This morning, we will begin by exploring the town of Kurchatov and learning about its nuclear history. This town is known as the Soviet “Los Alamos” named after the founder of the Soviet nuclear program Ivan Kurchatov.

We’ll  then check on the Chagan abandoned airbase. During the Cold War this was home to one of the Soviet Union’s main air force bases for the deployment of long-range bombers carrying nuclear weapons. The location is interesting as it’s on the Chinese border. Part of the reason for its location was the rising tensions due to the Sino-Soviet split.

We will then head back to Kurchatov for a bite to eat at a local soviet style canteen or ‘stolovaya’ before getting on the overnight train to Astana.

We will spend today exploring this very spread out, but ridiculously impressive city.

Built in 1997, Astana resembles in many ways other cities such as Ashgabat, or to a lesser extent Baku. Clearly built from nothing at the snap of a finger, several of the world's most iconic architects were given carte blanche and tasked with the epic job of designing an incredibly unique city.

We will begin our visit of Astana by first freshening up at a local Russian-style bathhouse known as a banya. This is great way to scrub up and experience some Russian and Kazakh culture before heading out to explore the city.

While exploring the city we will head to mini-kazakhstanland which has minature models of each province (including Kurchatov) of all of Kazakhstan.

We then continue exploring the sites of the city taking in the interesting architecture both old and new from old relics of the soviet union (including a visit to a soviet antique store) as well as the new modern sky scrapers and palaces.

What's in a name? Although currently known as  Astana, it was known as Nur Sultan (after the first President of Kazakhstan Nur Sultan Nazarbayev) from 2019 until 2022, before that the city was known as Astana for the first time. Before 1997 it was Tselinograd, and before that it was Akmola or Akmolinsk in Russian.

We'll finished up the city tour with a visit to Bayterek. Sometimes referred to as the “Chupa Chup” because it looks like one, Bayterek has become a symbol of Astana. From the viewing platform, which is 97 meters high, symbolising the year of the city becoming capital, you can get spectacular views over the new city.

We will end the tour with a group dinner at a local restaurant where we can once again fest on some horse meat shashlik and a few drinks.