Day Tour to the Mysterious Petroglyphs of Tanbally Tas
Tour details:
Price: starting from 100 USD per person (see full info below)
Type of Tour: Private
Duration: Full Day
Pick up and drop off at your hotel or anywhere else you’re staying in Almaty. Airport pick up and/or drop off are also available.
Meals: full lunch box with meat, vegetables and side dish; vegetarian or vegan options are available.
What's included:
Transportation
Food – picnic
Tour-guide
Water
All fees & tickets
What to take with you:
Comfortable shoes
Sunscreen
Hat
Insect repellent
Tour Overview:
Some places ask you to slow down and pay attention. Tanbaly Gorge is one of them. On this 8-hour private day tour from Almaty, you’ll step into one of the most significant prehistoric sites in Central Asia — a UNESCO World Heritage canyon holding over 5,000 petroglyphs spread across 900 hectares of ancient rock, carved by Bronze Age pastoral peoples more than three thousand years ago.
In a comfortable air-conditioned vehicle, your expert guide takes you deep into the Chu-Ili Mountains and brings this extraordinary place to life — the beliefs, the rituals, the daily lives of the people who made these carvings, and the questions that still keep archaeologists up at night.
At Dostar Trips, “dostar” means friends in Kazakh — and that’s genuinely how we think of the people who travel with us. From the moment we pick you up to the moment we drop you back, we’re here for whatever you need.
Highlights:
- The State Archaeological Reserve-Museum of Tanbaly day trip
Visit a UNESCO World Heritage Site!
All entrance fees included
Free hotel pick up and drop-off included
Lunch-box is included
Informative, friendly, and professional guide
Itinerary:
Your guide and driver collect you from your hotel at 9am and head out toward the Chu-Ili Mountains – and one of the most quietly extraordinary places you’ll visit in Kazakhstan.
Tanbaly Gorge is an open-air museum unlike any other. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004, this ancient canyon holds thousands of petroglyphs carved into rock during the Bronze Age – and the moment you step into it, something shifts. The canyon feels old in a way that’s hard to articulate. Your guide brings it to life, explaining the meaning behind the carvings and the lives of the people who made them: their culture, their beliefs, their rituals, their world.
Among the most remarkable figures you’ll encounter are the so-called sun deities – human-like forms with large disc-shaped heads surrounded by halos of spots and rays, pecked into the rock with extraordinary precision. According to UNESCO and academic researchers, these figures were at the centre of an ancient sun god cult, worshipped here more than three thousand years ago. Whether they represent divine beings, shamanic visions, or both is still debated by scholars – but what is clear is that this canyon was a sacred place, a site of ritual and ceremony, where processions wound between the rocks and offerings were made. Standing here, that ancient world feels very close.
The walk through the canyon is unhurried and deeply absorbing – the kind of experience that stays with you long after the day is done. Afterwards, we settle in for a picnic in the gorge before making the 2.5–3 hour drive back to Almaty.
Your driver drops you at your hotel, right where the day began.
Your Day Tour to the Mysterious Petroglyphs of Tanbally Tas on the map:
Prices for the Day Tour to the Mysterious Petroglyphs of Tanbally Tas, USD:
This is a private tour. Each listed price is the total for your group size (1-5 guests), not a per person rate. Usually we don’t match solo travelers or combine separate bookings, sometimes we can do it only if participants agreed and their dates match, however unfortunately it rarely happens.
If your party size changes, the price will adjust to the corresponding group tier.
For groups of 6+ guests, please contact us for options.
Standard
Your own expert English-speaking guide, an experienced driver, and everything taken care of — accommodation, meals, entry tickets, and water. Just show up and enjoy.
Solo traveller
$350
total
Private only, no group matching. $350 for one guest.
2 people
$190 / person
$380 total
Private only, no group matching. $190 per person for group of two guests.
3 people
$165 / person
$495 total
Private only, no group matching. $165 per person for group of three guests.
4 people
$130 / person
$520 total
Private only, no group matching. $130 per person for group of four guests.
5 people
$110 / person
$550 total
Private only, no group matching. $110 per person for group of five guests.
What's included:
Transportation
Food – picnic
Tour-guide
Water
All fees & tickets
Frequently Asked Questions
What vehicle will be used for the tour, and is it a 4×4 with rear seat-belts and child seats?
For our tours we usually use such cars as Toyota Land Cruiser or Toyota Sequoia.
We utilize only 4×4 vehicles to ensure a safe and reliable journey. Our fleet consists primarily of Toyota Land Cruisers and Toyota Sequoias.
Each vehicle is maintained to a high standard and undergoes a comprehensive safety inspection before every departure. For your safety, all cars are equipped with functional seat belts in the rear seats. Furthermore, if a child seat is required for your trip, we will provide one to ensure the comfort and safety of your younger travelers.
Why there's only one Standard option?
