Almaty & Charyn Canyon, 4 Nights

Almaty's airport is on the northern edge of the city, and the drive in heads straight at the wall of the Zailiysky Alatau, snow-topped for much of the year. Rooms are generally ready in the afternoon. Keep the rest of the day easy: the tree-lined streets are made for walking, with irrigation channels running beside the pavements, and Arbat, the pedestrian stretch of Zhibek Zholy, has cafés, street musicians and painters selling their work. It is a relaxed place for a first evening.

Panfilov Park holds Zenkov Cathedral, a wooden Orthodox church finished in 1907 that came through the 1911 earthquake, and a large Soviet memorial to the Panfilov guardsmen who fought at Moscow in 1941. A few minutes away the Green Bazaar sells dried apricots, horse sausage, honey and piles of Korean-style salads, and Rakhat's chocolate shop is close by. Late in the afternoon the cable car climbs Kok Tobe, the hill on the city's south-east edge, for the view over Almaty as the lights come on.

Up the Malaya Almatinka gorge to Medeu, the open-air skating rink at about 1,690 m that hosted Soviet speed-skating records; in season you can skate there. From Medeu a gondola lifts you to Shymbulak's base, and further chairs and gondolas climb towards the Talgar pass at around 3,200 m, with glaciers close at hand. The air is thin and much colder at the top, so go slowly and dress in layers. Skiing runs roughly from December to April, and in summer the upper slopes are walking country.

An early start east across the steppe, around 200 km, to Charyn Canyon, cut by the Charyn river through red sandstone. The Valley of Castles is the classic section: a walk of two to three kilometres down a dry gully between towers and walls of rock, ending at the river, where there is a small café. The path is mostly gentle, though uneven, and there is no shade, so bring hats and water in summer. The return reaches Almaty by evening.

Breakfast and, flight permitting, a last stroll in the leafy streets near the hotel or a coffee on Arbat. Kazakh sweets, dried fruit and chocolate from the city's own factory are easy to pack; Almaty's name is linked to the apple, which is thought to have originated in these mountains. The transfer to the airport takes about half an hour, and longer in the evening traffic.