One of the most visited places in Kyrgyzstan is Ala-Archa Nature Park. It is located 30 km from Bishkek in an area of 20,000 hectares, where there is everything: mountains, rivers, pine forests growing on the slopes of the mountains. It is these forests gave the name to the reserve. "Ala-Archa" means “variegated juniper” that fully characterizes the diversity of pine and spruce forests of the reserve. Every visitor discovers an amazing world of flora and fauna of Kyrgyzstan.

The reserve is a small valley inside the gorge, its ridges are covered with eternal ice, and the slopes are the finest spruce forests. The streams flow down from the glaciers on the slopes, by flow down streams of melt water, which then are converted into Ala-Archa River.

Song-Kul Lake is a picturesque alpine lake situated in the midst of Tian Shan mountains. It is located at the altitude of 3016 meters above sea level and its depth reaches 22 meters in some spots. Son-Kul feeds off of small mountain rivers.

The lake is situated in a mountain plain surrounded by meadows. These meadows, or zhailoo, as the locals call them, have been used as grazing fields for livestock since the ancient times. Numerous petroglyphs found at the shore of the lake are the evidence of that. Local shepherds bring livestock to the lake for the summer and stay in yurts.

That is why the tourists visiting the area can luckily experience multiple colors of the Kyrgyz culture: not only do they get to stay in a national dwelling – yurt, but they also have a chance to satisfy their thirstiness with the traditional Kyrgyz drink – kumis. It is made of mare milk in accordance with the special technology and has a vast number of health benefits.

Because of the low temperatures, large amounts of snow precipitation – snow covers the fields of the region for roughly 130-160 days a year, and road closures, Song-Kul is unavailable for tourism during the winter months.

Skazka (Fairy Tale) Canyon, located on the southern shore of Issyk-Kul Lake, is one of the most interesting and frequently visited natural places in Kyrgyzstan.

The canyon is famous for its red clay rocks. The wind has been polishing natural and fabulous sculptures here for years. One of the most famous rocks is the "Chinese Wall". Walking through the labyrinths of the canyon, you will feel like in a real fairy tale. The rocks resemble castles, towers, monsters, giants, people and animals.

In windy or rainy weather, the relief of the rocks can change, and tourists can see other images that nature creates. If you climb one of the rocks, you will get a stunning panorama of Lake Issyk-Kul.

Snow almost never falls in this area, so the canyon can be visited at any time of the year.

Barskoon Gorge is one of the most beautiful gorges on the southern shore of Issyk-Kul, famous for high waterfalls and dense spruce forests. The length of the Barskoon Gorge is about 30 kilometers. It stretches deep into the mountains of Terskey Ala-Too, reaching the high plateau Arabel, which is separated from the gorge by a cascade of passes. The height of the passes in the Barskoon Gorge are very high and reach 4000 meters.

Barskoon is very attractive for tourists for its natural beauty, including Cascade of Barskoon waterfalls: Tears of the Leopard, Bowl of Manas, Sparkling Champagne and Beard Ak-Sakal.

The Arabel Plateau is a highland valley, located at an altitude of 3800 meters above sea level. This is an amazing place in the southern part of the Issyk-Kul region. It is situated near the Barskoon Gorge and the gold mine Kumtor.

High-mountain valleys are a rare and very surprising phenomenon, especially at this altitude. The average annual temperature in these places is only 5-7 degrees and the earth is almost completely devoid of vegetation.

Due to abundant precipitation and melting of glaciers, there is a lot of water in the valley. This water is used to form rivers, lakes and marshes. The Arabel Plateau is a peculiar high mountain tundra where you can find more than 50 lakes.

The valley has such an interesting relief and a large number of lakes due to a very old glacier. It leveled the valley and left so many lacustrine basins.

Jety-Oguz is a ridge of red rocks covered with forest thickets. The huge dark green forests spreading over the red sandstone mountain slopes create an amazing color contrast. Above the forest zone, in a valley about 15 km wide, there are magnificent subalpine and alpine meadows - jailoo.

In the spring and summer Jety-Oguz gorge “hosts” a real flower festival, as the rocks cover with silvery stars of edelweiss, alpine chamomiles and asters, elecampane. In the upper reaches of small rivers, there are mountain lakes and waterfalls, picturesque gorges.

The fauna of Jety-Oguz canyon is rich. One can still meet the lords of highlands - snow leopards, formidable bears, vultures and eagles here. The mountains are home for herds of fast goats, wild boars, roes, pheasants and other representatives of the region’s fauna.

Kaindy Lake – a truly amazing example of the creation of nature. It is located among a huge coniferous forest at an altitude of more than 2000 thousand meters above sea level. It was formed by a landslide of a huge accumulation of limestone, as well as subsidence of the soil. The lake contains trunks of submerged Picea schrenkiana trees that rise above the surface of the lake. The area is often referred to as a "sunken forest". The cold water helps preserve the tree trunks, which are overgrown with algae and various other water plants.

The Kolsay Lakes is a popular tourist destination. They are located in the Northern Tien Shan. The word “kolsay” means “lake in the gorge” and there are three of them: Upper, Middle and Lower. They are all quite deep, cool and scenic.

There is also the village of Saty, where you can stay in comfortable and authentic guest houses, try national cuisine, and see the everyday life of the Kazakh people.

The lower lake is located at 1818 meters above sea level and 80 meters in depth. It is accessible by road and has guest-houses, campsites, boats and horse riding.

The middle lake is located 8 kilometers upstream from the lower lake, at the height of 2252 metres.

It's the largest of the three, and reaches a depth of 50 meters. It is considered the most scenic of the three Kolsay Lakes.

Canyon Charyn is located on the territory of the Charyn National Park, created with the purpose of preserving natural and geological objects. The National Park was established on February 23, 2004. On the territory of the park there is a large number of rare and endangered species of animals listed in the Red Book.The most famous attraction of the park is Canyon Charyn. It is a picturesque natural place, which strikes with its unearthly landscapes. The depth of the canyon is 200 m. The height of the sheer mountains of the canyon reaches 150-300 m.