Aktobe

Aktobe (Kazakh: Aqtöbe) is a city in Kazakhstan's Central Highlands.

Understand

Aktobe is an industrial city and one could be excused from not being particularly excited about it, but it is situated to the south of the southern end of the Ural Mountains and thus in the most eastern part of Europe. Not all geographers could agree to date just exactly where Europe's eastern limits run but popular argument is that they cut through Kazakhstan from Aktobe to the Emba River and then thus westwards into the Caspian Sea before passing though Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia en route to the Black Sea.

Get in

Flights to Aktobe have to be searched for at Aktyubinsk, Kazakhstan.

See

• World War II memorial
• Children's Palace theatre
• Aliya Moldagulova Museum

Do

• 1 Central Stadium (Koblandy Batyr Stadium). The local football team FC Aktobe plays its home games at this stadium. (updated Jun 2021)

Sleep

• Ilek Hotel (1 km from train station.). Check-out: noon. Very decent hotel for Kazakh standards. From 5,500 tenge for a single. 
• NiceHostel, 11 microdistrict, d 144 B / 2, n.p. 4 (on north quadrant of where Ul. Bokenbay Batyra and Abulkhair Khan Ave intersect, across from Dastan Hotel.), ☏ +7 778 177 1117. A ship-shape hotel with wood bunks. $13. 

Connect

As of September 2024, Aktobe has 4G from Beeline and Tele2, and 5G from Kcell. The signal is patchy on the approach highways.