Though once secluded, even inaccessible, Kazakhstan today welcomes intrepid travelers with open arms.

Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country, and the ninth largest in the world. The country is one of the most economically advanced in Central Asia, thanks to its abundant oil reserves and other valuable minerals.

Even for some experienced travelers, Kazakhstan is still an unfamiliar state. While home to the raw beauty of the steppe and mountain scenery, there are no yurts like in Kyrgyzstan or Mongolia. The country also boasts a fascinating history of medieval Islamic architecture.

But for those who have stepped foot in the country, its most attractive features are its unique landscapes, dripping with freedom. On top of that, singular experiences include the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Semipalatinsk Atomic Test Site, the landscapes of Mangystau, the balbal of the steppe, glitzy Astana and the magnificent Altai.

If history and politics are your main interests, Kazakhstan is a captivating choice as a country with a prominent Soviet legacy, massive industrialization and subsequent ghost towns, space launches and atomic bomb tests, gulags and banished Russian intellectuals like Dostoyevski, Solzhenitsyn, Eisenstein and Trotsky.