Turkestan: Kazakhstan’s Holiest City

Ask ten people what “Turkestan” means and you will get four different answers, three of which are wrong for the purposes of a travel plan. It is a city, a region, a historical name for half of Central Asia, and — depending on who transliterated the road sign — spelled two ways. Sorting that out is the first job of this guide. The second is telling you why the city itself is worth the detour, and what to make of the enormous theme-park-adjacent complex the government has built beside a 600-year-old shrine.

Turkestan in Kazakhstan is a city of roughly 1,600 km southwest of Astana in the country’s deep south, and the administrative capital of Turkestan Region. It is Kazakhstan’s spiritual centre, built around the UNESCO-listed Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, commissioned by Timur in 1389 and left unfinished at his death in 1405.

Turkestan at a glance

Turkestan, Turkistan or Turkestan? Clearing up the name

This trips up more travellers than anything else about the place, so let’s deal with it first.

The city

Turkestan is a city in southern Kazakhstan, near the Syr Darya, in the flat hot country north of Shymkent. That’s the place this guide is about.

“Turkestan” the historical region

Historically, Turkestan meant the whole vast territory of Turkic-speaking Central Asia — a Persian coinage meaning roughly “land of the Turks,” covering what is now Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Xinjiang. The Russian Empire formalised a Turkestan Governor-Generalship after conquering the region in the nineteenth century, which is where the term entered European atlases. If a book from 1900 mentions Turkestan, it almost certainly does not mean this city.

Turkistan versus Turkestan

Both spellings are in live use. Kazakh official usage is Türkistan, which is why the airport and many road signs read “Turkistan.” UNESCO and most English-language travel writing use Turkestan. They are the same city and you can use either. We use Turkestan for consistency.

Turkestan Region — created in 2018

Here’s the bit that confuses people looking at a map. In June 2018, President Nazarbayev signed a decree that granted Shymkent the status of a city of republican significance — putting it on a par with Almaty and Astana as a standalone administrative unit. South Kazakhstan Region, which Shymkent had been the capital of, was renamed Turkestan Region and its capital moved to the city of Turkestan.

So: the biggest city in the region is Shymkent, but Shymkent is not in the region. The regional capital is Turkestan, which is much smaller. This is why the state has poured money into the place since 2018 and why it looks like a construction site in parts.

And no, it isn’t the capital of Kazakhstan

That’s Astana. Almaty was capital until 1997 and is still the largest city. Turkestan is a regional capital and the spiritual capital of the Turkic world — a title formally conferred by the Turkic Council in April 2021 — but not the national capital.

Why Turkestan is called Kazakhstan’s spiritual capital

Who was Khoja Ahmed Yasawi?

A twelfth-century Sufi master, born around 1093 in Sayram near Shymkent, who studied in Bukhara under Yusuf Hamadani and died in Yasi — this city — in 1166. He founded the Yasawiyya, the first Sufi order to spread widely among Turkic-speaking peoples, and he wrote his mystical poetry in Turkic rather than Arabic or Persian.

That last point is the important one. Before Yasawi, serious religious writing in Central Asia happened in Arabic or Persian. Writing in Turkic made Islam legible to people who spoke it, and it is the main reason he is credited with the Islamisation of the steppe. Kazakhs call him Hazret Sultan — the Holy Sultan.

The “three visits equal a hajj” tradition

You will hear that three pilgrimages to Turkestan equal one hajj to Mecca. Handle this carefully, because it is a folk tradition, not Islamic law, and every source that states it plainly is being sloppy. Look at the phrasing the careful sources use: “it is often said,” “locals say,” “previously it was believed,” “it stood for.” The city is nicknamed the Second Mecca of the East and the Little Mecca. Nobody in a position of religious authority is claiming equivalence with the hajj.

What is true is that Turkestan is one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the Turkic world, and that on a Friday you will be surrounded by people who have travelled a long way to pray here.

From Shavgar to Yasi to the Kazakh Khanate

The site was settled early — tradition dates the founding to 418 AD — and by the tenth century there was a town here called Shavgar under the Samanids. Shavgar disappears from the record in the twelfth century and Yasi takes over on the same ground. From the sixteenth century Yasi became the capital of the Kazakh Khanate and was renamed Turkestan; a mint here struck silver coins bearing the khans’ images. The Russian Empire absorbed it in 1864 into the Turkestan Governor-Generalship and it lost its capital status — which it only got back in 2018.

