Shymbulak Resort Hotel — Hotel in Almaty

Shymbulak (Kazakh: Shymbulaq), also known as Chimbulak, is a ski resort near Almaty. It is the largest ski resort in Central Asia. It is located in the upper part of the Medeu Valley in the Zaiilisky Alatau mountain range, at an elevation of 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) above sea level. The resort area is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of Almaty city by Medeo road. It is popular for its mild climate, large quantity of sunny days and great amount of snow through the winter (from November till May).

Shymbulak (also known as "Chimbulak") was disscovered by amateur skiers in the 1940s. Soon after, it became the first downhill route in the Soviet Union. Skiers originally needed to climb up the mountain tops on foot (which took roughly 3 hours). In 1954 a 1500 meters ski tow was built. Starting from 1961, Shymbulak hosted several USSR Championships and the Silver Edelweisse prize skiing competitions. In 1983 it became the Olympic ski training center for the USSR. During this time, various commodities were built including restaurants and hotels.

The annual "Artyemenko" Prize competition has been held in Shymbulak since 2011. The competition is held on February. Almaty hosted the 2011 Asian Winter Games, bid for 2014 Winter Olympics, considered a bid for 2018 Winter Olympics, but decided to bid for 2022 Winter Olympics instead; Shymbulak was a venue for the Alpine Skiing events (both speed and technical), and would have been for the latter.

The Shymbylak ski resort is located in the upper part of the Medeu Valley in the Zaiilisky Alatau mountain range, 25km from Almaty. The resort can be reach by Gondola cars from Meadeu.

The weather varies from 20 °C (68 °F) in summer to −7 °C (19 °F) in winter and the snow base is about 1.5 to 1.8 metres (60–70 in).The average snowfall is around 1.5 m. The duration of the ski season is from November to April.

The ski areas span over 3000 ft of vertical drop (920m) and nearly 7.5 miles (12km) of ski runs. There are three ski lifts at the resort with the highest going to 3200 meters above sea level. There is also a Hotel located at the Resort, enabling those wishing to ski during the day, have a place to stay at night.

It is popular for its mild climate, large quantity of sunny days and great amount of snow through the winter (from November till May). The resort offers a ski and snowboard school. There is also Shymbulak hotel (4 stars) and ski, snowboard and sleigh rentals.

There are three ski lifts, which cumulatively reach Talgar pass (3,200 metres [10,500 ft] above the sea level), the highest point of the ski resort. The total length of the lifts is 3,620 metres (11,880 ft). There are 3 stations of them; the first one is Intersection Station (2,260 metres [7,410 ft] above the sea level) (9 minute trip), then 20th Prop Station (2,630 metres [8,630 ft] above the sea level) (16.5 minutes) and Talgar pass Station (3,200 metres [10,500 ft] above the sea level). There is also Snow-Park for the fans of...

The hotel has so much potential in a perfect location, unfortunately it fails on so many points of what a hotel should offer. Yes location cannot be better than this, located right next to the piste. One lady in the reception was friendly and made no problem when we wanted to check out one day early. I see a neglected hotel when it comes to: Cleaning, Restaurant, Rooms and renovate. Its like no one cares if they sell 5 rooms per night or 25. Where are the owners, managers??||||Cleaning: After we came back from skiing in the afternoon of the first day we found the room the same way we left it in the morning, asked reception why it was not cleaned, they said they only clean if you put the sign on the door. Second day we put the sign on the door, came back in the afternoon to find that they did not clean the room, only put new towels on a chair. Third day, yes they finally cleaned and made up the beds for the first time. If it was a hostel I could accept it but not when you call it a hotel and we booked the Junior suite. ||||Sleep quality: Hard mattresses and bedding's that seen better days. Poor quality of pillows and blankets. To small and to thin blankets and pillows with not much material in them. ||||Room: Looks like a cheap hostel with very old outdated furniture's. Not even night lamps next to the beds. The thing is that it wouldn't take much to fix up the rooms to a higher standard; paint, quality beds and bedding's. Bathroom looks old and poor too. ||||Breakfast and restaurant: We had breakfast included in the room price. Went there one morning out of 4. Very little choice on the buffet, cold dry bread and cheese. Juice only available if you paid for it! This is the first hotel I ever been to that doesn't have any kind of juice for breakfast. Breakfast staff not friendly at all. Restaurant: I asked specifically in an email before i booked the hotel if they had vegetarian dishes on the menu. The answer I got back was that the resort have several restaurants and cafes for me. Restaurant in the hotel had only grilled vegetables and some small salads as vegetarian choice. ||Went to order a bottle of wine to take to the room. The waiter told me that the price in the menu had changed and that the bottle now cost 20% more. This is a...

I decided to stay at Chimbulak Hotel based on a recommendation from a friend back home, who's been here several times and had a fairy tale life of international travels. Perfect place to spend the night if you're visiting Chimbulak! This resort was quite unique to me as I was visiting from the States and my first trip to Central Asia. The views from the hotel as well as the location (right near the lift) were worth the stay alone.

All you have to do is take the lift to the end, to go farther up into the mountains. Lifts are very safe, it's a nice ride; sit back, relax and enjoy the views - you will be surrounding by beautiful, lush and green scenery, and stunning mountains on your way up.

When you arrive, you can see even more impressive, breathtaking views of the snow capped grand mountains. It was unreal, in fact storybook like. When I visited in late summer, it was a nice sunny day, so I was fortunate to experience perfect views.

Bring your best hiking boots for trekking. And it's very picturesque, so bring a good camera too. The farther up you trek and go, the better it gets.

The hotel staff was very friendly and helpful during my stay.

Personally I liked the resort and had a good experience. I even made friends with a few locals at the cafe, including a photographer who was nice enough to take pictures of me outside.

If you're a tourist visiting Almaty, definitely make time for Chimulak. Take a day to enjoy the fresh mountain air and a great day of trekking, picture taking and relaxing after spending the night at this hotel! Well worth the trip and stay...