Hg2: A Hedonist's Guide to Almaty and Astana

Do not let the title put you off this book. It is not a guide to high living but, is actually a quick guide to hotels,cafes and shops in Almaty and Astana in the wonderful country of Kazakhstan.Each area of the city is cleverly colour coded and the book is then divided into sections:SLEEP-Hotels-which are then rated on style,atmosphere and location.EAT -Restaurants-rated on food,service and atmosphere.DRINK-a guide to lounges and bars.SNACK-a guide to cafes.PARTY-a guide to clubs.CULTURE-a guide to heritage worth visiting such as the Ascension cathedral,Central Mosque,Panfilov Park and the amazing A,Kasteyev State Museum of Arts.SHOPPLAY-skiing.skating.golf,public baths.There are good photographs throughout the book.This is not an indepth guide like Paul Brumell's excellent Bradt guide to Kazakhstan.The Hg2 Almaty and Astana is much more superficial in its detail but,I found it very useful when visiting Almaty in locating good cafes for pitstops after long walks.The book is slightly marred by the inclusion of topless bars which is a bit tacky (one star deducted).This is not a comprehensive guide but does give a quick taste of Almaty and Astana.

I used this book when we recently visited Almaty, it gave us a few pointers on where to eat and what type of food was available. Most of us have no idea what to find in Kazakhstan, let alone Almaty... this guide showed me the country is very developed already and has a lot to offer travelers visiting this amazing country. I used other guides too but there was at that time of purchase limited books on the market.