Oi-Qaragai or before known as Lesnaya skazka is a very cosy ski resort worth visiting not only in winter but all year around. In summer you can enjoy riding on cable car consisting of open benches 4 seats each. This place is also known for beautifull nature around you and just walking along the road will give you very nice impressions of surrounding alpine trees, green grass, crisp clean air and beautiful mountains.

Oi-Karagai (Lesnaya skazka) is a very nice alternative to Shymbulak ski resort and very interesting place to visit during your stay in Almaty.

The resort offers you such activities as spa and wellness center, ropes park, zip line on the height of 100 meters above the earth. You can rent mountain bikes here and go for downhill on prepared mountain trails.

There are 3 nice restaurants located on the territory of Oi-Qaragai resort.

Driving time to the all year round ski resort is 40-50 minutes from Almaty city center. Lesnaya skazka is located on the height of 1750 meters above sea level surrounded by beautiful mountains.

If you are looking for a taxi with English speaking driver-guide to visit Oi-Karagai resort contact me without any hesitation. I will be glad to organise a tour for you to this gorgeous place, one of the best in Almaty mountains.

• Stay for a night in one or warm rooms of resort’s cottages
• Have lunch/dinner in restaurants located on the territory
• Go by open (bench style) cable car to the top of the mountain for beautiful views around.
• Walk and enjoy crisp clean snow and trees looking like taken and put here from some winter fairy tale
• Just enjoy nature and clean air
• Have any spa procedures or massage sessions for which the resort is quite known. Visit russian style sauna.
• Go for skiing or snow tubing

Both places are worth visiting. Shymbulak is easier to get to, especially in winter. But Oi-Qaragai is more cozy and family oriented, it has more slopes of different difficulty level and may be not so commercialized. Shymbulak has longer cable car going higher to the level of 3200 meters above sea level with grand views of mountains on the top. But in summer I like more OiQaragai cable car because it is much less crowded and has open – bench style seats while cable car on Shymbulak has only closed cabins.

This is link to live video cameras from official resort’s web site – https://oiqaragai.com/en/live

If you plan to stay at resort for a night, please note that check-in time in Oi-Karagay is at 3 p.m. and for early check-in they charge 50% of room cost. Check out is at 12 p.m.