Kompot
Tour

Russian-speakers laugh when they hear the colloquial name of this neighborhood, because “Kompot” is a popular drink made from dried fruit — it’s like naming your area “Lemonade.” In this case, Kompot got its name from its fragrant orchards and winding alleyways with names like “Apple Street” and “Cherry Street.” 

When Almaty was a town called Verny in the Tsarist 19th century, this whole area was an isolated oasis across the banks of the Malaya Almatinka River, with only a single bridge to bring city folks to their summer dachas on the other side. Picturesque cottages were built from logs of Tien-Shan spruce and surrounded by gardens fed by glacier water. In the Soviet era, the most beautiful homes were subdivided by the state, and esteemed members of the intelligentsia were built homes where they had the peace and quiet to unleash their creativity. Nowadays Kompot is just a short walk from Almaty’s trendy Golden Quarter, and new apartment blocks are transforming the neighborhood at a shocking rate. 

On this tour, you’ll explore what is left of Almaty’s garden paradise. Starting at the landmark Hotel Kazakhstan, you’ll cross the Malaya Almatinka and enter a whole other world. We’ll visit the home of Kazakhstan’s most famous painter, Abylkhan Kasteev, now a quaint museum, and spy a bizarre mosaic on a Tuberculosis Hospital. A wander through streets lined with fruit trees and old cottages will take you to a street food stall with horse sausage pastries and a legendary oak tree, before finishing at a famous merchant's home that now serves barbecue and beer.