Kazakhstan's red-rock Valley of Castles
Charyn Canyon cuts through the steppe some three hours' drive east of Almaty. Its best-known section, the Valley of Castles, is a walkable gorge of towering red and orange rock formations that end at the fast-flowing Charyn River. Wind and water have shaped the cliffs into turrets and walls that glow at sunrise and sunset. Many trips combine the canyon with the Kolsai lakes and Kaindy Lake, where the trunks of a drowned spruce forest still stand in the water.