Arbat street

A pedestrianised strip of Jibek Joly Avenue, known to locals as Arbat in mimicry of the more substantial pedestrian thoroughfare in Moscow is as close as Almaty gets to a central shopping district. The department store TsUM (ЦУМ in Russian) is here at the corner with Ablai Khan Avenue, a crowded emporium divided up into many separate outlets grouped by theme, which has served customers since Soviet days.

On Arbat there are a lot of fancy shops, cafes, mobile-phone counters, etc. Moreover, one can find an artist who can paint a portrait of a person. Plus those artists sell works of art. Recently Panfilov street turned pedestrian and that way Arbat became even larger. During night times live music is heard. Generally speaking, Arbat is a great place to roam around.