In this article, we show you how to visit Kolsai and Kaindy Lakes, including transportation and camping options and tell you all the information you need to know to successfully get there. And by the way, we are not surprised you want to see the breathtaking nature around Almaty in Southeast Kazakhstan.

After travelling around the Middle East and then Central Asia for a few months, cosmopolitan Almaty was a perfect place to stop for almost 3 weeks and take advantage of fast wifi to work on our web. Our favourite thing to break the working morale was to take a trip to incredible nature, which is so typical of Almaty’s surroundings. 

However, gathering updated information about how to get to Kolsai and Kaindy lakes was difficult. Many travel companies ended their businesses after the pandemic, the visitor centre was most of the time closed so we just had to figure out everything from scratch. 

The Southeast region of Kazakhstan is so diverse that you can explore the desert and red canyons and suddenly find yourself surrounded by forest, camping by the turquoise lakes and hiking the snow-capped peaks. 

Tip: Before we start with our ultimate guide to Kolsai Lakes, we recommend you to visit Charyn Canyon, which is very often compared to the US Grand Canyon, and Kaindy lake on the same trip as Kolsai lakes. This is the famous trio you can visit in just one trip, and it saves you a lot of time between getting back and forth to Almaty. 

Essential reading: Visit Charyn Canyon & What you need to know

WHY VISIT KOLSAI LAKES

Kolsai lakes are National Park you can visit, and it’s a perfect spot for hiking and camping. We really recommend you to camp by the lakes, as we did, it’s a beautiful experience and highlight of our trip to Kazakhstan. We are talking mainly about camping by the second lake. 

To understand better, Kolsai Lakes National Park is a series of three lakes nestled between the mountains, approximately 290 km from Almaty. The first lake is a short walk from the parking lot; however, you need to earn it to get to the second and third lakes. It is an 8 km hike to the second Kolsai Lake, that takes roughly 4 hours, as the terrain is quite steep and challenging. The third lake is another 5 km away, and you need a special permit to get there as the lakes are close to Kyrgyz borders. 

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First Kolsai Lake

You can rent a horse with a guide on the first lake and ride to the second lake. We met many local travellers doing that. Optionally, if you don’t like hiking, the first lake is all about renting boats (1 hour KZT 8000). 

Hiking trails lead from both sides of the lake. You want to get to the one on the right side, from where the trail leads to the camping spot on the other side of the lake. You will get the best view of the lake once you make your way up the trail. Be careful because the path is narrow and people are riding on horses there. It is roughly a 2 km hike, and then you need to cross a small river to get to the campground. We spend our first night there. The first lake is located at 1800 m, so it already gets colder at night. 

One more campground is right at the beginning of the lake, where the horses and boats to rent are located. It is not a nice campsite, it’s very busy with day visitors constantly walking by. 

Note: We came on Saturday, and we were shocked how the lake was packed with tourists, mostly local and a few foreign. So the first impression of the lake might be a bit lost, however, don’t worry, it will only get better! Head straight to the campground mentioned above, and you’ll meet just a few fellow campers. 

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Second Kolsai Lake 

We woke up the next morning, took a refreshing dip in a freezing cold river and, after breakfast, started the journey towards the second Kolsai Lake. It took us 4 hours, with some food and photo breaks. Not gonna lie. The hike was quite challenging with all the camping gear, especially the last part, which goes steeply uphill. You go from 1800 m to 2250 m. Most of the trail leads through the forest, so you don’t have to worry about being in the sun the whole time. What we enjoyed was the picnic places on the way up. There are three in total with the information sign on how far from the lake you are. One more river crossing is right before the campsite with water up to knees, nothing too difficult. 

There is lots of space for camping on the second lake. One is before the river, another one right after the river but the best one is behind the hill, where the rock and a small beach are. You can do a bonfire or jump in the freezing lake. Of course, we couldn’t resist doing that. 

Note: At some point, you will meet the army guys, so make sure you have a passport with you as they will check it. Other resources mention that you have to give them your passport, and they will give it back once you’re leaving. In our case, they just came to the campsite, checked the passport, and left. 

We camped there on Sunday, and there were only 2 other tents. Therefore if you come on Saturday, the campsite is packed. We met many hikers on Sunday morning, making their way back to Lake one. 

The next day morning, we made our way back to lake one. It took us almost 5 hours to get from the second lake to the parking lot (with lunch and some snack breaks). You’ll be faster if you hike without hiking gear, and also, we are pretty slow hikers. Most of the people we met walked for around 4 hours. 

