Shymkent is Kazakhstan's third-largest city and its southernmost, sitting in the fertile Arys River valley not far from the Uzbek border. It is a sprawling, fast-growing place — more Central Asian bazaar town than the modernist showpiece of Astana — with a large Uzbek population, a thriving market culture, and summers that push well past 40 degrees.
The city itself is not a major draw, but the surroundings are. The mountains north of Shymkent offer fantastic landscapes and excellent cycling roads. The ancient Silk Road city of Turkestan, with its magnificent Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), is an easy day trip to the northwest. Shymkent has both a train station and an airport, making it a useful base for exploring southern Kazakhstan.