Start your journey in Öskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk) — a quiet city shaped by rivers and silver skies. From here, the road east winds into the wild. There are no superhighways, no tourist buses — just open valleys, the scent of pine, and the slow realization that the noise of the world has finally fallen away.

Follow the Bukhtarma River, a lifeline through highland meadows and shadowed groves. Visit the Rakhmanov Springs, nestled at 1,700 meters above sea level — natural thermal waters surrounded by larch forest and snow-dusted ridges. Local lore says the springs have healing powers, but most visitors find that it’s the silence that does the real work.

Then go higher — into the West Altai Nature Reserve, one of Kazakhstan’s most pristine ecosystems. Here, lynx and snow leopards still roam. Wolves call in the distance. Marmots whistle at your passing. And the sky feels near enough to touch.

Camp beside Lake Markakol, ringed by peaks that mirror in its glacial water. At dusk, the lake turns silver. At dawn, it blushes gold. And in the stillness, you understand why shamans once called this land sacred — it speaks, if you listen.

In villages like Katon-Karagay, life unfolds slowly. Herds graze the slopes. Yurts dot the meadows. And traditions linger not in memory, but in daily ritual — from horse milk fermented with wild herbs, to felt carpets dyed with sun and fire.

Climb to the Belukha Massif, the highest peak in the Altai (shared with Russia), rising 4,506 meters — a titan wrapped in cloud and glacier. Many locals believe Belukha is a spiritual beacon, a gateway to Shambhala, the hidden realm of peace and wisdom. Whether you believe or not, one thing is certain: it feels like the edge of something holy.

At Viewpoint Horizons, we craft Altai expeditions that go beyond the trail. We walk with local guides who trace ancestral paths. We sleep in alpine camps beneath the constellations of ten thousand years. We paddle along glacier-fed rivers and cook fireside meals in absolute stillness.

And we listen — to stories of Turkic shamans, of ancient petroglyphs etched into rock, of eagle hunters who still train birds with silence and soul.

Because the Altai Mountains are not about adrenaline. They are about alignment — with the land, with time, and with the vast, unspoken truth that the world is still wild, still sacred, and still worth listening to.

Explore the Altai Mountains with Viewpoint Horizons — and rediscover the quiet, ancient strength that still runs through the veins of the earth.