By Nikola Marinko · EIA Site Manager, ADB water and sanitation programme, Kyrgyzstan, 2015-2016 · Updated October 2026 · 10 min read

Issyk Kul lake was part of my job between June 2015 and June 2016: I was EIA Site Manager for Ludwig Pfeiffer on the ADB water and sanitation programme in Kyrgyzstan, and two of my contracts sat on its shore. At Cholpon-Ata and Balykchy it was a $1.6M water supply upgrade for a resort strip where summer visitors far outnumber the locals, and at Karakol $4.0M of new sewers and pump stations. So the road around Issyk-Kul was not a route I researched. It was a commute I drove for a year.

The story starts in Bishkek and climbs east along the Kazakh border, from 800 m to the lake at 1,600 m. Balykchy, whose name means fisherman, opens the northern shore. Cholpon-Ata off-season has empty golden beaches and ice-cold, slightly salty water. U Rybaka was the one restaurant open in winter, and our host drove a vintage military VW van that got us lost and then found us a hidden waterfall. At the eastern end come Karakol and the highest ski resort in Central Asia, with lifts to 3,450 m, and a short drive away Jeti-Ögüz with its Broken Heart and Seven Bulls rocks.

Go off-season if you can. The lake feels like it belongs to you, and the swim is worth every shiver.

WSS Cholpon-Ata project · SPS Karakol project · Osh · Jalal-Abad province · Field stories

Issyk Kul Lake and Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan - A Year Around the Lake

FIELD STORY