Issyk-Kul (, ) is one of the

regions of Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan is divided into seven regions (; ). The capital, Bishkek, is administered as an independent city of republican significance, as well as being the capital of Chüy Region. Osh also has independent city status since 2003. Regions The r ...

. Its capital is

Karakol Karakol (; , ), formerly Przhevalsk ( rus, Пржевальск, p=pr̩ʐɨˈvalʲsk), is the fourth-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, near the eastern tip of Lake Issyk-Kul, about from the Kyrgyzstan–China border and from the capital Bishkek. I ...

. It is surrounded by

Almaty Region Almaty Region ( ), formerly known as the Alma-Ata Region until 1993, is a region in Kazakhstan, located in the southeastern part of the country. It surrounds, but does not include, the eponymous city of Almaty. Its capital is Qonaev. Geography ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

to the north,

Chüy Region Chüy is the northernmost Regions of Kyrgyzstan, region of Kyrgyzstan, surrounding the country's national capital of Bishkek. It is bounded on the north by Kazakhstan, and clockwise, Issyk-Kul Region, Naryn Region, Jalal-Abad Region, and Talas Re ...

to the west,

Naryn Region Naryn Region is the largest 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 Uyghur Autonomous Region of China in the southeast, Osh Region i ...

to the southwest, and

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

to the southeast. It takes its name from 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 ...

, the world's second-largest high altitude lake. Its total area is . The resident population of the region was 501,933 as of January 2021. The region has a sizeable

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

(8.0% in 2009) minority.

Geography

The north is dominated by the eye-shaped

lake, surrounded by the ridges of the

Tian Shan The Tian Shan, also known as the Tengri Tagh or Tengir-Too, meaning the "Mountains of God/Heaven", is a large system of mountain ranges in Central Asia. The highest peak is Jengish Chokusu at high and located in Kyrgyzstan. Its lowest point is ...

mountain system: the Kyungey Ala-Too mountains to the north and the

Terskey Alatau The Teskey Alatoo (, ), often still known by its Russian language, Russian name Terskey Alatau (), is a mountain range in the Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan. It stretches south and southeast of Lake Issyk-Kul, from the river Joon-Aryk near Koch ...

to the south (the 'sunny' and 'shady' Alatau, respectively). To the south are mountains and 'jailoos' (mountain meadows used for summer grazing). The highest peaks of the

mountains, including

Khan Tengri Khan Tengri is a mountain of the Tian Shan mountain range in Central Asia. It is on the China—Kyrgyzstan—Kazakhstan tripoint, east of lake Issyk-Kul, Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan. Its geologic elevation is , but its glacial icecap rises to ...

, are located in the easternmost part of the region. Most of the population of the region lives around the lake, in particular in the cities of

Balykchy Balykchy () is a town at the western end of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, at an elevation of about 1,900 metres. Its area is , and its resident population was 42,875 in 2021 (both including Orto-Tokoy). A major industrial and transport centre (wo ...

near the lake's western end, and

near its eastern end.

Divisions

Issyk-Kul is divided administratively into two cities of regional significance,

and

, and five districts:

Cholpon-Ata Cholpon-Ata is a resort town on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan with a population of 14,237 (2021). It is the administrative center of the Issyk-Kul District of Issyk-Kul Region; this district occupies most of the lake's nor ...

is a city of district significance. There are two

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

s in the region:

Pristan'-Przheval'sk Pristan'-Przheval'sk is an urban-type settlement in the Issyk-Kul Region of Kyrgyzstan. Administratively, it is part of the city Karakol. The town was named after the Russian geographer, Nikolay Przhevalsky, Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky, who i ...

(part of

city) and

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 ...

(part of

city).

Basic socio-economic indicators

The economically active population of Issyk-Kul in 2009 was 193,706, of which 172,908 employed and 20,798 (10.7%) unemployed. * Export: 18.8 million US dollars (2008) * Import: 221.7 million US dollars (2008) * Direct Foreign Investments: 1,1 million US dollars (in 2008)

Demographics

The official population estimate for January 2021 was 501,933. In 2009 28.7% of the population lived in the region's cities and urban-type settlements, and 71.3% in the rural areas.

