Contact Admin. The city is relatively compact, and it does not take too long to walk from one end to the other if you decide to brave the mosquitoes.
A good starting and orientation point is the pedestrian bridge , built in , between Pobedy Victory Park and the residential zone Zhilgorodok for the oil workers. This suspension bridge between Europe and Asia has a span of metres. Across the bridge, you can walk along the riverbank through the city towards the north, passing the river's horseshoe bend until you come to the road bridge. This is the city centre, divided into two by the river and stretching no more than two to four blocks away from the riverbank.
Here and there, a few parks testify to attempts to conquer the saline soil and produce some greenery. Ural River - Snaking through the centre of the city, the Ural River, known in Kazakh as the Zhaik, is both the focus of the Atyrau cityscape and its most attractive feature.
Paths have been laid out along the riverbanks: The river changes its character radically with the seasons. In winter, the river becomes a pedestrian thoroughfare. Recreational fishermen sit huddled around holes in the ice, a tot of vodka their protection against the cold. In summer, attention shifts to the sandy river beaches on the Asian bank, one adjacent to Zhilgorodok, the other just north of the main bridge.
Beachfront cafes open for business, the smell of chips mingling with that of suncream. At present there is only one road bridge in town, a fact which accounts for the considerable rush-hour congestion accumulating on either side. Further bridges, outside the centre, are to be finished constructed anytime now. There is also a footbridge, but this runs somewhat inconveniently from Zhilgorodok to a residential suburb of little interest on the European side, and is not much used.
