Singing dunes & Aktau mountains group tour to Altyn Emel
Description
Explore Altyn Emel National Park — one of Kazakhstan's most surreal landscapes. Hike through the otherworldly Aktau Mountains, volcanic Katutau formations, and climb the legendary Singing Dunes that hum as you descend. 1-Day Tour: Aktau Mountains → Katutau → Singing Dunes. Pickup 5:30 AM, return ~10 PM. Lunch at a local guesthouse included. 2-Day Tour: Day 1 — Aktau Mountains, Katutau, 700-year-old Willow Tree, overnight in Basshi village with homemade dinner and campfire under the stars. Day 2 — Singing Dunes, return to Almaty. Breakfast and dinner included. Private Tour: Full itinerary for your group only. Flexible pace, personalized experience. All options include: English-speaking guide, transport, lunch, and all national park entrance fees.
Tour Options
Itinerary
We will drive out to the bottom of the Ocean to explore the Chalk Mountains of Aktau. Here is schedule for the tour: 5:30 am Pick up time 7:30 am Quick stop to WC/market 9:00 am Bashi village/Enrence to national park Off-road way to first location 10:00 am Arriving to Aktau mountains 12:00 am Departure
Next we will stop in the volcanic mountains of Katutau. Unusual rock forms, created by nature. 12:30 Arriving to Katutau 13:10 Departure to the village 13:50-14:30 Lunch
After lunch we will come to the singing Dunes of 150 meters high to enjoy the scenic views of the Ili River and Almaty desert. 15:30 Arriving to Singing dunes 17:30 Departure to city
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We will send you all information of pick up and transport the day before the tour We wil waiting for you in front of your hotel or in lobby during pick up time
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
Reviews(119)
Attending one-day tour to Aktau Mountains and Singing Dunes in the Altyn Emel National Park organized by Kazakhstan, Very Nice! was a great opportunity to visit very difficult to reach and remote natural wonders within one day. Our knowledgeable guide Bauka and our experienced driver made sure that our very small three-person group safely and in comfortable conditions covered at least 500 km by air-conditioned Toyota Landcruiser. Hotel pick-up was provided. Communication with the organizer via WhatsApp was very good. We were given sufficient amount of time to enjoy each of the visited places and take photos. As the tour started at 5:30 and finished at 22:00, taking into account a long and intensive in sightseeing day, a hearty home made lunch was a very good source of energy before climbing the summit of the Singing Dune. This tour is an excellent choice for each traveller who would like to make the most of their limited time during holiday in Almaty. With Kazakhstan, Very Nice!, their dedicated guides and professional drivers you will see tourist attractions you would never reach by yourself within one day due to big distances and lack of knowledge of local geography. Since the tour's group was very small and only a 4WD car was suitable to travel on demanding ground roads leading to the breathtaking natural wonders visited, to my mind the activity's a little bit high price
A very long day, but one that was definitely worth it ! Didi was a great guide and was friendly and engaging throughout the whole tour, i can't reccomend her enough. I wouldn't have been able to see those beautiful mountains or sand dunes without a tour like this, transportation and everything was organized perfectly so I could just relax and take it all in. A tip: bring some good shoes and snacks. There is a lot of hiking, but the views are worth it. :)
Fabulous tour. Great driver. Didi was an excellent guide, helpful and engaging. It's a long day but both the journey there and the sites themselves were great. Good to get to see the beautiful Kazakhstan countryside. We'll worth it. I would highly recommend it
The tour was great, group was small 3 people, everything on time. Our guide Ayau was very friendly and helpful, she took care of everyone’s comfort. The views and landscape which we visited are amazing.
We had an amazing day with John the guide, he made every part of the trip so great and I would highly recommend him for this tour, Immaculate English speaking and overall a great person, Wouldn’t have gone with anyone else
The transport was perfect and so comfortable for the trip! It's a long day but totally worth it. Nurzhan (John) was such a wonderful tour guide and made the trip so much fun. He explained the geography and history of the land so well and chatted with everyone in our group. Such a friendly and kind person!
Our guide Amir was excellent, well-prepared, and provided a lot of information. The locations were very impressive, and our driver Ivan was also great, making even the car rides a unique experience.
Really beautiful tour, it is worth every penny! The nature is breathtaking, the food is one of a kind and the day was well spend i definitely recommend it. Our Tourguide Amir was amazing he gave us so many interesting and cool facts about Almaty and the nature behind, also was very funny and enthusiastic! Our Driver was also great, had good music taste and showed us also around and we were in time! If you visit Almaty dont forget to book this tour you wont regret it!
Our experience on the Singing Sand Dunes day trip was extremely disappointing and far below expectations. The journey lasted approximately 16–17 hours, yet our guide JOHN provided virtually no information throughout the day. Aside from a brief explanation at the actual site, he remained mostly silent for the entire trip. There was no commentary about the places we passed, no historical facts, cultural insights, stories, or points of interest—nothing that one would reasonably expect from a guided tour. He didn’t even ask us all our name , or anything else to make the tour fun, neither did we know anyone’s else’s name in the group throughout the tour. Absolutely no effort to engage with anyone. What made the experience even more frustrating was the guide’s apparent lack of friendly interest in engaging with us ( we are a family of 4 with 2 teenagers ). Most of the time, he was either sleeping or quiet , on the return journey he was sitting in the front chatting loudly with the driver in their local language frequently stopping for smoking breaks . On the return journey, despite it being a long, hot and very tiring day and my family passengers wanting to rest and take a nap, the guide and driver continued their loud conversations for so many hours it was crazy . Even after repeated requests to lower their voices, they continued talking, making it difficult to relax or sleep. We returned around 9:30–9:45 PM, exhausted and frustrated. The guide came across as disinterested, unfriendly, and unwilling to perform the basic responsibilities expected of a tour guide. This felt more like a transportation service than a guided tour. Maybe even a knowledgeable taxi driver would have done the same job at 1/10th the cost. Overall, this was a very unpleasant experience, and we would not recommend this tour to anyone looking for an informative, engaging, or professionally guided long day trip. The local food was also far below average and sparse.
Very lovely trip and a great guide
