Kyrgyzstan Issyk Kul Loop: Bishkek to Bokonbaevo

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Bishkek

   Bishkek lies at the foot of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too, the northern range of the Tian Shan, and on a clear morning the snow peaks seem close enough to touch from the city's long boulevards. The capital of Kyrgyzstan was a small fort and trading post in the nineteenth century, and was then rebuilt as a Soviet city named Frunze, after the Bolshevik commander born nearby. The legacy is a grid of broad, straight streets lined with poplars and elms, Soviet apartment blocks, wide squares, and statues, including the one of Manas, the hero of the national epic, who stands in front of the main square, Ala-Too.

   Read the complete Bishkek write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Bishkek is where the day begins. Next is Balykchy.

2. 2. Balykchy

   Balykchy is at the far western end of Issyk-Kul, the second-largest mountain lake in the world, and its name in Kyrgyz means fisherman. The lake, at an altitude of about 1,600 metres, is more than a hundred and eighty kilometres long and deep enough to stay ice-free in winter despite the cold, which is why its name means warm lake. The Tian Shan mountains surround it on all sides, with snow-capped peaks marching along the southern shore, and the water is a deep, saline blue that changes colour with the weather.

   Read the complete Balykchy write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Balykchy comes up about 187 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bokonbaevo.

3. 3. Bokonbaevo

   Bokonbaevo is a village on the south shore of Issyk-Kul, the great mountain lake of Kyrgyzstan, which lies at about 1,600 metres and is the second-largest alpine lake in the world. The name means warm lake, because the water, though cold, never freezes, even in the hard winters of the Tian Shan, and the mountains that rise behind it, the Terskey Ala-Too, carry snow all summer. On the road along the shore the lake is a sheet of deep blue on one side and the red and grey peaks on the other, and the contrast is striking.

   Read the complete Bokonbaevo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 280 km.