Atyrau, known until 1991 as Guryev, is a city in Kazakhstan and the capital of Atyrau Region. Atyrau is a transcontinental city, at the mouth of the Ural River on the Caspian Sea, between Europe and Asia, 2,700 kilometres west of Almaty and 351 kilometres east of the Russian city of Astrakhan.

Atyrau Region formerly known as Guryev Region, until 1991, is one of the regions of Kazakhstan, in the west of the country around the northeast of the Caspian Sea. Its capital is the city of Atyrau, with a population of 355,117; the region itself has a population of 681,241, of which Kazakhs make up more than 90%.