Kazakhstan: the main routes that appear on maps of the country are asphalt. Kazakhstan is a reasonable wealthy country with a similar GDP per head as Russia (about USD 15k per person annually - i.e. an average family of 4 would have $60,000 to play with each year) ... Its not like Mongolia which is much much less developed. See following chart for full details of comparative economic development of many of the Eurasian states illustrating the purchasing power per person in US dollars. You will see Russia and Kazakhstan are in a different league to the others, up to 8 times the level of economic development of some of the other countries in the region.


Having said that, the country (KZ) is vast, and many old soviet era roads are only now getting around to being repaved. Many of the soviet era paving jobs are very rough asphalt roads.

You really have to make a conscious effort to find off-road in Kazakhstan. Its not something that you have to worry about accidentally stumbling across. Its much more like Russia in most ways, than like Mongolia. Similar level of economic development, but the infrastructure is probably not up to Russian levels. Mongolia in comparison has very limited infrastructure - tho the sudden and rapid rise in incomes in the last 3-5 years has seen a huge amount of roadbuilding going on.

As for choosing main routes (they are all asphalt) ... there is not a lot to see in Kazakhstan. If there is stuff you particularly want to see, then ask around on the Northern Asia section.

The geography is pretty boring, there are no real historical or cultural cities (Uzbekistan has all of those), food is a cross between Russian and Uzbek but worse than both of the above. Almaty is a pleasant city but is expensive - A nice place to visit but no real reason to go there unless its on your route to Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan - which are both spectacular.

In general, a journey to visit central asia should focus on Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan ... for food, culture, history and stunning scenery. Kazakhstan doesnt really have any of the above.

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