The Right Bank is the older Astana — what existed before the city became the capital and was renamed. The streets are Soviet-grid, the buildings are mostly 1960s and 1970s panel housing and a few 19th-century survivors, the markets are busy and the cafes are cheap. This is where most of the city's actual residents live and where day-to-day Kazakhstani life happens.
For visitors the appeal is the contrast with the showpiece left bank. The pedestrian Beibitshilik Street is the main shopping artery; the central market (Zelyony Bazaar) is the place to see local produce, dried fruit, horse-meat sausage, and tea wholesalers. The right-bank Nur-Astana Mosque and the Central Park are both worth a stop. The walk across one of the river bridges from the left bank to here, and back, gives the most complete picture of the city.