Astana

Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan.

Its name means "the capital." A river called the Ishim flows through it. The city has many tall new buildings.

Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan. It lies in the north of the country, on the banks of the Ishim River, which in the Kazakh language is called the Esil. The river divides the city into an older part on the right bank and a newer part on the left bank.

Astana has grown very fast. Kazakhstan's Bureau of National Statistics gives 1,700,385 people on 1 September 2026, about 61,000 more than at the start of that year.

Astana stands on both banks of the Ishim (Kazakh: Esil) in northern Kazakhstan. The first settlements and the historic center are on the right bank; the left bank, where there were summer cottages before 1997, was built up after the capital moved here, with government buildings, business centers and new housing.

The Bureau of National Statistics estimated 1,700,385 residents on 1 September 2026; the Astana Times reported growth of 61,209 people since the start of 2026, and in January–August 2026 more than three-quarters of the gain came from people moving to the city from elsewhere in Kazakhstan.

Astana has a tall tower with a big golden ball on top. People can go up inside it.

There is also a building shaped like a giant tent, and one shaped like a pyramid.

Astana's best-known landmark is Baiterek, a white tower 105 meters tall holding a golden ball 22 meters across. It was built in 2002. Visitors can go inside the ball, where a monument sits 97 meters up, a height chosen for 1997, the year Astana became the capital.

The British architect Norman Foster designed two other landmarks: the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, a pyramid built in 2006, and Khan Shatyr, a huge tent-shaped building with shops and an indoor beach, opened in 2010.

Baiterek, raised in 2002 on the Left Bank, is 105 m tall and built of metal, glass and concrete; its golden sphere is 22 m across, and a monument inside it, at 97 m, marks 1997, when Astana officially became the capital.

Norman Foster designed the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, the pyramid built in 2006 especially for the second Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions (Prime Minister's office), and Khan Shatyr, opened on 6 July 2010, Astana's city day. The Astana Times described Khan Shatyr in 2014 as a 127,000 m² complex whose special skin was designed to keep an indoor beach resort at about 35 °C all year.

Astana has a new train that runs with no driver!

Computers start it, stop it and open its doors. It carries lots of people across the city.

In May 2026 Astana opened its Light Rail Transit, or LRT, a railway line 22.4 kilometers long with 18 stations. Its trains have no drivers: a computer system controls speeding up, braking and opening the doors, while staff in a control center watch over everything.

Each train can carry more than 600 passengers, and a trip along the whole line was expected to take about 40 minutes. A second phase with more lines is being planned.

Astana's Light Rail Transit opened on 16 May 2026: a 22.4 km line with 18 stations and a depot, served by 15 driverless trains (four of them in reserve), each with room for more than 600 passengers. The automated system handles acceleration, braking, doors and emergency response, with manual controls and dispatcher contact kept for safety, and a dispatch service of 21 specialists.

The Astana Times reported an expected end-to-end trip of about 40 minutes at an average 50–60 km/h, with trains every five to six minutes. A planned second phase would add 26.5 km and 20 stations, reaching Astana-1 railway station, the Zhagalau district and the town of Koshy.

Astana has a big opera house, where people sing and dance on stage.

It has an ice palace for skating. It even has an aquarium with a glass tunnel, where sharks swim over your head!

Astana Opera, the city's opera and ballet theater, was founded in 2013 on the left bank of the Ishim. The Alau Ice Palace, with 8,000 seats, was built for speed skating, ice hockey and figure skating, and hosted the ice events of the 2011 Asian Winter Games.

Astana is more than 3,000 kilometers from the nearest ocean, but the Duman Oceanarium brings the sea to the city. Visitors walk through a 70-meter glass tunnel at the bottom of its main tank.

The State Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Astana Opera, founded in 2013 on the left bank, covers 64,000 m² with a 3,000 m² stage. The 8,000-seat Alau Ice Palace, with a 400 m speed-skating track, hosted the ice events of the 7th Asian Winter Games in 2011.

The Duman Oceanarium, opened in a city more than 3,000 km from the nearest ocean, was described in 2014 as a three-million-liter saltwater aquarium with more than 2,000 animals of over 100 marine species and a 70 m tunnel through its main tank.