Kazakhstan car rental directory
- Avis (1 location, 5 car models available)
- Dollar (1 location, 3 car models available)
- Hertz (1 location, 3 car models available)
- Thrifty (1 location, 3 car models available)
Is it safe to rent a car and drive in Kazakhstan?
The road infrastructure has been greatly improved in recent years making driving in Kazakhstan very comfortable and safe. You can explore beyond the main road connecting the major towns and cities, but expect gravel roads in a poor state with pot holes very common. Take care not to cause damage to the rental car if exploring beyond the main highways as it would be a costly mistake. Renting an SUV may be a wise decision for the more adventurous and is competitively priced,
Kazakhstan Mini Guide
It’s a popular destination for business travellers keen to tap into the new prosperity of the cities there. It’s also beginning to attract tourists drawn to this wild, windswept country of nomadic people and the yurts they live in. Avoid winter for it’s bitterly cold and equally summer can be blisteringly hot but in spring it’s a wonderful, unusual, but welcoming destination.
Getting to Kazakhstan?
Kazakhstan’s only truly international airport is at Astana International. You can fly there from many European destinations including the UK with Air Astana’s flight from Heathrow. There are internal flights from
Astana to the regions of Kazakhstan and if you want to see more of it, it’s certainly worth booking internal flights rather than attempting journeys of up to 24 hours by road.
See and do in Kazakhstan?
You’ve got the choice of looking around the state funded mega buildings that are springing up in the main cities; especially in Astana. Outside the cities you have the majestic and very different scenery of steppes, the desert in the east and vast forests in the south. You’ll also encounter and experience the traditions and hospitality of the many nomadic tribes that still eke out their existence in the countryside.
Facts about Kazakhstan
- Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country; it’s also the ninth largest in the world
- The language of Kazakhstan is closely related to Turkish
- For almost all of its history, there were few, if any, permanent settlements and it was populated by nomadic tribes
- It was the last of the former Soviet Republics to declare independence
- President Nazabayev ruled during the communist era and has clung to power ever since