Getting out from the airport.
Taking a bus will be most economy way of getting from Almaty airport to your hotel. The ticket to any Almaty bus costs only 150 tenge which is around 30 cents. From the airport you can take the bus number 92.
Some secrets from locals.
There is very usefull website citybus.kz where you can watch the buses in real time and their routes. Go to citybus.kz and press the first tab in the right column (it says in Russian – Wath the buses movement)
Then choose the bus number. For example bus number 92 goes from the airport.
And you will see its route and current position of each bus on this route.
Going to Medeo (Shymbulak) by bus.
Bus number 12 goes to Medeo Ice Skating Rink. The road will take around 40 minutes. These are the coordinated of the bus’s stop – 43.2447605,76.9565591. The stop is located just opposite Kazakhstan hotel.
Actually, the rink operates only 3 winter monthes, November and March.
But in summer there is cable car road to Shymbulak and higher from Medeo. This is nuber one place you should visit while in Almaty. And take the cable road up to the highest point, as it consists of 3 parts: Medeo to Chimbulak, then Combi 1 and Combi 2. So buy all 3 parts at once on Medeo. It will be cheaper than if you buy each part separatly.