30 minutes from Almaty and one can experience cold and snow. Fresh snow had fallen a day before our visit and all trees were covered with snow as was the area around the cable car station. One takes a long cable car ride to level one which has the Shymbulak ski resort. There is fun and games, food etc here and of course a lot more snow. Another cable car ride takes you to level 2. We actually went through a thick blanket of clouds and once we reached level 2, it was bright and sunny with thich clouds below us. There is yet another cable car ride to level 3 which just has a bar and a coffee shop. But all levels had a lot of snow and that makes the place very very beautiful. I would recommend a visit only during winters when there is a lot of snow. Of course you need to carry a thick coat, gloves, caps etc.

I m here with my frns group and enjoying. Beautiful mountains with lots of colours.. 3 level height by cable car.. beautiful villas and coffee shops. I climbed to the toppest hill and had a wonderful view. It's also worth to visit in November as whole area covers up with snow and this area is famous for skieng..

Great place with great view. In a relative short time you can depart from almaty and reach 3200 m above sea level. The money worth the visit of a fantastic place. Highly recommended both in summer and winter.