Grand Hotel Tien Shan

To be honest selected this hotel accidentally but it proved to be a great choice. Located at a very prime location in almaty as most of the must visit sites of almaty is around 2km radius from this hotel. Can be accessed easily by walking. If you are travelling as adults or with elder kids then this hotel will be the best as you can prevent taking the day tours operator and explore everything by walking by yourself. For traveling with kids then take a taxi which will cost much less then taking the tour operator. The church green bazaar, chocolate factory, Republic square, everything is close by. The staff speaks English and they are very nice. They help you with all needs. The restaurant is not so expensive when compared to the surrounding restaurants. The rooms are maintained well, cleaned everyday. Bring your travel adapters with you as they don't have it. A few meters walk there are shops where you can buy some snacks and grocery.

Phenomenal hotel, food & spa! We stayed at this hotel for a week and we loved it so much—the nicest staff, comfortable clean room, excellent spa treatments and facilities, breakfast buffet delicious and changing regularly. We loved the boutique aspect of this hotel and its central location.

Positives: the location is prime. The pool and spa are really nice. The buffet breakfast is great with a variety of foods to choose from except for bread which was limited. Staffs were polite. The taxi to the airport was on time and the ride was very smooth. Negatives: the tap water is NOT potable, yet they leave a 0,5l bottle of water as complementary every day, clearly not sufficient. There is no tea kettle or coffee machine in the rooms. The rooms are dark and don't have good lighting. The beds are not super comfortable and are old. The AC makes noise and is not effective at all. Some rooms facing the street are very noisy in the morning. The rooms are not noise isolated and this you even hear people walking in the corridors. The electric plugs do not work when the lights are off and this is the strangest thing in this hotel. So I had to leave the light in the bathroom on to keep charging my phone over night. I worked all day and had no chance to charge my electric devices except overnight when I came back to my room. The curtains do not block the light. I arrived at 4 a.m. and needed to get some sleep but the room was bright as sun was already out and even with curtains closed, the room was fully bright. I had to change rooms after the first night bc the first room was very noisy. Overall, the rooms don't deserve a 4 star hotel rating. Yet, the breakfast and spa center are good to get a 4 star ratings. The reception tried to charge me for a Heineken which I hadn't drunk!!! I had to say twice that I didn't drink that to avoid extra charges. Finally, if I go to Almaty again, will I stay at this hotel? No, unfortunately not. Although I also have no experience with other hotels in Almaty. Who knows, maybe they are even worse that this one.