The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi

Timur’s unfinished masterpiece

Timur — Tamerlane — ordered the present building between 1389 and 1405, replacing a smaller twelfth-century tomb. His motives were both religious and political: after defeating Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde, monumental cult architecture was a way to bind the region’s Turkic nomads to his rule. He is reported to have taken part in the design personally and imported Persian master craftsmen to build it.

Then he died. In February 1405, at Otrar, seventy-odd kilometres from here, while mustering an army to invade Ming China. Work stopped and never resumed.

The scaffolding holes on the front

This is the detail that makes the building extraordinary, and almost no travel guide leads with it. Walk round to the main entrance portal on the south side and you’ll find bare, unfaced brick — no tilework, no glaze, just masonry — flanked by two stumps where minarets were begun and abandoned. Then walk round the back and the rear façade is covered in turquoise geometric brickwork of the highest order.

You are looking at a Timurid building with its skin half on. UNESCO’s citation makes this explicit, describing the unfinished portions as “exceptional evidence of the construction methods of the period.” The half that got finished tells you how good they were. The half that didn’t tells you how they did it.

The Tai Kazan

Inside the main hall sits a bronze ritual cauldron about 2.4 metres across the rim, weighing roughly two tonnes and holding around 3,000 litres. It was cast in the late 1390s from an alloy of seven metals — iron, zinc, lead, tin, copper, silver and gold — and its inscription bands include a Kufic phrase repeating “Power belongs to Allah” and a dedication naming Timur.

It held sweetened water distributed to pilgrims after Friday prayers, alongside a communal meal. Its form deliberately echoes the nomadic steppe cauldron, a sacred object in Turkic culture long before Islam arrived — which is precisely the kind of synthesis this building represents.

It also has a good story. In 1935 it was taken to the Hermitage in Leningrad for an international congress, ostensibly on a three-month loan. It came back in 1989, after 54 years.

What you’ll see inside

The building is 38.7 metres high with 35 rooms — a multifunctional structure that combines mausoleum, mosque, refectory, library and assembly hall. Above the main hall, the Kazandyk, sits a conical-spherical dome roughly 18 metres across, which UNESCO describes as the largest in Central Asia. Kazakh khans are buried here: Ablai Khan, Esim Khan, Abulkhair Khan and others, with 43 gravestones in the small palace, the oldest dating to 1431.

Bear in mind the mausoleum is an active shrine, not a museum. Pilgrims pray at the threshold of the tomb chamber; visitors are not admitted into the inner sanctum. It is the first of Kazakhstan’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites and still the most visited.

Tickets, hours and dress

The complex opens daily, roughly 09:00 to 18:00. Ticket prices are genuinely inconsistent across sources — one recent guide quotes 200 tenge for locals and 500 for foreigners for the mausoleum interior; another quotes 1,000/1,500/2,000 tenge for the whole Azret Sultan complex depending on nationality. Either way it is a trivial sum. The outdoor areas are free. Check the official Azret Sultan site before you travel if you want an exact figure.

Dress modestly: covered shoulders, no shorts. Women should carry a scarf for the prayer areas; headscarves are generally available at the entrance. Photography is usually permitted but be discreet near people praying.

The rest of the Azret Sultan reserve

The mausoleum sits inside the Azret Sultan State Historical and Cultural Reserve Museum, which covers the archaeological remains of medieval Yasi. Within a few hundred metres:

• The Hilvet semi-underground mosque, associated with the tradition that Yasawi withdrew into an underground cell at 63 — the age at which the Prophet Muhammad died — declaring he would not walk in the sun longer. The surviving structure is much later than his lifetime, so treat “the cell he lived in” as tradition rather than archaeology. Dim brick-vaulted chambers and worn steps; atmospheric.
• The Mausoleum of Rabia Sultan Begim, next door. Her identity is genuinely disputed across sources; the most reliable account makes her Ulugh Beg’s daughter — so Timur’s great-granddaughter — married to Abulkhair Khan. Her original tomb was destroyed by the Russian army and its bricks reused; what stands is a reconstruction from around 1980.
• A medieval hammam, and the reconstructed northern citadel wall.
• The Azret Sultan Museum, with a collection established in 1978 running to more than 24,000 items.

