Big Almaty Lake (2,511m), Ile-Alatau National Park, Submerged Lake Kaindy & Kolsai Lakes

Two distinct clusters of high-mountain lakes frame Almaty: the glacial reservoir of Big Almaty Lake directly above the southern suburbs inside Ile-Alatau National Park, and the trio of Kolsai Lakes with the sunken spruce forest of Lake Kaindy 280 kilometres east in the Kungei Alatau range.

Big Almaty Lake (BAO) and Alma-Arasan in Ile-Alatau National Park

Founded in 1996 across 199,000 hectares of the Zailiyskiy Alatau range, Ile-Alatau National Park protects Tian Shan spruce forests, snow leopards, Himalayan brown bears, and high-altitude glaciers immediately south of Almaty. Following the Big Almatinka Gorge uphill past the First President's Park leads to two main branches. The right-hand Prokhodnaya branch ends at the Alma-Arasan gorge, where free outdoor thermal radon-sulphur tubs sit beside a rushing mountain torrent at 1,800 metres.

The left-hand branch climbs to Big Almaty Lake (Bolshoye Almatinskoye Ozero) at 2,511 metres above sea level. Formed behind an ancient earthquake moraine and augmented by a hydroelectric dam in the 1940s, the 1.6-kilometre basin shifts colour from milky glacier jade in June to deep cobalt blue in September under the reflection of three 4,000-metre summits: Sovetov Peak (4,317 m), Ozerny Peak (4,110 m), and Tourist Peak (3,954 m). Because the lake supplies municipal drinking water and lies close to the Kyrgyz border, swimming and shoreline walking are strictly prohibited, passports must be carried for the frontier zone checkpoint, and private motor vehicles are blocked at the lower barrier; visitors ascend on foot along the water pipeline, by bicycle, or via licensed eco-transport. Check official Ile-Alatau National Park notices before setting out.

Lake Kaindy and the submerged spruce forest

Four hours east of Almaty around the village of Saty lies Kolsai Kolderi National Park (a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2021). Reached from Saty via a rough twelve-kilometre mountain track and stream ford requiring Soviet-era UAZ vans or high-clearance 4WDs, Lake Kaindy sits at 2,000 metres inside a birch and conifer gorge. When the January 1911 Kebin earthquake triggered a massive limestone landslide that dammed the river, icy glacial water flooded the valley and drowned a living grove of Picea schrenkiana spruce. Because the water temperature stays below six degrees Celsius even in mid-summer, the submerged pine needles remain preserved beneath the turquoise surface while bleached white tree trunks pierce the water like ship masts.

Lower, Middle, and Upper Kolsai Lakes

From a paved road fifteen minutes south of Saty, wooden boardwalks ring Lower Kolsai Lake (1,818 metres), while an eight-kilometre forest trail climbs through wild strawberries and spruce along the Kolsai River to the wide alpine meadow of Middle Kolsai Lake (Mynzholki, 2,252 metres). Pair the lakes with Charyn Canyon or Medeu and Shymbulak on a multi-day circuit.