Transport from Astana Airport: My Tips
Regular city buses and the underground/overground connect the airport to the city centre, the coach station and the railway station.
Car hire companies are also available in the terminal, as are, of course, countless taxis.
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Metro / elevated railway
To the left of the terminal (approx. 100 metres) is the metro station, or rather the elevated city railway station.
The single line runs directly to the city centre, past the Baiterek monument, and on to the eastern part of the city, terminating at the main long-distance railway and bus station, Nurly Zhol.
You pay the fare at the turnstile in the station using your own contactless card.
- Ticket price – 200 kzt
- Journey time – approx. 30 minutes to Baiterek Square and approx. 45 minutes to the railway station
- Frequency – every 4 to 10 minutes
The metro runs from approximately 6.00 am to 11.00 pm
City buses
There are public transport bus stops in front of Terminal 2. Three regular bus routes serve the airport.
Buses usually run from around 6.00 am to 10.30 pm.
You pay the fare by tapping your own contactless card on the validator inside the bus.
- Route 10– via the centre of Astana (Khan Satyr shopping centre and Baiterek Square) – goes to Astana-1 railway station
- Ticket price – 110 kzt
- Journey time – approx. 45 minutes to Baiterek Square and approx. 70 minutes to the railway station
- Frequency – every 20 to 30 minutes
- Map of all stops
- Route 12– via the central Baiterek Square to Astana-1 railway station, following a slightly different route to Route 10
- Fare – 110 kzt
- Journey time – approx. 45 minutes to Baiterek Square and approx. 70 minutes to the railway station
- Frequency – every 15 to 20 minutes
- Map of all stops
- Route 501– runs along the western part of the city centre
- Fare – 110 kzt
- Journey time – approx. 40 minutes to the western part of the city centre
- Frequency – every 15 to 20 minutes
- Map of all stops
Information on routes and service frequency can be found on the airport website:nn-airport.kz/bus. You can track the real-time location of buses online at:2gis.kz/astana.
Public transport map
Below you will find an up-to-date map of all metro and bus routes to Astana Airport.
Taxi / Yandex
There are always plenty of taxis waiting at the airport, and the fare to the city centre is around 4 500 kzt.
The Yandex Taxi mobile app is also available in Astana; you can use it to travel to the city centre for approximately between 2 200 kzt and 3 000 kzt, depending on current demand.
Car hire
There are several car hire companies operating at the terminal (such as Avis). If you’re planning to head out into the countryside, hiring a car is definitely the best and most flexible option.
Prices for a week’s hire start at around 450 eur.
Any questions left?
If you have any questions or comments about the article...
3 comments
Current information - June 2025:
No cash payment on the bus, only Transcard. This cannot be purchased at the airport, so a taxi is probably the only option. I recommend Yandex, via the app you can go from the airport to the centre for around 1300 KZT. Apparently the card vending machines have all been cancelled, I finally bought my card at Centralnaya kassa prospekt Koshkarbaeva 50/1. The card is 1000 KZT and one ride is 110 KZT. There are plenty of buses running. Routes can be found on the map https://2gis.kz/astana. Bus 100 from the airport apparently no longer runs.
Thanks for the update!
Although the CTS app is not available in English, it also requires a Kazakh phone number to register. The Avtobys app can be registered via Telegram, but the instructions at https://www.transcard.kz/kk-instructions/ mention the possibility to pay with it only for suburban lines. On some websites it says that it is possible to pay by card... I guess the Kazakhs have not yet abandoned the Soviet way of thinking "to confuse the enemy". The airport website still mentions shuttle bus #201, but the CTS page with a map of the routes doesn't work just in case.
The CTS app for Android is currently unavailable. There's a Smart Astana app that includes transport, but you can't even tick without registering.
September 2026 – a new elevated railway runs to the airport. The line runs through the new city centre to Nurly Zhol railway station. The fare is 200 KZT, and you can pay by card. Operating hours are approximately 6.00–23.00.
A Yandex ride to the old railway station at half past five in the morning costs 2,370 KZT, with a journey time of 40 minutes.
Thanks for the up-to-date information; I’ll amend the text.