Ethnic composition

According to the 2009 Census, the ethnic composition (de jure population) of Issyk-Kul Region was:

Transportation

The railroad coming from the northwest (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 ...

) ends at Balykchy. The main highway (A365) from

passes through Balykchy and into the Naryn Region on its way to the

Torugart Pass Torugart Pass (, , ; ; ) is a mountain pass in the Tian Shan mountain range near the border between the Naryn Region of Kyrgyzstan and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. It is one of two border crossings between Kyrgyzstan and China, the o ...

into China. Highway A363 circles the lake and A362 runs east from the lake into Kazakhstan. Issyk-Kul International Airport and Karakol International Airport link the region with Almaty in Kazakhstan.

Cholpon-Ata Airport Cholpon-Ata Airport ( Kyrgyz: Чолпон-Ата аэропорту, Russian: Чолпон-Атинский аэропорт) is an airport serving the resort town of Cholpon-Ata in the Issyk Kul Province (''oblast'') of Kyrgyzstan. The Russian ...

and Tamga Airport have no regular flights.

Tourism

The region, which resembles the Alps or Colorado, would be a major tourist destination were it not for its remoteness and underdeveloped infrastructure. Currently, it is visited mostly by locals who use the Soviet-era establishments around the lake and the more adventurous sort of international tourist.

Gallery

File:Camping_on_the_shores_of_lake_Issyk_Kul_(Unsplash).jpg, Issyk Kul,

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 ...

File:Pik Karakolskiy.JPG, Karakol Peak File:Issyk Kul at sundown.jpg, Lake

at sundown File:AlaKol.jpg,

Ala Köl Ala, ALA, Alaa, or Alae may refer to: Codes * Åland Islands, ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code * Åland, ISO 3166-1 country code * Former NYSE stock symbol of Alcatel; see Alcatel-Lucent * Almaty International Airport, IATA code Military * , a US Navy ...

Lake in the Terskey Ala-too mountains,

File:E8211-Tamchy-lonely-tree.jpg, On the plateau between the north shore of Lake

and the

Küngöy Ala-Too Range The Kungey Alatau (, ''Küngöy Ala-Too''; , ''Küngei Alataw''), also spelled Kungoy Ala-Too, and Kungey Alataw, is a mountain range, which forms the northern Tien Shan with Zailiyskiy Alatau. The word "Alatau" or "Ala-too" means "variegated ...

(near

Tamchy Tamchy (, ''Tamçı'', تامچى; , ''Tamčy'', previously Тамчи, ''Tamči'') is a village in the Issyk-Kul District of the Issyk-Kul Region of Kyrgyzstan. Its population was 2,412 in 2021. The name used to be transcribed into English as ' ...

) File:E8286-Tamchy-mosque.jpg, A

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

village, Issyk-Kul Region File:Issyk Kul Jurtencamp.jpg, A

Yurt A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger (Mongolian language, Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and Thermal insulation, insulated with Hide (skin), skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct Nomad, nomad ...

camp on the shores of Lake

File:Jety-Oguz, Kyrgyzstan 2010 09 07 01.jpg,

Jeti-Ögüz Rocks The Jeti-Ögüz Rocks is a geological protected area (nature monument) located in Jeti-Ögüz District of Issyk-Kul Region of Kyrgyzstan. It was established in 1975 with a purpose of conservation of a unique geological formation – sheer cli ...

References

*Laurence Mitchell, Kyrgyzstan, Bradt Travel Guides, 2008

External links

*
Karakol – Djeti-Oguz region in Central Tien-Shan
div class="small">(Mountaineering reports and maps. Although the site is in English, with some web browsers you may need to set "Character Encoding" to "Cyrillic" in the "View" menu of your browser in order to get better display of the main page).