Balykchy () is a town at the western end of Lake

Issyk-Kul Issyk-Kul () or Ysyk-Köl (, ; ) is an endorheic saline lake in the western Tianshan Mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan, just south of a dividing range separating Kyrgyzstan from Kazakhstan. It is the eighth-deepest lake in the world, the eleve ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

, at an elevation of about 1,900 metres. Its area is , and its resident population was 42,875 in 2021 (both including

Orto-Tokoy Orto-Tokoy () is an urban-type settlement in the Issyk-Kul Region of Kyrgyzstan, just north of the A365 highway between Kochkor and Balykchy. Its population was 491 in 2021. Administratively, it is part of the city of Balykchy. It is on the east-f ...

). A major industrial and transport centre (wool and crop processing, lake shipping, rail terminal, and road junction) during the Soviet era, it lost most of its economic base after the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the closure of virtually all of its industrial facilities. The main road from

Bishkek Bishkek, formerly known as Pishpek (until 1926), and then Frunze (1926–1991), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. Bishkek is situated near the Kazakhstan ...

, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, to China, a part of the ancient Great Silk Road, passes through Balykchy before it starts its long and arduous way across the alpine ranges of

Naryn Province Naryn Region is the largest Regions of Kyrgyzstan, region of Kyrgyzstan. It is located in the east of the country and borders with Chüy Region in the north, Issyk-Kul Region in the northeast, Xinjiang, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China ...

in central Kyrgyzstan to the Chinese border at Torugart Pass. Plans for the rail road from the Chinese border to Balykchy, where the line from Bishkek currently ends, are under discussion. Two other roads go around the north and south sides of Issyk Kul to Karakol and then around the east end of the Kungey Alatau to the far southeast of Kazakhstan.

History

The history of Balykchy begins with a post station and farm, established by M. I. Bachin, retired soldier of Naryn Fort in Kyzyl Tokoy area in 1884. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century the settlement was known as Ketmaldy (the nearby river's name), Novodmitrievka (after the family name of the owner of a local stud-farm; E.S.Dmitriev), and Bachino (after M. I. Bachin). It was named Rybachye (''fishing place'' in Russian) from 1909-1993. In the early 1990s, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the town was known as Issyk-Kul, taking the name of the adjacent lake. Shortly after independence, its name was changed to Balykchy''

which means ''fisherman'' in the Kyrgyz language (and also in its sister language Turkish).

Demographics

Balykchy is the seventh largest town in Kyrgyzstan with a resident population, as of 2021, of 50,814 or 51,305 including

Climate

Transport

The small old airport is no longer in operation. The passenger railway station marks the end of the railway line from Bishkek; it has newly begun direct services in 2018 to/from

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

, as well as long existing rail services to Kazakhstan. In March 2018,

Uzbekistan Railways The Uzbekistan Railways () are the national rail carrier of Uzbekistan. The company owns and operates all railways within the country. It is a state-owned stock company, formed in 1994 to operate railways within Uzbekistan. As of March 2017, the ...

began a new service, connecting

with Balykchy. In 2022, construction began on a new 186 km extension of the existing railway from Balykchy to Karakeche, primarily meant to carry coal from mines at Karakeche to

. In June 2023, a railway between Balykchy and Bishkek was officially opened.

References

External links

Article about visiting Balykchy
{{coord, 42, 27, 40, N, 76, 10, 49, E, display=title, region:KG_type:city Populated places in Issyk-Kul Region Populated places along the Silk Road