berik the driver for making this experience exceptional! The guide is very knowledgeable not only in the history of the city and the canyon, but also in the geological history of the canyon as well as the culture and traditions of the country. As a geologist myself, that was the most interesting talk!

Nice tour guide with magnificent views in Charyn Canyon - Yelnar - our tour guide is a nice and interactive person. He introduces a lot about Almaty and Charyn Canyon to us! He also recommends us some MUST travel places/landmarks in Almaty! At the same time, I love this tour so much because Charyn Canyon is magnificent and stunning! I will recommend another friends to join this tour too!!!