Almaty

Almaty - darkometer rating : 1 - The former capital but still largest and most cosmopolitan city of Kazakhstan . It's an essential stop on any tour of the country, though it doesn't itself offer that much of interest to the dark tourist, except for a few noteworthy monuments and Soviet-era relics. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: Almaty is the new name for the city that was formerly known as Alma-Ata in the Soviet Union – the city of apples, in literal translation. The reason for this is that the place was once famous for its big apples. Between 1929 and the collapse of the USSR Alma-Ata was the capital of the Kazakh SSR (having taken over that title from Kyzylorda further west), and remained the capital of independent Kazakhstan as well, until 1997, when that status was, again, shifted, this time to Astana (which in turn had used to be called Akmola). The city may have changed its name and lost its status as political capital, but it still is the economic and cultural capital of Kazakhstan . It doesn't have the flashy new architecture of Astana (which is being pushed to outshine Almaty on that front with big government money), but its location is unbeatably more attractive … visually, that is: it is nestled in the foothills of the snow-capped Tian Shan mountains that rise to well over 13,000 feet (4000 metres) just beyond the edge of the city limits – providing a dramatic backdrop that few cities in the world can match. However, it is also precisely this location that is sometimes quoted as one of the reasons why the capital city was moved north to Astana, which sits in flat, featureless steppes. For one thing, it's not far to the borders with Kyrgyzstan and China .