📅 Day 1 – Welcome to Aktau City (Optional City Tour)

Arrival in Aktau, Kazakhstan’s western port city on the Caspian Sea. Depending on your flight schedule, you can relax or explore local highlights. Our Driver and Guide will pick you up the Aktau cities airport

🌇 Optional City Tour:

Caspian Sea Promenade: A tranquil walkway with beautiful sunset views over the Caspian — the world’s largest inland sea.

Aktau Lighthouse: A unique lighthouse perched atop an apartment block, guiding ships since the Soviet era.

Mangystau Local History Museum: Learn about ancient fossils, Silk Road artifacts, and the nomadic heritage of the region.

15th Microdistrict: Explore Soviet architecture and vibrant wall murals telling the story of the city.

🏨 Overnight: Hotel in Aktau

🍽️ Dinner: Local restaurants

📅 Day 2 – Kapamsay Canyon & Torysh Valley of Balls

🏞️ Kapamsay Canyon

Carved from ancient limestone, Kapamsay Canyon offers dramatic cliff walls, dry streambeds, and stark beauty shaped over millions of years. The canyon sits on the remnants of the Tethys Ocean, giving the rocks a pale marine color. It’s perfect for short hikes, geological exploration, and peaceful immersion in nature.

⚽ Torysh Valley of Balls

A surreal and mysterious site, Torysh is filled with thousands of near-perfect spherical stone formations scattered across the desert. These 120-million-year-old concretions are believed to have formed from ancient seabed sediment under high pressure. It’s a must-see location for photographers and geologists alike.

🌟 Things to Do:

• Easy hiking along the canyon floor
• Drone photography of the “stone ball fields”
• Learn about the valley’s natural history from your guide

🚙 Distance: 270 km | 🕐 Driving Time: ~5 hours

🏕️ Overnight: Yurt camp in Shetpe

🍳 Breakfast: At your Hotel

🥪 Lunch: Picnic during travel

🍽️ Dinner: Cooked fresh at camp by our chef

📅 Day 3 – Ayrakty Plateau & Tuzbair Salt Flat

🏔️ Ayrakty Plateau

Ayrakty is famous for its jagged rock formations resembling ancient castles or a crumbled stone city. Once used as a shelter by nomadic tribes, the site has a spiritual ambiance and offers fantastic silhouettes at sunrise and sunset.

🧂 Tuzbair Salt Flat

Stretching to the horizon, Tuzbair is a brilliant white salt flat, a former seabed turned into a dazzling open space surrounded by cliffs and rock towers. Its surface becomes mirror-like after rain, and its dry, cracked salt crust is an iconic photo subject.

🌟 Things to Do:

• Climb viewpoints over the Tuzbair cliffs
• Set up panoramic landscape shots at dusk or dawn
• Enjoy stargazing far from city lights

🚙 Distance: 220 km | 🕐 Driving Time: ~4.5 hours

🏕️ Overnight: Tent camp at Tuzbair

🍳 Breakfast: At camp

🥪 Lunch: Picnic on the way

🍽️ Dinner: At camp, prepared by our cook

📅 Day 4 – Bokty Mountain, Tiramisu Hills & Bozzhyra Canyon (Lower View)

🗻 Bokty Mountain

A colorful mesa rising sharply from the desert, Bokty resembles a painted layer cake with shades of red, orange, and white. Its vibrant tones shift with sunlight, making it one of Mangystau’s most photogenic locations.

🍰 Kyzylkup Hills (“Tiramisu Hills”)

These striped, rolling hills are affectionately called “Tiramisu” due to their layered appearance — white, brown, and red sedimentary layers create a visual delight that looks good enough to eat.

🪨 Bozzhyra Canyon (Downside View)

At ground level, Bozzhyra’s bizarre landscape surrounds you. Towering limestone spires — often called the “Fangs of Bozzhyra” — rise hundreds of meters from the canyon floor. The alien terrain creates a cinematic setting.

🌟 Things to Do:

• Hike around the canyon base
• Sunset photography of Bokty & Bozzhyra formations
• Fly a drone over the alien terrain

🚙 Distance: 200 km | 🕐 Driving Time: ~4 hours

🏕️ Overnight: Tent camp at Bozzhyra

🍳 Breakfast: At camp

🥪 Lunch: Picnic during travel

🍽️ Dinner: Freshly prepared by camp cook

📅 Day 5 – Karynzharyk Plateau

🌄 Karynzharyk Plateau

This remote plateau features a massive salt depression and five iconic rocky hills that seem to float like islands in the salt. It’s one of the most surreal places in all of Kazakhstan — windless, dry, and endlessly photogenic.

Once completely underwater, the plateau’s geology still tells the story of the ancient Tethys Ocean. The mirror reflections and blue-tinged evening light are unforgettable.

🌟 Things to Do:

• Walk along the salt crust
• Set up panoramic photo compositions
• Stargaze from your cliffside campsite

🚙 Distance: 150 km | 🕐 Driving Time: ~3.5 hours

🏕️ Overnight: Camp at Karynzharyk rim

🍳 Breakfast: At camp

🥪 Lunch: Picnic on the way

🍽️ Dinner: Cooked dinner by campfire

📅 Day 6 – Bozzhyra Canyon (Upper Viewpoint)

🦅 Bozzhyra Upper Viewpoint

Seen from above, Bozzhyra Canyon reveals its true majesty. You’ll look out over cliffs, white valleys, and rock spires that stretch toward the horizon. This eagle’s-eye view is one of Central Asia’s most iconic natural landscapes.

The silence, wind, and scale make it a powerful place for quiet reflection, photography, and meditation.

🌟 Things to Do:

• Hike to cliff’s edge for sweeping views
• Watch vultures soar below
• Enjoy the sunset and photograph the vast emptiness

🚙 Distance: 130 km | 🕐 Driving Time: ~3 hours

🏕️ Overnight: Tent Camp near Bozzhyra Upper View

🍳 Breakfast: At camp

🥪 Lunch: Picnic during the journey

🍽️ Dinner: Prepared by our tour cook

📅 Day 7 – Beket-Ata Underground Mosque & Return to Aktau

⛪ Beket-Ata Underground Mosque

Built in the 18th century, this sacred mosque was carved into a rock face by the revered Sufi mystic Beket-Ata. Pilgrims walk up a winding trail to reach the cool, cave-like chambers that still serve as a place of prayer and reflection.

The surrounding area is serene, with desert plateaus stretching in every direction.

🌟 Things to Do:

• Light hike up to the mosque
• Explore the inner prayer rooms
• Learn about Kazakhstan’s Sufi traditions from your guide

🚙 Distance: 370 km | 🕐 Driving Time: ~6 hours

🏨 Overnight: Hotel in Aktau

🍳 Breakfast: At camp

🥪 Lunch: Picnic en route

🍽️ Dinner: On your own (optional seaside dinner)