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Where to Eat in Kolsai Lakes 

There is one restaurant on the first lake, but if you want to go hiking you need to bring your own food. There are no stores in sight. Between Almaty and Kolsai Lakes, there are just a few tiny villages with very limited food options. 

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TRAVEL Insurance 

Make sure you are well covered when travelling and doing some adventurous activities, horse riding, hiking, or climbing the mountains. We use the services of IATI insurance, which covers all of the activities mentioned with excellent coverage. The website is also easy to navigate, and you get amazing and fast customer support. In addition, readers of Broken Navigation get an exclusive 5% discount. 

Get your 5% discount with IATI Insurance here.

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Where to stay in Kolsai Lakes or Saty

Camping! Make most of it. Wild camping in Kazakhstan is allowed, and nature is stunning. If this is not something you can do, there are yurts and a few homestays around the first lake. 

Or you can stay in Saty village. It’s a village 15 km away from the lakes, basically made of homestays. Every other house will accommodate you. If you want to book your place in advance, contact Temirchan on WhatsApp at +77714126887 (KZT 10000 per person with breakfast, lunch and dinner) or Gulja on WhatsApp at +77057195605 (KZT 7000 per person with breakfast, lunch and dinner). 

Or try Saty Guest House, the most popular guesthouse in Saty, with breakfast and dinner. Another homestay that is possible to book online is Gostevoj Dom Aisha, where you find private rooms with breakfast. 

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HOW TO GET TO THE KOLSAI LAKES FROM ALMATY 

Local tour

Before you decide to skip this part, as we believe you like to travel independently like us, listen. Kolsai lakes are around 290 km from Almaty, and it takes 4 hours at least to reach them. And still, in July 2022, there is no public transport to get there. We gonna say this straight. Even though we don’t travel with tours, we recommend you to visit the Kolsai Lakes on tour. 

We are talking about the tour companies for locals, not the ones aimed at tourists, that charge hundreds of dollars. 

Why tour? First of all, Kolsai Lakes, Kaindy Lake and Charyn Canyon are located in the middle of the desert or very wast steppe areas, without life in sight. Although you can hitchhike (bear in mind that in Kazakhstan, people expect you to pay them), the local tours are super cheap, and we used them as transport rather than an actual tour. 

We took a tour of Kolsai Lake & Charyn Canyon. We left Almaty with a tour bus early in the morning at 6am to Kolsai lakes, where we got around 1pm. Then we separated from the group and stayed in Kolsai lakes for 2 nights by ourselves. 

The tour goes every day (except Tuesday), so we knew another tour from the same company will return from Kolsai Lakes on Monday around 2-4pm. We just let them know our plan, and on Monday, after our 2-day camping adventure in Kolsai Lakes, we went with them back to Almaty, with a stop in Charyn Canyon for a couple of hours. Isn’t this the most convenient way how to visit Kolsai Lakes? You can also squeeze in Kaindy lake. We will tell you how to bellow. 

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What tour company to choose 

We went with Onyx Tour. But later we found out the tour was carried by Joinme.Asia (WhatsApp: +77772999767) is a top-rated local tour company. You can be in touch with them via WhatsApp at +77777306598. They don’t speak English (however, our guide spoke excellent English), but it is ok if you write in English and they reply in Russian. Just use a translator, easy. You need to pay in advance, either personally in their office in Almaty or ask your hotel to do the quick transfer via Kaspi (online payment). 

They have many other interesting and cheap tours to places where local transport doesn’t exist. We have been the only foreigners on the bus both ways. The tour is in Russian, but as we said, you just use it as transportation, and you get to interact with local travellers, which is pretty cool. 

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TIP

The tour costs include entry to the Kolsai Lakes National park (around KZT 1000), and by going with a tour and staying overnight to camp, you also avoid paying the camping fee, which is around KZT 500. If you would go independently, you have to pay these fees by the entry gate before you enter the National park. 

More from Kazakhstan: Visit Aksu Zhabagly Nature Reserve from Shymkent

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Tour price & What is included 

The tour price is KZT 11500 ($24) per person. You would hardly beat this price even if you go independently and hitchhike as most people will ask you for money anyway. In Kolsai Lakes, when we asked how much they wanted for a 15 km ride to Saty, they asked us KZT 20 000, which is 10 times more than it actually costs! So be aware of that, as the taxi drivers at Kolsai know very well there are no other options to travel in the area. 

What is included: Bartogay lake, Kolsai Lake, Charyn Canyon, Moon Canyon and Black Canyon. Pick up and drop off in Almaty. All the entry fees to places are included. 

