Introducing Lake Issyk-Köl & the Central Tian Shan

Lake Issyk-Köl (also Ysyk-Köl) is basically a huge dent, filled with water, between the Küngey (Sunny) Alatau to the north and the Terskey (Dark) Alatau to the south, which together form the northern arm of the Tian Shan. The name means ‘warm lake’. A combination of extreme depth, thermal activity and mild salinity ensures the lake never freezes; its moderating effect on the climate, plus abundant rainfall, have made it something of an oasis through the centuries.

The Kyrgyz are proud of their lake and like a beautiful women on the arm of a Bishkek biznezman, she is trotted out, tarted up and paraded around whenever international guests needs to be impressed. And why not? For beautiful she is – in all her querulous moods. Even as storms rage across her northern sandy shores, the steep and stony south lies calm and still.

Scores of streams pour into the lake but none escape her. Over 170km long, 70km across and the second-largest alpine lake in the world (after Lake Titicaca in South America), Issyk-Köl is a force of nature and she knows it.

Some people say the lake level has periodically risen and fallen over the centuries, inundating ancient shoreline settlements. Artefacts have been recovered from what is called the submerged city of Chigu, dating from the 2nd century BC, at the east end. Mikhaylovka inlet, created by an earthquake near Karakol, reveals the remains of a partly submerged village. Despite recent fluctuations, geological evidence points to a long-term drop – some 2m in the last 500 years.

After tsarist military officers and explorers put the lake on Russian maps, immigrants flooded in to found low-rise, laid-back, rough-and-ready towns. Health spas lined its shores in Soviet days, with guests from all over the USSR, but spa tourism crashed along with the Soviet Union, only reviving in the last few years thanks to an influx of moneyed Kazakh tourists. Choplan-Ata is the safest bet for those keen for a Russian-style rub down but for a surreal experience head to the Jet-Öghüz Sanatorium, once a favoured holiday-spot for Soviet dignitaries and cosmonauts and now Centrals Asia’s leading contender as the most likely place to be haunted. Close your eyes and listen to the place fall apart.

The part of the central Tian Shan range accessible from the lake comprises perhaps the finest trekking territory in Central Asia. The most popular treks hop between valleys south of Karakol or lead from Almaty to the lake.