QZ 26-08 · PLATE 01
Qazyna: the delegate's treasury
The Tenge
Kazakhstan's money is a design object: award-winning banknotes, honest student prices, and a capital where your card does most of the work. This sheet is your proof of what the week will cost.
Prices and local details on this page are indicative: verify on arrival.
- tiyn to one tenge
100100 - banknotes in circulation
66 - international banknote awards
44
QZ 26-08 · PLATE 02
The Bureau
Astana's обменник windows post their own rates: this instrument carries the official snapshot, so you can think in two currencies before you land.
1 USD = 466.64 ₸Indicative rate
QZ 26-08 · PLATE 03
Tariff of the City
The Organizing Committee's official price guide, engraved. Tap any line to price it in the Bureau.
Getting around
Eating & drinking
Culture & nights out
QZ 26-08 · PLATE 04
The Vault
Six plates honouring the notes in your pocket: specimen impressions, never reproductions. Under this lamp they fluoresce; tap a plate for its dossier.
· A bus ride, exactly
QZ 26-08 · PLATE 05
The Day-Book
Registration already feeds you. This ledger prices only what it does not cover: the campus habit, your trips into the city, and the one-offs.
On campus, each day
across 5 campus days
Your room and the plenary hall share a campus, so no fare belongs here.
- Bottle of water ₸275 per day₸275
- Sandwich ₸500 per dayNot in your week
- Coffee ₸1,600 per day₸1,600
A campus day₸1,875₸9,375
Each trip into the city
across 3 trips
A fare out and back, and a meal you chose instead of the buffet.
- City bus ₸200 per trip₸400
- Taxi across town ₸500 per tripNot in your week
- Café breakfast ₸3,000 per tripNot in your week
- Lunch ₸7,000 per tripNot in your week
- Dinner ₸7,500 per trip₸7,500
One trip₸7,900₸23,700
Once in the week
People do slip out of an evening plenary. Nobody does it seven nights running.
- Museum ticket ₸1,250 in the week₸1,250
- Theatre ticket ₸1,500 in the weekNot in your week
- Cinema ticket ₸1,500 in the weekNot in your week
- Tourist SIM (once)At the airport counters or Mega Silk Way: passport requiredNot in your week
One-offs₸1,250
The GA week
Five campus days plus your trips into the city, sealed for Aug 1–7
Draw this much
₸35,000
₸35,000 at an ATM covers the week with change to spare.
Carry this in paper
The notes that make that draw
QZ 26-08 · PLATE 06
Field Notes
How paying actually works in Astana: and when a tip is a kindness rather than a duty.
- Cards Indicative
- Visa and Mastercard work almost everywhere: supermarkets, cafés, app taxis, museum tickets.
- ATMs (банкомат) Indicative
- Malls, bank branches, the airport. Withdrawing tenge on arrival beats carrying foreign cash: check your home bank's fee first, and note that most Kazakh ATMs accept only 4-digit PINs.
- Exchange offices (обменник) Indicative
- Common, with rates posted in the window. City rates beat the airport's.
- A little cash Indicative
- For kiosks, markets, and the one café whose terminal is “temporarily not working”.
- Kaspi QR Check live
- Kazakhstan's own super-app: you will see its QR codes at every till. It needs a local bank identity, so as a visitor, pay by card instead.
- Transit fare Indicative
- City buses take the transport card: fares and the Avtobys app live in the Getting There guide.
QZ 26-08 · PLATE 07
The Delegate's Note
Your week, struck as a note of its own. Built on your device from the ledger above: nothing you type here is uploaded.
- The GA week
- ₸34,325 ≈ $73.56
- Spending style
- Comfortable
- Serial
- 1BH NJ74
The note is generated on your device; nothing you type is uploaded.
QZ 26-08 · PLATE 08
The Assay Note
Every rate on this sheet is indicative: sealed on the date below, never live. The обменник window and your banking app are the source of truth on the ground; prices are the Organizing Committee's official guide, not a promise.
Sealed July 10, 2026
Money facts are indicative: verify prices on arrival and rates at an обменник window.
Your GA registration covers the official program meals: this sheet prices the city days, the social program, and the post-plenary coffee habit.
One practical habit: set your banking app to show a second currency in tenge for the week: mental math at 23:00 during the National Food & Drinks Party is nobody's strength.
Sources & seals
- AM26 Invitation Package: General expensesAM26 Organizing Committee · 2026-06-11
- AM26 Survival Kit: Nice to Know, Hungry? and Still Hungry?AM26 Organizing Committee · 2026-07-28
- Official foreign exchange ratesNational Bank of Kazakhstan · 2026-07-10
- Banknotes of the national currencyNational Bank of Kazakhstan · 2026-07-10
- Kaspi.kzKaspi Bank JSC · 2026-07-10
- Open Exchange Rate API: KZT baseopen.er-api.com · 2026-07-10
- Bank Note of the Year AwardInternational Bank Note Society · 2026-07-10
Back matter
- IndicativeVisa and Mastercard are accepted almost everywhere in Astana.
- IndicativeATMs are widespread: malls, bank branches, and the airport.
- IndicativeExchange offices post their rates; city rates are better than airport rates.
- OC confirmedCity prices follow the Organizing Committee's official 'General expenses' guide.
- IndicativeTipping is appreciated, never demanded: 5–10% for good service where no service charge applies.
- Check liveKaspi QR dominates local payments but needs a local bank identity; visitors should rely on cards.
- IndicativeCirculating banknotes: 500 to 20,000 ₸; coins 1 to 200 ₸. The Saka-style series is rolling out and designs may differ by August 2026.
- Check liveExchange rates shown are an indicative snapshot, never live; exchange offices set their own rates.
- IndicativeA prepaid tourist SIM bundle costs 2,000–5,000 ₸; passport required.
- IndicativeTenge banknotes have won IBNS Bank Note of the Year four times (2011, 2012, 2013, 2023).
- OC confirmedThe survival kit quotes café prices above the invitation package's table: breakfast 3,000–5,000 ₸, lunch or dinner 7,000–8,000 ₸, bottled water 200–350 ₸.
- OC confirmedMost ATMs in Kazakhstan accept only 4-digit PINs, so a card with a 6-digit PIN may not work; the survival kit suggests exchanging at the airport if you need tenge on arrival.