- The Tanbaly Petroglyphs tour is Standard only — and here’s why:
Tanbaly is one of those places where a guide isn’t just a nice addition — it’s essential. Many of the most remarkable petroglyphs are hidden from plain sight, and entire ceremonial scenes are easy to walk straight past without knowing what to look for. Without an expert guiding you, you’d leave having seen a fraction of what’s actually there. - There’s also a practical reason: the site administration requires all visitors to be accompanied by a qualified guide to protect the petroglyphs from accidental damage. If you arrive without one, a site employee will be assigned to follow your group — silently, and in Kazakh or Russian only.
Is it possible to arrange vegetarian meals?
Absolutely! We are happy to arrange vegetarian meals for you. Just let us know your dietary preferences when booking and we’ll take care of the rest. We can also accommodate vegan, raw, gluten-free, dairy-free, and most other dietary requirements — no one should have to worry about food on a trip like this. Just let us know and we’ll make it work!
Is this a fully private tour for our family, or could other guests be added?
This will be your fully private tour, no other guests will be added.
I see similar offers from other tour companies with cheaper prices, why your price is higher?
Great question — and we’d rather be upfront about it than defensive.
Our drivers. We work with a small, trusted group of professionals who drive well-maintained premium 4WD vehicles. They don’t speed, they know every rough stretch of road in every national park we visit, and they’ve spent years mastering routes that less experienced drivers find genuinely challenging. If our regular drivers are unavailable, we don’t run the tour — we’d rather reschedule than compromise on who’s behind the wheel.
Our guides. Every guide we work with has gone through our own training programme, speaks confident conversational English, and will take you through the history, geology, geography, flora and fauna of every place you visit. Many have been with us for years. Same rule applies: if our guides are unavailable, the tour doesn’t run.
Our support. Behind every tour is an office team available to help with anything — customising your itinerary, answering questions, and making sure every detail is taken care of before and during your trip.
Our values. We pay our team fairly, because people who take genuine pride in their work deserve to be compensated well for it. That’s how we retain the same trusted faces year after year — and why our guests keep coming back.
Our accountability. We are a fully licensed, tax-paying tour operator — a legitimate company with real accountability to our guests, our team, and the law.
Cheaper options exist, and we respect that budget matters. But when you’re travelling far from home in remote national parks and on rough mountain roads, the question worth asking is: who do I trust to get us there and back safely, and make it truly memorable? We’d love to be the answer to that question.
What's your cancelation policy?
Cancellation policy:
– If you need to cancel your tour and it’s more than 7 days before the start date, you’ll get your full deposit back.
– If you cancel less than 7 days before the tour, unfortunately, you won’t be able to get that deposit back.
In the event that the weather does not permit us to visit the planned locations, your guide will propose an alternative itinerary that is suitable for the current conditions. While we cannot control the weather, please rest assured that we always strive to ensure you have a wonderful experience, no matter the circumstances.
I want to book the tour, how do I proceed?
1. Choose your date — use the calendar to select your preferred departure date. Greyed-out dates are sold out, but you can join the waitlist if needed.
2. Select your group size — pick the package that matches your group. The more people, the better the price per person.
3. Fill in participant details — you’ll be asked for basic information about each person in your group. There’s also a Notes to Organizer field — feel free to use it for any special requests or questions for us.
4. Agree to the terms & conditions — a quick read before you confirm.
5. Travel insurance — you’ll have the option to add travel insurance powered by Trawick International, covering trip cancellations, missed flights, and medical emergencies while travelling. Entirely optional, but worth considering for peace of mind.
6. Payment — choose whichever payment method works best for you: credit or debit card, US bank account, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. All transactions are secure and encrypted. You only pay a 10% deposit today — the remaining balance is due closer to the tour date. Prefer to pay in full upfront? That option is available too.
Hit Confirm Booking and you’re all set. We’ll be in touch shortly to take care of everything else. Looking forward to showing you Kazakhstan!
What is your booking software, is it safe?
We use WeTravel – a secure, user-friendly Dutch platform designed to book and pay for multi-day, specialized group trips. It allows travelers to pay in multiple currencies, set up flexible payment plans, and securely upload necessary documents, all while providing a clear overview of their itinerary and payment status.
Key features for guests include:
– Secure Payment Options: Guests can pay for trips using credit cards or, often, fee-free local bank transfers (ACH, SEPA, etc.), reducing extra costs.
– Seamless Booking Experience: Guests can easily view itineraries, sign up, and manage their trip details in one place.
– Personalized Profile: Guests have access to a dashboard to check their booking status, payment history, and necessary travel documents.
– Communication: Through WeTravel, travelers can receive updates and communicate directly with trip organizers.
– Essentially, it acts as the secure booking portal for boutique travel companies, retreats, and specialized group tours, providing peace of mind for the consumer.
Testimonials from our guests:
