Dont walk - RUN - to SUV tours. Peter and I had the most magical honeymoon in Kazakhstan and Kyrgystan. Wauw! I can not recommend this tour enough with Kiril. SUVtours offers some of the most breathtaking locations we have ever experienced, and their flexibility allows you to tailor the tour to match your specific preferences. We will come back!

I booked our 7 days private trip with SUV Tours. The scope included provision of SUV and a driver guide. We agreed to take care of our accommodation, food and tickets for all attractions. The interaction with Xenia during the finalization of our plan and itinerary was great. She was candid and helpful to clear my questions, provide suggestions and finally confirm the trip. Since we were to manage all accommodations, food and tickets; there was not much on the part of the driver guide to do except for facilitating the language barriers. I booked a SUV for 2 adults and 3-year-old daughter of mine to be comfortable. I expected that we will have enough space for ourselves and our luggage. However, it looked like we had a lack of clarity as to what we should expect from the driver guide. We completely missed the thing that we were required to take care of the comfort, needs and mood of the driver. We thought that it would be otherwise. But it was our mistake that we did not make this clear prior to our booking. Our driver guide was Bakhtiyar. Here is how it went for us – 1. The driver came with a broken door for the boot which was a great effort for him to open the door to manage luggage movement in and out. So he expected us to keep the diaper bag and other stuff with us on the rear seat. After I insisted that he opens the boot, he started lowering the glass of boot door – it meant we lift the bags till our chest to put these inside the boot. 2. When we requested him to switch on the AC for some time just to cool us down after we got into the vehicle (when we rushed our morning and were kind of sweating), he told us that there is no need for the AC. 3. When I asked him to move the car a little in another parking lot to be able to lift my daughter who was sleeping in the rear seat, he told us to use only one door since he had already stopped the car where he wanted to. I had to literally explain him that it will be little easier for me to lift my sleeping daughter comfortably if he just push a little on the accelerator and the car will go where I was requesting him to take. 4. After my daughter had a little scream of excitement seeing her grandparents on the phone call (which happened for the 1st time on our 3rd day into the trip), he immediately told us that he cannot tolerate this since he has got sensitive ears. He further added that we are humans and not animals to behave like this!! (really??). It was a good thing that he apologized after this. 5. When we were traveling to Saty village from Almaty, it was around 35 degrees on the highway and quite sunny. He didn’t want to increase the AC fan which was set to the minimum. He also didn’t want to close the driver side window and the sound of wind was unbearable. When I asked him to close it for a while, he literally scared us by telling that he would drop us off in the middle of the road and wait for the other car to come and take us further. He clicked us without taking our permission (where I was seating in the front seat, my wife & daughter were seating the back seats – according to him, it was not appropriate and he wanted all of us to be in the rear seats). 6. At this point, I messaged Xenia about the threat we received. Got no response. Then I called on the landline mentioned on Google page of SUV Tours and reached Kiril – the owner. He spoke to Bakhtiyar and he agreed to take us to Saty without any change in the day plan. We were offered an option to change the driver guide which I didn’t want to go for without knowing how the other driver would turn out. 7. Late in the night, Xenia also replied to Whatsapp message. But her reply was more like "there are even few rules to be followed on the airplane and driver is responsible for your safety". Upon asking what was unsafe in asking to switch on the AC and keep the window closed on highway, she told us that she has sent our review to her manager. I even told her that he being in charge of our safety always remain on phone while driving. No reply to that. I felt like she implying we were at fault based on what she must have heard from her driver. 8. This entire thing, kept us at bay. We were apprehensive of saying anything even though were not very comfortable always. Because we wanted to avoid any more conflicts and ruin our trip. Who would scare us to drop off in the middle of no where?? We had limited time and wanted not to waste it. 9. About Bakhtiyar, he was a good driver. But nothing him was helpful to us as a touristic guide. He never helped us talk to the locals/hotels/restaurants despite seeing us struggling to communicate. We felt that he was more concerned about his comfort that ours. 10. Fortunately, rest of the trip went fine. He became absolutely helpful on our last day where he for the first time accompanied us throughout. He hiked with us to the hot water springs in Alma-Arasan. Helped us with our bag when we were managing our daughter. And he also gifted the drawing book to our daughter while dropping us off at the airport. It was a day when I would decide on whether to tip and how much. SUV Tours has got the fantastic ratings on TripAdvisor and that’s how I booked with them. Xenia was good at the booking stage. Car condition was good except for the broken boot door. What I realized is that I should have been extremely careful in spelling out what we were expecting and what the driver guide would expect from us (generally it is understood that driver would accommodate the requests we made - but not with SUV Tours). You guys take care of this while booking with them.

Go for this Kazakh - Kyrgyz combo. You will get the full package of lakes , waterfalls, pine forests , hiking wildlife and canyons. Sticking to Kazakhstan means you are missing out on a lot of water , mountains and pine forests. Ask for Sultan to guide you. His experience , stories and knowledge of lesser known paths is irreplaceable. You will be exhausted every night because you will be traveling 3 to 5 hrs daily. But it is broken up and is totally worthwhile. Bring sambal/chillies if you are Malaysian 😄....the food is not spicy. Drop by the Green Market in Almaty before your flight

What a fantastic experience and brilliant company to have cover our tour. Everything was super smooth and Ramil was a great guide. We saw some unbelievable sights and I would recommend this tour to anyone.

