Astana looks like the world's most expensive city and behaves like one of Central Asia's cheapest. Ride 200-tenge buses between marble ministries, eat 400-tenge samsa at the Green Bazaar, and watch the Ishim sunset from a free embankment.
Central Asia's second-largest mosque is free to enter outside prayer times, roughly 09:00–18:00. Borrow a headscarf and shoe bag at the door at no cost, then look up at the 51m dome and hand-carved Kazakh ornament under the galleries.
An open-air scale map of Kazakhstan the size of a football pitch, with miniature mosques, oil rigs and yurts. Tickets are around 1000 tenge, but the surrounding riverside park, sculpture walk and Ishim benches cost nothing to wander.
The Akmolinsk camp for wives of 'traitors of the motherland' is now a stark memorial 35km west of the city. Entry is free; the Arch of Sorrow, the wagon and the wall of 18,000 names take about two hours to absorb properly.
The paved riverbank between the Presidential Park and the arched footbridge is Astana's best free viewpoint: Bayterek, the Pyramid and the ministries all line up across the water, with free outdoor gym bars and drinking fountains.
Astana's oldest working market on the Right Bank: 400–600 tenge tandyr samsa straight from clay ovens, kurt balls by the scoop, horse-meat kazy at the butcher rows, and dried apricots from Uzbekistan sold by the kilo.
Soviet-style self-service canteens are Astana's cheapest hot meals: point at trays of lagman, plov, borscht and manty and pay by weight. A full tray with tea and bread rarely passes 2000 tenge, less than a coffee on the Left Bank.
The sprawling wholesale bazaar where Astana actually shops: fur hats, Kazakh chapan robes, felt slippers and camel-wool socks at a third of souvenir-shop prices. Cash only, and bargaining down 30 percent is expected.
Mall food courts are the budget traveller's dinner solution: Kazakh chains sell beshbarmak, shelpek flatbread and baursak doughnuts for 1200–2000 tenge with free refills of tea and free clean toilets and Wi-Fi.
Astana's flat fare is around 200 tenge with a transport card, 250 in cash, and route 10 crosses the whole capital: ministries, Khan Shatyr, the river, then the low Soviet streets of the old town. A one-hour rolling city tour.
Ninety hectares of free park behind the Ak Orda palace with fountain cascades, rose beds, shaded pine alleys and unfenced lawns. Open daily until late evening, no ticket, and locals bring thermoses of tea rather than buying anything.
The country's flagship museum has a modest 1500-tenge general ticket, and the Hall of Independence plus the golden warrior replicas justify it. Students and children pay far less; the first-floor lobby and square are free to walk.
A local-favourite free park of artificial lakes, boardwalks and reed banks southwest of the centre, where residents cycle, swim and barbecue. The sunset skyline of the Left Bank towers reflects across the water with no ticket booth in sight.