The new Turkestan: Karavansaray and the flying theatre

Beside the ancient complex, the state has built something very different, and you should decide in advance how you feel about it.

What’s there

The Karavansaray complex covers 20.5 hectares next to the mausoleum. Construction began in December 2019 and it opened in 2021. Inside are recreated artisan streets and trading quarters, an amphitheatre for equestrian shows, hotels, restaurants, a canal with boat rides, a nightly water-and-light show, camel rides, and Central Asia’s only flying theatre — housed in a golden “Samruk” egg-shaped building that is genuinely the most photogenic structure in modern Kazakhstan after Bayterek.

Nearby is the Uly Dala Eli centre, a blue-tiled yurt-inspired museum of the Great Steppe opened in 2020, covering metallurgy, horsemanship, the Silk Road and nomadic tradition.

The Disneyfication question

Let’s be straight about it. One TripAdvisor review of the complex is literally titled “Disney World.” Independent guides note it seems aimed at domestic and Uzbek visitors more than foreign ones, and that parts of it feel like a modern shopping development. In 2023 reviewers were still finding a lot of it empty and unfinished.

My honest read: it is not the reason to come, and it does not damage the mausoleum, which is a few minutes’ walk away and completely unaffected. The flying theatre is genuinely good and consistently rated the best thing in the complex. Go, spend an hour, enjoy the theatre, don’t expect the fifteenth century.

There’s also a real argument on the other side. Turkestan took more than 326,000 pilgrims and tourists in the first half of 2024 alone, up nearly 38 per cent year on year, in a city that a decade ago had almost no capacity to receive them. The complex is what makes that possible.

Day trips from Turkestan

Arystan Bab — visit this one first

Sixty kilometres away, near the Otrar site, is the mausoleum of Arystan Bab, Yasawi’s spiritual mentor. Tradition holds that pilgrims visit Arystan Bab before Yasawi, and the legend explains why: Timur’s construction here kept collapsing until a dream told him to build Arystan Bab’s tomb first. The current building dates from 1909, replacing an eighteenth-century structure destroyed by earthquake, and it is an active pilgrimage site — dress accordingly. There’s no public transport; take a taxi or a tour.

Otrar

A few kilometres from Arystan Bab lies the ruined city of Otrar: birthplace of the philosopher al-Farabi, the place where a governor’s decision to massacre a Mongol caravan in 1218 triggered Genghis Khan’s invasion of Central Asia, and the place where Timur died in 1405. Manage your expectations — this is a mound with excavated foundations, not a standing city — but the history is world-class. It is one of the country’s great off-the-beaten-path sites.

Sauran

Forty to fifty kilometres north on the Kyzylorda road, and the best-preserved medieval walled city in Kazakhstan — mud-brick walls still standing three to six metres high, a twin-towered gate, and an extraordinary underground kariz irrigation system. Unstaffed, free, and you will very likely have it to yourself.

Further out

The Domalak Ana mausoleum and the Akmeshit cave are both within reach by car, and Shymkent is two hours south. See our Silk Road Kazakhstan pillar for how the whole southern circuit joins up.

How to get to Turkestan

From Shymkent

The easiest approach. Marshrutkas leave Shymkent’s Samal bus station for roughly 1,500 tenge and take about 1.5 to 2.5 hours over 160 to 180 km, departing when full. Return services run from Merey bus station in Turkestan for around 1,200 tenge and generally stop around seven in the evening. Trains run several times daily and take two and a half to four hours. Tell your driver you want the mausoleum, or you’ll be dropped at the bus station 4 km out.

From Almaty

Direct trains run roughly 17 to 19 hours depending on the service — one a day, usually leaving in the evening — for around US$13 to 26. Flying is quicker: FlyArystan runs the route in about 1 hour 25 minutes. Rome2Rio lists several carriers on the Almaty–Turkestan air corridor at US$39 to 215. Our train travel guide and domestic flights guide cover the practicalities of both.

From Astana

Flying takes about 1 hour 40 minutes with FlyArystan, at around 52,000 tenge. The train is a long haul — a full day and more. There’s also a bus at roughly 26 hours and 15,000 tenge, which I would not recommend to anyone.

