The hook
One of the world's largest and deepest mountain lakes, a vast blue sheet of slightly salty water that never freezes, ringed by the snow peaks of the Tian Shan and the summer camps of herders.
01Why it's worth it
Issyk-Kul sits high in the Tian Shan and is enormous, deep, and mildly saline enough that it stays unfrozen through the bitter winters, which gives it its Kyrgyz name, "warm lake." Its shores mix Soviet-era resorts with beaches and, more compellingly, gateways into the mountains: the town of Karakol at the eastern end is a base for trekking and skiing, and the gorges and valleys running up from the lake, Jeti-Ögüz with its red rock formations, Altyn-Arashan's hot springs, lead into high alpine country. This is nomadic Kyrgyzstan, where families still move their herds up to the jailoos, the summer high pastures, and staying in a yurt, riding horses, and eating with a herding family is the real experience. It is one of Central Asia's great outdoor regions and still refreshingly cheap and uncrowded.
02How to experience it
Base at Karakol and head into the surrounding valleys and passes on foot or horseback, staying in yurt camps and with herder families on the jailoos. See the red cliffs of Jeti-Ögüz and soak at Altyn-Arashan. Come in the short summer window when the high pastures are open.