Caspian Basin

Contents

The Caspian Basin is the westernmost region of Kazakhstan. It spreads from the southern tail of the Ural Mountains, across the Caspian lowlands, to the shores of the Caspian Sea. This 436,000 km² area is Kazakhstan's oft-overlooked slice of easternmost Europe and is bigger than Sweden. The country's major port cities and some Soviet-style beach resorts line the sea shore. The region comprises the provinces of Atyrau, Mangystau, and West Kazakhstan. If you find yourself outside of the three provincial capitals, Atyrau, Aktau, and Oral, respectively, you are either an oil man, or you're exploring uncharted territory!

Mangystau, which is within the Caspian Basin, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2026.

The sort of place where you can find only the intangible... and oil

Cities

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Map
Map of Caspian Basin
  • 43.652551.15751 Aktau — port city on the Caspian
  • 47.11666751.8833332 Atyrau
  • 45.31666755.23 Beyneu
  • 47.6553.3166674 Makat Makat on Wikipedia
  • 51.222551.37255 Oral

Other destinations

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Understand

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Get in

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Atyrau Airport (GUW IATA)

Get around

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See

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Rock Mosques and Associated Sacred Sites of Mangystau

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A serial world heritage site made up of five underground mosques from the 12th–18th centuries:

  • 43.59713354.0701581 Beket-Ata. OSM directions (updated Jul 2026)
  • 43.54820353.3878582 Shopan-Ata. OSM directions (updated Jul 2026)
  • 43.89977851.8749443 Karaman-Ata. OSM directions (updated Jul 2026)
  • 44.44138951.1333614 Shakpak-Ata. OSM directions (updated Jul 2026)
  • 44.47172251.009755 Sultan-Epe. OSM directions (updated Jul 2026)

Do

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Eat

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Drink

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Stay safe

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This region travel guide to Caspian Basin is an outline and may need more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. If there are Cities and Other destinations listed, they may not all be at usable status or there may not be a valid regional structure and a "Get in" section describing all of the typical ways to get here. Please plunge forward and help it grow!