The Akbulak Mountain Resort in the foothills of the Zailiysky Alatau Mountains is a picturesque place for family holidays, corporate events, business meetings, parties and training camps for athletes. Located about 40 kilometres east of Almaty at a height of 1,600 metres above sea level, the Akbulak resort has established itself as a prime location for summer and winter vacations and a favourite holiday destination for both domestic and foreign tourists due to its location, mild climate and natural landscape.
In spring, autumn and summer, visitors can swim in the waters of the river and walk in the coniferous forests that surround the tourist complex. Fans of extreme sports can go mountain biking on trails around the green slopes of the ski stadium.
In winter, sledding and skiing trails and an ice rink are available for visitors. A unique ropeway 3,700 metres long helps visitors climb to ski and snowboard trails. Trails are 5,000 metres long with a maximum slope angle of 55 degrees. The highest point in the ski area is 2,700 metres above sea level.
The Akbulak Hotel is located in the ski resort area and was designed to provide the highest levels of service and comfort. The Akbulak Hotel offers standard and deluxe rooms. All rooms have mini-bars, fire alarms, electronic locks, satellite TV, DVD equipment, telephones with long-distance communication, central air conditioning with climate control functions, electronic safe-boxes and bathrooms. Wi-Fi access is provided in the lobby. The hotel also has modern and well-equipped conference halls, a restaurant with 120 seats, three bars, an indoor heated swimming pool and sauna, bowling and billiards.
The Almaty conference hall, with a capacity of 80 people, is located on the third floor of the hotel and is ideal for small seminars, conferences and round-table meetings. The conference room is equipped with projection equipment. Tables, chairs, flip charts, projectors and screens can be installed. The Astana conference hall on the second floor of the hotel is designed for 50 people and is set up for conferences, seminars, presentations and exhibitions.
The complex offers two bowling lanes in a small room ideal for family games and team tournaments. All tracks are equipped with an automatic control foul line for serious bowlers. There are also pool and billiards tables and plasma screen TVs. The Akaydin ice-concert complex within the Akbulak ski complex is a unique construction. It can be used for hockey, figure skating and short-track events, but it can also be transformed into a playground for volleyball, basketball, handball, tennis, gymnastics, boxing, ballroom dancing and other sports. It can also be used for exhibitions, conferences, presentations, concerts and entertainment events. It was here, in fact, that the OSCE informal ministerial meeting took place in July 2010 during Kazakhstan’s year of chairmanship in this organization, bringing together delegations from 56 participating states as well as more than 20 partner and observer states.
Other sports fields are open on the grounds of the ski complex, including a football field with artificial lawns, tennis courts with acrylic surfaces and volleyball and basketball courts with synthetic surfaces. There are also table tennis tables and a boxing gym equipped with a punching bag, balloons and sledgehammers, exercise equipment to strengthen the hands, multipurpose trainers and balls. A general gym is also located in the ice-concert complex. The room is equipped with multipurpose trainers, barbells, dumbbells, gymnastic sticks, bicycle trainers a straightening trainer for the back and a Smith machine.
Winter and summers are the high seasons at Akbulak, drawing thousands of people who come for the unique local flora and fauna, the pine and leaf forests, and the long range views of the Seven Rivers Valley with its cold waters and waterfalls. Farther up are alpine meadows filled with wild flowers such as alpine poppies, clovers, cornflowers and wild onions. Higher climbs take visitors to the Talgar Glaciers and the 4, 973 metre Talgar Peak, a destination for climbers and mountaineers.
