Ak-Kayin Birch Grove

Ak-Kayin is a birch wood inside the city limits — no gorge, no real climb, just a bus and a short walk uphill and you are standing in mountain forest. People call it the “birch fairy tale,” and it turns up on lists of the most romantic spots in the city, which tells you the register: this is pretty rather than wild.

Getting there is a minibus and a walk. Routes 5Б and 5В run up Dostyk Avenue and take about 20 minutes to the last stop. From there keep going up Azhibay Batyr Street, bear right at the fork, and after about 10 minutes you reach the ecopost and the entrance. The grove sits inside the Ile-Alatau national park zone, so carry some cash — the ecopost is where you pay to go in.

On the ground there are a few gazebos and a set of big swings, and enough room to spread a picnic or put up a tent. Behind the birches are apple orchards — the fruit this city is named for — and past those a pine wood, then dense spruce, so you can walk on into proper forest if the grove itself is not enough. In winter there is a slope for tubing, with inner tubes rented on site, and someone running horses for hire.

Go in autumn. I was there on 21 October and the timing was about right: white trunks against golden leaves, on the trees and in a carpet underfoot, are the whole reason to make the trip, and they only look like that for a week or two.