The best ways to get around Nur-Sultan (Astana)

The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation is one of Nur-Sultan’s top landmarks and should definitely be on the itinerary of anyone visiting this city.

Nur-Sultan is Kazakhstan’s striking and whacky capital, characterised by its grand boulevards, obscure architecture and ever-changing name – Astana only became Nur-Sultan back in March, after it was named in honour of departing President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was leaving his post after serving for the best part of three decades.

As a relatively new city – it only started serious growth in 1997 when it ascended to capital status, replacing Almaty – it still lacks the high-quality, modern infrastructure that other, older major cities enjoy. This is especially apparent when it comes to transportation.

Even though everything in Nur-Sultan looks close together on a map, many of the major attractions are spread out across a vast area, meaning that getting around will almost certainly require the employment of some sort of vehicular transport if you want to see all of the sights. Here are the options for getting around Nur-Sultan if you’re visting.

Buses

Buses are cheap

The main, and only viable, form of public transportation in Nur-Sultan is the bus system. While it is the cheapest method of travel (with the exception of walking) and fairly convenient in terms of number of bus stops and frequency of service, it can be a difficult system to navigate if you speak neither Kazakh nor Russian.

Signage and information is in Cyrillic, and don’t count on your bus driver to understand your English. If you’re thinking of taking the bus in Nur-Sultan, prepare before leaving your accommodation while you still have Wi-Fi. Visit the tourist board’s website for information on bus routes and timetables in Nur-Sultan.

Taxis

In my opinion, Yandex (Kazakhstan’s Uber alternative) is the way to go in Nur-Sultan. As long as you have a Wi-Fi connection, it’s cheap and easy.

Taxis were my favourite way to get around Nur-Sultan as they are both readily available and extremely cheap when compared to western standards, even though it costs more than taking the bus.

While it is fairly easy to hail taxis across the city, I used the app Yandex to get around. There’s no Uber in Nur-Sultan, but Yandex is the alternative and works in much the same way. I found this much easier as I could input my destination eliminating the need to communicate where I needed to go with my driver, and we didn’t need to negotiate a price as Yandex ensures a hassle-free fair fare.

The only downside was that I needed a Wi-Fi connection in order to use the service, but a lot of restaurants and most shopping centres around the city have a free and open internet connection, so I was always within a short walk of being able to grab a Yandex taxi.

Walk

Nur-Sultan’s long streets and wide boulevards will soon see you rack up thousands of steps.

Walking is a great way to get around the city in that it’s free, you get to take in more as you go and can find your own way at your own pace using an app like Google Maps. But be warned, some attractions can be up to 90 minute apart, so make sure you have sturdy footwear and account for the time it will take to get from A to B to C if you want to fit in.

Drive

The M3 Bridge was a frequent crossing on my walks between my hotel and the city centre.

If you’re comfortable with driving in a foreign country, then this could be one of the best ways for you to get around Nur-Sultan. You can pick up a car at Astana Airport from a number of rental companies, but you will need a 1968 International Driving Permit if you are a UK citizen to be able to drive in the Kazakhstan. For more information, visit the FCO website.

Have you been to Nur-Sultan before? Let us know your best travel tip for the Kazakh capital in the comments section below! 👇