Aktau

Aktau (Kazakh: Ақтау, Russian: Актау) is a seaport facing the east coast of the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan. It was formerly known in Russian as Шевченко (Shevchenko) until 1991. The city of 192,000 people (2012 estimate) is the capital of Mangystau Province. It is located on the Mangyshlak Peninsula and was named after the white cliffs (Aktau means "white mountain" in Kazakh) facing the Caspian Sea.

Although the area around Aktau has been inhabited since ancient times, the modern city was only established in 1961 for the purpose of mining the uranium deposits in the area. Originally called Aktau, it was renamed Shevchenko, after Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, during the Soviet era. With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the former name Aktau came to be used once again.

As with many former Soviet cities, Aktau today has a mix of Soviet-style apartments with modern glass business centers. There are a number of memorials and squares in the city. Since 2007, the city has been geared to develop its tourism industry.


Aktau, Kazakhstan

Visiting Aktau

There are day-long trains from Astana, the Kazakh capital, as well as services from Atyrau, Almaty and Shymkent. There are also flights from Atyrau and Almaty as well as international flights from Tbilisi, Moscow, Amsterdam and Yerevan, among others.

Sights & Attractions to visit in Aktau

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.

To get to know me better, do follow me on Facebook!