Astana
[Snapshot lead for Astana is brief. The city's defining salience (Kazakhstan's capital since 1997, formerly Akmola / Tselinograd / Nur-Sultan 2019-2022; the Norman Foster master-plan; the second-coldest capital in the world; the purpose-built modernist capital on the Ishim river) is carried in the wikivoyage and Architecture sections.]
Typical weather
1981–presentCity Rhythm
measuredOpening hours, by kind of place
median across mapped venuesVital absurdities
measured · the Anti-AwardsSame time system
by rhythmWhat to do each season
2winter
severe cold, dry; mean −16.0 to 5.6 °C across the range; January mean min −19.9 °C — one of the coldest capitals on Earth; the Ishim river freezes; reliable snow cover; temperatures can drop to −40 °C in cold snaps
- indoor civic life dominates: the Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre (Norman Foster, 2010 — a 150-m transparent tent), the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation (Foster, 2006), the Duman Aquarium
- Astana's role as a purpose-built post-1997 capital is most legible in winter — the modernist boulevards are designed for sub-arctic civic life
- the Nur-Astana Mosque, the Bayterek Tower and the Hazret Sultan Mosque frame the winter skyline
summer
short, warm, occasionally hot; mean 12.2-21.5 °C, July mean max 27.4 °C; rapid temperature swing between seasons; the steppe greens briefly
- the Ishim river promenades activate; the city's riverside parks become usable for the brief summer window
- EXPO 2017 legacy site (the Nur Alem sphere museum) and the new Astana Botanical Garden
- Astana's role as the host of the Congresses of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions activates
- the Astana Economic Forum (May/June) — Kazakhstan's flagship business event
What it is known for
Important moments in a year
Capital Day
- Astana City Day / Capital City Day — commemorating the 1994 decision to move the capital
Astana Economic Forum
- Astana Economic Forum — Kazakhstan's flagship business-and-policy event
Nauryz Meiramy
- Nauryz — the Kazakh New Year / spring equinox festival, civic ritual
On the record
source-trackedAstana's January mean minimum is −19.9 °C — one of the coldest capital cities on Earth, after Ulaanbaatar.
Temperatures [in Astana] can drop to −40 °C in cold snaps.
[Astana was] formerly Akmola / Tselinograd / Nur-Sultan (2019-2022).
New Western-style shopping malls have sprung up with all the variety of shopping you would expect from a mall in the West.
Most banks convert dollars, euros and roubles. Pounds are much harder to get rid of.
As of early 2023 there are flights [to Astana NQZ] from many places in the former Soviet Union, and a couple each from Western Europe, the Middle East and East Asia. World airports with connections to Astana include Beijing, Dubai, Moscow Sheremetyevo, Frankfurt, and Istanbul.
[Astana is Kazakhstan's capital, moved from Almaty] in 1997.
[The Khan Shatyr is] a 150-m transparent tent by Norman Foster (2010).
[Astana hosts] the Congresses of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
Astana's July mean maximum is 27.4 °C — a sharp summer-winter contrast typical of the continental interior.
The Ishim river [runs through Astana and freezes in winter].
The method behind this atlas — 196 pp. Not published yet.