Flying into Hazret Sultan

Turkestan’s airport, Hazret Sultan International (IATA: HSA), is 16 km northeast of the city near Shaga village. It was built by a Turkish contractor under a public-private partnership for around US$160 million in about a year, held its opening ceremony in September 2020, and came into operation in January 2021 — the first greenfield airport built in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. The terminal is designed for around three million passengers a year with a 3,300-metre runway. It’s named for one of Yasawi’s epithets.

Routes have come and gone. FlyArystan and Turkish Airlines have both flown Istanbul; domestic connections have included Astana, Almaty, Kostanay, Aktobe, Aktau and Oral, and there has been service to Samarkand. Check current schedules — this airport’s route map changes more than most.

From Tashkent

There’s an international train, and Kazakhstan has launched a four-day Silk Road rail loop running Almaty–Turkestan–Tashkent–Almaty. See our guide to travelling from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan for the border realities.

The railway station itself

Worth five minutes: Turkestan’s station was built in 1903 and is a listed architectural monument, with brick detailing, oriental frescoes, a bronze chandelier and an early twentieth-century buffet inside.

When to visit

April to June and September to October. Spring runs 15 to 25°C and autumn is similar. Summer is the problem — July regularly tops 35°C and the mausoleum courtyard has almost no shade, so plan sightseeing for early morning and evening. Winter drops below freezing and gets windy, but the complex is compact and perfectly doable.

Two seasonal bonuses: Nauryz in late March, when southern Kazakhstan celebrates harder than anywhere else in the country, and the wild tulips at Aksu-Zhabagly in April and May. Our best time to visit guide has the full seasonal picture.

How many days do you need?

Three to five hours covers the mausoleum, Hilvet, Rabia Sultan Begim and a walk round the Karavansaray. That makes Turkestan a comfortable day trip from Shymkent, which is how most people do it.

Stay overnight if you want to see the mausoleum and the complex lit after dark — which is worth it — or if you want to add Arystan Bab, Otrar and Sauran, which need most of a second day. Two nights is plenty for anyone who isn’t a specialist.

Where to stay and eat

Accommodation has improved enormously since 2018. Verifiable options include Hotel Edem, which most international operators use and which has a good restaurant; a Hampton by Hilton next to the sights; the five-star Karavansaray Turkistan Hotel with 37 rooms across two buildings, spa and gym, at roughly US$84 to 109 a night with flying-theatre entry included for guests; Hotel Khanaka; and a couple of hostels for backpackers.

For food, names that recur across independent guides are Chaykhana Turkestan on Tauke Khan Avenue, Astau opposite the mausoleum, the Edem restaurant, Sandyq and Wow Plov. Our Kazakh food guide covers what to order.

Practical tips

• Cash. Cards work in the newer hotels and the complex; carry tenge for taxis, marshrutkas and small cafés.
• Getting around. Yandex Go operates in Turkestan and is the easiest way to move between the station, the bus station and the sights.
• Language. Kazakh dominates here more than in Almaty, with Russian widely understood and little English outside hotels. See our language guide.
• Dress. Turkestan is more conservative than Almaty or even Shymkent. Modest dress is appreciated everywhere, not just in the shrine.
• Solo female travellers report no particular difficulties; see our solo female travel guide.

Frequently asked questions

Final thoughts

Turkestan asks something unusual of a visitor: to hold two very different places in mind at once. On one side of the park is a six-hundred-year-old building that is simultaneously a masterpiece and an unfinished construction diagram, standing over the grave of the man who made Islam speak Turkic. On the other is a golden egg containing a flying theatre.

Both are real Kazakhstan. Walk round to the bare brick front of the mausoleum, look at those two amputated minaret stumps, and think about the fact that the man who ordered it died seventy kilometres up the road with the job half done. Then go and watch the flying theatre. It’s fine to enjoy both.

For where this fits in a longer trip, see our Kazakhstan itineraries, our guide to Kazakhstan’s UNESCO sites, and our rundown of the best cities in Kazakhstan.

Photo credits

Yasawi Mausoleum dome and modern Turkestan promenade: Adam Harangozó (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons. Unfinished portal: Petar Milošević (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons.