(Advice needed) Almaty - Big Almaty lake- Kaindy lake- Charyn Canyon

[reddevil89]

We are group of 4 people with not much hiking/trekking experience plan to visit Almaty and Big Almaty lake - Kaindy lake - Charyn Canyon for the periods of 5 days before heading to Kyrgyzstan via Karkara pass on the sixth day. I have a few questions I'd be so grateful if you can help me with:
- Is it possible to do Almaty city in 1 day, then heading to other destinations for hiking and not coming back to Almaty for accommodation, meaning there's a town near all the mention locations above for staying overnight?
- Is it better to go by marshrutka or shared taxi to those locations or hire a car with/without a driver. I'm afraid if we use shared taxi it may be hard to find a car to pick us up in the afternoon after we're done with the hiking.
- After Charyn Canyon, is there any chance we can get transportation to Karkara or we ave to arrange it in advance.
- If land tour/ car rental is recommended, should I try to find and contact local agency beforehand, or arrange it in Almaty? I was thinking pre-arrange online might be more expensive

Thank you so much!