We had a fantastic 7-day tour in Kazakhstan with SUV Tours. Our guide was friendly, responsible, and took great care of our group, which included elderly and children. He ensured our comfort and shared interesting historical insights about the beautiful country. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and highly recommend SUV Tours!

Friendly and knowledgable guide, comfortable car and great scenery. Also stopped for some tasty local food along the way.

Totally unprofessional company. Had a tour confirmed with a pickup between 05:00 and 05:30 - but nobody showed up. Phone not answered, whatsapp messages ignored. Suddenly shortly before 08:00 the message that the amount charged to the credit card will be refunded.. But no explanation even I had demanded one. Now it was too late to search alternative options for a day tour. Stay away.

The trip was wonderful and pretty well planned. Mr. Kirill and Ms. Xeniya were most helpful and even managed some very last minute changes that we required. The glamping at Kolsai Lakes was beyond fantastic and the best part of the journey. Mr. Ramil, our guide was ever attentive and remained with us at every step. Loved the trip and would recommend to anyone else. Cheers !!

This trip was amazing. We were 2 families with children so we opted to travel by SUV vehicles. Our guide Ramil was quite knowledgeable and explained everything well. Most of the places we toured were at the countryside so the views were amazing and journey interesting. Will definitely recommend this tour for people who are interested to know more about history and culture.

In the planning stages Krill communicated with us promptly. After knowing our interests and our needs, he prepared a 12 days itinerary covering Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Excellent itinerary covering amazing landscapes. All arrangements were smooth. Selection of places of stay were the most comfortable available.Same with restaurants. Even when there was a problem with hotel cancellation, not the fault of SUV but the hotel, Krill rearranged our stay immediately. We will always remember Chonashu Pass and the glacier area. Alex was our guide and driver, and excellent one, for the whole tour. We really enjoyed the trip with him. We appreciated his flexibility and his choice of places. It is important to note that the cars used by SUV are well maintained, comfortable and in good condition. We leave both countries with very good memories and can fully recommend the services provided by SUV. Thank you for making this trip a very enjoyable experience.

We are a couple who have travelled to more than 40 countries and have taken help of a local tour company in 5 so we have some idea on what to expect in what kind of budget. This is our personal experience and might not be applicable to every type of traveler. * Food We felt the food options were not upto the mark. In Basshy we didn't have vegetarian option for the first day lunch and my wife only had to eat boiled potatoes inspite of mentioning it much in advance. In Saty, the options were less and limited. We had to eat the same dinner on both the days. Breakfast didn't have anything other than porridge and bread. Overall rating 2/5 * Accommodation Basshy accomodation was awful. The room was stuffy, smelly, hot and filled with mosquitoes. It couldn't have been worse for us, we couldn't sleep half the night. Saty acco was better in all regards from Basshy but still pretty average. Overall rating 3/5 * Guide Although our guide tried his best but we found many things lacking. To start with - a) He was always with us even after reaching the location. Since we are a couple we would have appreciated space in exploring things ourselves especially after reaching the exact spot. He used to walk side by side of us all the time and it felt rude in letting him know about it. b) After complaining to him immediately about our accomodation in Basshy, he didn't do anything. He could have atleast talked to the owner and provided us with a table fan but he didn't. We saw other guides making a lot of effort on that regard. It was honestly very disappointing. c) He cared more about his food needs rather than us. Even when my wife didn't have anything to eat in Basshy he didn't make an effort to make sure she was served 'something' I believe he was trying his best but in our opinion he was not a proper 'guide' and was doing this job only as a part time. It was utterly disappointing for us. Overall rating 2/5 * Trip itinerary We believe trip planning could have been done in a much better fashion. We could have covered Issyk lake while going from Almaty towards Charyn. Also stay in Saty could have been extended by 1 day so that we could have hiked in Kolsai lakes. Overall we didn't feel like much customisation was available in real time for us inspite of charging a lot of money. Overall rating 3/5 The country is beautiful and we loved the drive and natural beauty it offered. That made up for a lot of issues we faced during the trip. We are not a high maintenance people and have backpacked in minimal budget across many countries hence the issues we faced shouldn't be waived off randomly. We are also not typical tourists who would just go to a place for pictures but for the overall experience. Overall trip rating for us 2/5 Although we would tell everyone we know to go to Kazakhstan and esp Almaty region but we would unfortunately be asking them to look for a tour company other than SUV tours. Maybe it was just us who felt this way but we think it is our right that we tell our story.

We took the 3 day tour with SUVTours. We had a wonderful experience. We travelled with 6 years old kid, thus itinerary was slightly changed for us. Except a few minor things, things were as per itinerary. Our guide was very good as well. Would highly recommend everyone to opt SUVTours for travels to Almaty.

Fantastic experience. Nice hotels, delicious local food and extra ordinary support from the guide Mr. Yelder of SUV tours and very new Nissan Patrol vehicle are key highlights. We enjoyed a lot and suggest to others

We did a 8 days tour for 4 people and were taken care from day 1. The organisers took full ownership and also helped us with Vegetarian food. Our Guide knew all the places in detail and took us to the right places and was accompanying us. Highly recommended Group for travelers visiting Kazakhstan.

Outstanding sights/experiences: Charyn Canyon (more than the usual visitor main site), Arabel Pass (permafrost) and Eagle Hunting experience. Safe, and pleasant guide/driver in a comfy SUV. We felt like we were going around with a friend. Great delicious food which still met our dietary/allergy restrictions.