Photos

View from Ala-Köl Pass (3900 masl.), Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, 2015

Passing Ala-Köl lake in the high Kyrgyz mountains was a true blessing. The lake appears very saturated, but believe me, it was really that blue!

If you plan to visit Ala-Köl, please know that this is not done in a day. Well, you may give it a try if you're fit, but this is definitely best done in 2-3 days. It includes minimum 50 km of trekking. I did it in 3 days as a roundtrip from Karakol to Teploklyuchenka (formerly called Ak-Suu), together with a Swiss guy and our guide. We spent two nights sleeping in a tent.

The first part went up the Karakol Valley. Not too steep, but long. About 20 km. The following morning, we started ascending to the lake, where we arrived just in time for lunch. We followed the shores of the lake for a while. At that time there was a heavy rain shower.

Luckily the rain stopped before we reached the top of the Ala-Köl Pass, at around 3900 m. The view was amazing in all directions, I can recommend it to everyone visiting Kyrgyzstan!

We then descended into the other valley and camped there at 3200 m. The last day, we descended even further down to the hot springs of Altyn Arashan. From there, the Swiss guy and my guide hitchhiked with an old Soviet military car, while I walked along the gravel road until I reached civilization.

This image is a panorama consisting of 3 photos.