Aktau (Kazakh: Ақтау, Russian: Актау) is a city of approximately 200,000 citizens on the banks of the Caspian Sea (Kazakh: Каспий теңізі, Russian: Каспийское море) in Kazakhstan.
Aktau means "white mountain" in Kazakh, and the city is the capital of the Region of Mangystau. While the city itself is relatively young, there is a number of ancient historical and nature sites of significance that can be visited in the area. Mangystau translates roughly from Kazakh as "eternal mountains", although the region is actually home to the Karagiye Depression - one of the lowest points in the world at 130 meters below sea level. The region is also home to Sufi-pilgrimage sites such as Beket-Ata, Shakpak-Ata, Shopan-Ata and Masat-Ata, which exist due to Mangystau's location on ancient, but minor, land trading routes around the Caspian.
Aktau is the type of city U2 may have been talking about when they sang about a place where the streets have no names. The city is divided up into largely unlabeled and chaotically numbered districts (including district 9). These are called "micro-raion" in Russian, which even Kazakhs use to describe them in Kazakh. Addresses in Aktau are generally written as follows: 14-42-30, where 14 indicates the district, 42 indicates the apartment or commercial building and 30 indicates the apartment number. House numbering is not sequential. Building numbers are marked based on history of construction or clockwise around the block. City bus fares: 70 tenge (April 2025).
There is a Soviet-era plane on a pedestal just down the hill from the Asian-themed World War II memorial. At this memorial, an eternal flame (Russian: Вечный Огонь) burns under a circle of partial-white arches, which are reminiscent of a yurt. Across from the memorial, there is a drama theater with regular productions in Russian. Just south of these structures, on Aktau's middle north-south thoroughfare, you will find a collection of restaurants, night clubs and shopping centers. A well-appointed grocery store (Ramstor), movie theater and night club are in the Ardager shopping complex (district 9).
The beaches of Aktau have nice water, and you are allowed to swim anywhere. However, the amount of glass on the beaches can make your beach experience dicey in many locations. Watch out for water snakes in the more rocky parts. Usually, the locals stick to the beaches below the Renaissance. Behind the beach-side grills and clubs there, the beaches are fairly clean and sandy. Unfortunately you cannot kick back just anywhere on the edge of the Caspian, or around the town for that matter, and down a sunset drink. You are not allowed to drink alcohol outside of these beach-side bar and grills, although there are absolutely no signs to warn you otherwise.
Shwarma places behind Ardager (Ардагәр) Mall, near the eternal flame memorial. Ask for a 350 tenge shwarma without sauce ("bez sousa" or "bez mayonez") if you don't want it swimming in mayonnaise. Japanese CIS style is available at Le Sushi Aktau at Astana Mall, the Jazz Club in district 5 or Restobar TOFU Aktau in district 7a. You should expect to pay at least US$10 to have a couple of small roleLls at any of those places. Chinese is available at Steak House Napoli Chinatown (Napoli Rest) Restaurant at the Astana Mall for around 1500 tenge per person. Korean is also available at Restobar TOFU Aktau in district 7a. Italian also available at Napoli Rest, along with hookah (Russian: кальян) a…
The English Pub at the 5 Star Hotel "Grand Victory" in district 13 has a laid-back atmosphere and comfortable seats, but charges US$5-8 per pint. 1 Gk Tri Del'fina or Three Dolpins (3 Дельфина), ☏ +7 7292 31 49 79. offers a well-priced menu and drinks (updated Feb 2021) 2 Bukowski Gril' Bar (Pub Grill Bukowski), 2 microdistrict building 66, ☏ +7 7753 32 63 26. daily 12:00-01:00. Used to be Guns and Roses, but still has a live music scene.
Guide content from Wikivoyage contributors (CC BY-SA) — abridged; the full article has much more.
In Jul, Aktau typically sees ~33°C daytime highs and 0 rainy days.
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