Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Summer yurt pastures, glacier valleys and a mountain lake that never quite freezes.
- DestinationKyrgyzstan
- CountryKyrgyzstan
- TypeInternational holiday
Overview
About Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is mountains almost everywhere. More than ninety percent of the country lies above fifteen hundred metres and the Tian Shan runs through all of it. The valleys between the ranges are used as summer pasture, and herding families still move up to them with yurts once the snow clears.
Issyk-Kul anchors the north-east: a lake long enough to take most of a day to drive around, sitting at sixteen hundred metres and slightly saline, which is why it does not freeze. Song-Kul, higher and smaller, is the classic place to stay in a yurt.
Good to know
Worth Knowing Before You Go
- More than ninety percent of Kyrgyzstan lies above 1,500 metres.
- Issyk-Kul is among the largest and deepest mountain lakes in the world and is slightly saline, so it does not freeze.
- Herding families move to the high summer pastures, the jailoo, between roughly June and September.
- Song-Kul lies at about 3,000 metres and is reached over passes that close in winter.
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