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Shared taxi + Hitchhiking 

The only way to reach the lakes without a tour is going by shared taxi and then hitchhiking. A shared taxi leaves from Sayakhat bus station in Almaty. Find one that goes to Kegen and ask them to drop you off at the turnoff to the Kolsai Lakes/Saty. We don’t have current information about the price, but in 2018 it cost KZT 4000. Based on the prices in 2022, we expect it could be double the price. 

From there, it is another almost 70 km that you need to hitchhike. Again, this turnoff is absolutely in the middle of nowhere, so you are 100% dependent on passing by cars, and the road is not very busy. Once you make it to Saty, the gateway village to the Kolsai Lakes, either hitchhike to Kolsai Lakes, which is another 15 km. Or find a taxi stop from where shared taxi leaves for Kolsai Lakes regularly. It costs a maximum of KZT 2000. 

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Marshrutka 

We contacted a few accommodations in Saty and asked about the Marshrutka between Saty and Almaty. But they said there is no more and we didn’t find any information, that this option would be possible.

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How to get back from Kolsai Lakes to Almaty

If you want to go independently, you follow the same way as you get there, in the opposite order. Which could be much easier as most of the people leaving Kolsai Lakes to go to Almaty. From Kolsai lake, take a taxi to Saty village (KZT 2000), then hitchhike to the turnoff, where the road between Almaty and Kegen is. And try to catch a shared taxi that goes to Almaty. Or hitchhike again. 

Or do the same as us and go back with a local tour company (explained above). Their program involves a few hours stop on Charyn Canyon, so you also get to see that, which is fantastic. 

Many tour buses come every day to Kolsai lakes. Chances are that there are always free seats, and you can jump in. Either contact the companies beforehand or negotiate everything on the spot. On the weekends, the car park is utterly packed with locals. 

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Our exact itinerary for Kolsai Lakes

DAY 1

6am leaving Almaty with a Joinme.Asia (Onyx) tour. Then we visited Bartogay lake before we got to the first Kolsai Lake, where we left the bus and went for a 2 km hike to the camping spot on the other side of Kolsai Lake.

DAY 2

6 km hike to the second Kolsai Lake. It took us around 4.5 hours. Camping by the second lake. Making fire and dinner, enjoying the quietness of the place and swimming in the lake. 

DAY 3 

On this day, we planned to wake up early in the morning (4am), hike back to lake one and find a taxi to Kaindy lake (It shouldn’t cost more than KZT 15000 for a return trip for two). However, the hike back took us much longer than expected, and we arrived out of energy after almost 4-5 hours. Therefore we didn’t have enough time to visit Kaindy lake. 

Then we found a guide of the bus company (it’s easy as they all wear green uniforms from Joinme.Asia company) and told him we go back with them. It worked without a problem. Then we visited Charyn Canyon and also stopped at the viewpoints of Moon Canyon and Black canyon. Around 10pm, we returned to Almaty. 

NEXT TIME: Next time, on the first day, we would jump out of the bus at Saty and start by going to Kaindy Lake first, where we could either spend a night and the following day go straight to Kolsai Lake two. Or you can return from Kaindy lake straight to the Kolsai Lakes on the same day and follow the exact same itinerary as above. 

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Tips for travelling to Kolsai Lakes

• You need to be 100% self-sufficient – bring enough food for your hike, as except for a pricey restaurant, there is nowhere to buy food or drinks in Kolsai and Saty! 

• Bring a water filter so you can drink water from the river. The hike between lakes goes along the river, so we didn’t have any issue with filtering water. 

• Leave unnecessary things in Almaty – travel as light as possible. 

• It is raining very often in Kolsai Lakes. Bring waterproof clothes or rain cover. 

• No ATM – there is no ATM around, have enough cash. 

• Have a passport with you – this is obvious, but just to highlight, the army checking the area regularly since it is on the borders with Kyrgyzstan. They will come and check your passport at the campsite. 

• Other useful things are a torch, sun protection and warm clothes as it gets cold at night. 

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HOW TO GET TO KAINDY LAKE 

Kaindy lake is another impressive lake in the area, roughly 26 km from Kolsai Lakes. It is famous for its turquoise water with dead trees sticking out. The road to get there requires a 4WD car. 

From Kolsai Lakes, find a taxi that takes you back to Saty (maximum of KZT 2000); from Saty, there are shuttle taxis that go to Kaindy lake and back to Saty (KZT 2000). You can organize them in advance through the local homestay with Gulja. Contact on WhatsApp at +77057195605. Or they are standing in the Saty village, but you will have to negotiate the price. You can also hitchhike. 

We hope our travel guide to Kolsai Lakes helped you, and if you need more information, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. 

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