Africa
Asia
Caribbean
Central America
Europe
Middle East
North America
Pacific
South America
This grand, rugged but very accessible gorge is a state nature park offering dozens of walking and trekking possibilities, including hikes to glaciers and, for the serious mountaineer, treks to the region's highest peak. There are basic shelters scattered throughout the park but the best way to enjoy the area is to bring your own tent and supplies.
You can use the Upper Ala-Archa Mountain Ski Base as a starting point from which to ski on glaciers, even in summer, though lifts only operate during the December to April winter season. Bishkek travel agents can arrange excursions to the canyon or you can make your own way there by car or by using the local buses. A small fee is charged at the entrance to the park.
(30km S of Bishkek)
bus 365 runs 5 times daily to the gate
| full | Kyrgyzstan Som 30.00 |
Lake Issyk-Kul is a huge dent, filled with water, folded between the 4000m (13123ft) peaks of the Küngey Alatau and the Terskey Alatau ranges. It sits 1600m (5250ft) above sea level and measures a huge 170km (105mi) long and 70km (43mi) across, making it the second-largest alpine lake in the world after Lake Titicaca in South America.
The main reason to come here is to soak up the lakeside ambience, enjoy the thermal springs and remaining spas, explore some of the best hiking trails in Central Asia (from the town of Karakol) and try your hand at catching the local trout - allegedly bulking up to a prized 35kg.
Mountain wildlife includes big cats, ibex, bear and wild boar, though a serious poaching problem exists. Give yourself at least a week to explore this region and improve your leg definition.
The standard refrain from anyone you ask is that 'Osh is older than Rome'. Legends credit all sorts of people with its founding, from King Solomon (Suleyman) to Alexander the Great. These days it's Kyrgyzstan's second-biggest city and the administrative centre of the huge, populous province that engulfs the Fergana valley on the Kyrgyzstan side.
It suffers a kind of demographic schizophrenia, being a major centre of Kyrgyzstan but with a strong (40%) Uzbek population more in tune with Uzbekistan and the rest of the Fergana valley.
Fergana Valley
(western Kyrgyzstan)
Bishkek (formerly Frunze) is the capital and industrial centre of Kyrgyzstan, and the only town in the world named after a wooden plunger - a bishkek is a churn used to make fermented mare's milk. It's a relaxed city of wide streets and handsome houses, though backstreets can be dicey at night.
The city likes to boast that it has more trees per person than any other Central Asian city - which may be true - but when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction, smog from the industrial plants on the city's outskirts can still eat your throat away.
The city's history dates only as far back as 1825, so don't come here looking for architectural splendours or traces of the past - very little predates WWII. Travellers use Bishkek mainly as a jumping-off point for the Tian Shan mountains and Lake Issyk-Kul, and for the overland crossing into China via the Torugart Pass. The 4800m (15,744ft) permanently snowcapped ramparts of the Kyrgyz Alatau range loom over the city, beckoning travellers to move on and explore - who could resist?
When it comes to landscape, going to the Kyrgyz Ferghana Valley via the Bishkek-Osh road is a sequence of superlatives, taking in two 3000m (9840ft)-plus passes, the yawning Suusamyr Valley, the immense Toktogul reservoir and the Naryn River gorge before entering the Ferghana Valley.
It's not to be taken lightly. The road is rough, hair-raising and occasionally blocked by rockfalls and avalanches. Snow fills the passes from October until March; the road is kept open to cars, but is dangerous during these winter months. No regular buses traverse the whole route, so you'll need to change buses, probably at Toktogul. Note that there are frequent police checkpoints along the route since this is a major artery for drugs smuggled from Afghanistan into Russia. The ancient town of Osh has a fantastic bazaar and is a good base for trekking and mountaineering in the Pamir range.
