Charyn Canyon National Park, Kazakhstan

Sitting around 200km east of the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan, Charyn Canyon National Park is a spectacular place to spend some time hiking. The canyon was formed by erosion from the River Charyn and the geological formations here are simply incredible. Reminding both Tom and I of the Grand Canyon in the USA, the landscape around the canyon is barren desert as far as the eye can see and the rust red hue of the rocks makes you feel as if you’ve entered a different world.

The canyon is approximately 150km long and in places up to 30m deep. The area used to be an inland sea which means the rock formations reveal millions of years of the earth’s history in it’s deposits. Walking to viewpoints over the canyon was special, but getting down lower and hiking inside the canyon itself is a must-do whilst here. The sheer enormity of the rocks surrounding you and the millennia of years that they took to form invokes feelings of awe and wonder, and makes you feel small as an ant!

This blog will talk about two short hikes - one at the top of the canyon to the view points, and one through the canyon down to the River Charyn where we camped for the night. Both hikes are an out and back route and easy to follow.

Start/end point for both hikes: Charyn Canyon visitors centre

Average duration: 1.5 hours out and back each

Distance: 6km out and back per hike

When to go: Year round - unless very windy or snowfall blocking route

Difficulty: Easy

Maps/Info: Both routes are easy to follow and the visitors centre can provide maps if you need them. The hike to the viewpoints up high above the canyon are a straight and fairly flat walk from the visitors centre. The hike down into the canyon is downhill on the way out, uphill on your return, and starts by you leaving the visitors centre, turning right and going down a staircase of about 50 stairs.

Hike 1 (Charyn Canyon Visitors Centre to the high up view points):

Leaving the visitors centre at ground level, exit the main doors and looking directly in front of you, you will see a well trodden path leading towards the canyon. There are information boards, toilet blocks, shelter and benches along the route, so it is hard to miss it.

Continue along this route for about 3km of fairly level ground - there are small parts of undulation but nothing too strenuous - until you reach the wooden CHARYN letters situated near the end of the walk. From here, you can branch off down smaller slopes of the canyon to get those incredible views down over the canyon.

NOTE: Be VERY careful when accessing the smaller slopes off the main path, the steepness of the slopes, along with the loose rocks, would make it easy to fall from several of them. There are signs telling you to say 2m away from the edge, but naturally people don’t pay attention!

Do not access the slopes unless you are wearing appropriate footwear like hiking boots.

Once you’ve gone down the slopes, you will be rewarded with vista’s like the one below. On this photo, in the middle of the canyon you can quite clearly see a pathway, which is the hiking route down through the canyon (hike 2 of this blog!).

Return to the visitors centre by retracing your steps along the path.

Hike 2 (Charyn Canyon Visitors Centre to the River Charyn through the canyon):

Leaving the visitors centre at ground level, take a right turn out of the main exit doors and locate and go down the huge staircase which takes you down around five flights of stairs to get down to the ground level inside the canyon.

Once you are at canyon level continue along the well trodden (and driven - there are busses which go down this route if you want to pay a few pounds in the visitors centre instead of walking!) pathway which stretches out in front of you. Again, there are several benches and rest areas along the way and it is impossible to go wrong on the route.

After a couple of kilometres the pathway gets narrower and you feel really tiny as you walk underneath rock formations and come really close to the canyon edges. Be careful and wary of any loose or falling rocks - there are sometimes landslides in this area.

Tom and I were hiking down to the canyon with all our camping equipment, which although heavy was doable and fun. If you also want to camp down by the River Charyn, you can hire the equipment from the visitors centre for £10pp - this included a two person tent, sleeping bags and ground mats. The camping area by the river has toilet facilities which are open all night.

Spot our tent!

After walking another kilometre or so you will reach the end of the hike, where the Charyn River flows through the canyon. Swimming is prohibited as the water is fast-flowing and can be dangerous. The clear water was ice cold and perfectly fine to drink, which we did!

Whilst down at the canyon we were adopted by a lovely Kazakh family who gifted us vodka and chocolate and spent some time with us. Everybody in this country was so friendly, and we had a great time hiking in all the national parks.

Whilst down at the River Charyn we decided to explore and did a short hike out to an old dilapidated structure overlooking the river. It was so nice to be up high over the water, and see down the valley of the canyon properly. Next to this was a sign saying that we shouldn’t walk any further as it was dangerous, so we snapped a few quick pictures instead!

We had a great nights’ sleep, our sleeping bags keeping us toasty and warm. We weren’t sure if camping in mid October would be too cold but it was great, and we enjoyed the evening calm and quietude down by the river once the day trippers had left. There were only two other tents there with us.

In the morning we got up early and packed the tent down, making our way back to the visitors centre via the same route we’d taken the night before. The walk back is harder as it is uphill the entire way, so be sure to allow yourself more time for the returning leg.

We absolutely loved our time in this national park, spotting golden eagles, sitting by the River Charyn and hiking out to viewpoints and through canyons which have been formed over hundreds of thousands of years. This really is a special place to visit.