Hi everyone! Just wanted to share some info about our vacation at Issyk-Kul.
We’ve been coming here for 3 years now. I always book through Booking.com, and this year we stayed in Cholpon-Ata at the same guesthouse as last year. It’s about a 20-minute walk from the beach, but just 3 minutes from the local market. They sell trout super cheap there. Usually, it goes for 1500 som per fish or more, but we got it for 1400 som per kilo.
Fruits and veggies are also better to buy at the market. Another tip: they charge tourists more, especially if you look like you’re not local 😁.
We checked out all the beaches. The city beach has been renovated—really nice surprise. Everything is new: umbrellas, loungers, changing rooms, and showers.
We really liked the beach near the city park. It’s small but also not too crowded.
Couldn’t go for a boat ride this year. They now do just one public ride at 3:00 pm (it’s packed), and everything else is private trips starting from 8000 som. Dinner for a family of 4 runs about 2500 som and up—no alcohol included.
For money exchange, I recommend the “Ethno” store in the city center—they give the best rates. Other places are noticeably worse.
The town really surprised us this year with improvements—new sidewalks, better roads.
We also spent time in Bosteri at the "Kyrgyz Seaside" sanatorium—really love the beach there. Walked around downtown and the little streets—liked that they removed all the mini kiosks along the shore, less trash, cleaner beach. The park’s been fixed up too. They even put in a medical station and a police post. Boat rides are 900 som per person.
For those driving their own car—gasoline was 67.40 som.
We did a 2-day road trip around Issyk-Kul. The roads are under repair everywhere. Some parts are just gone. The stretch before Balykchy took us 2 hours for 70 km 😬. But if you want to see the gorges and other spots—it’s worth it. We drove a sedan and it handled everything just fine, visited all the tourist sites, roads were passable. The stretch near Skazka Canyon was really rough, especially driving at night—almost no road, lots of detours and construction.
Lots of people messaged me about travel insurance—just to be clear, I’m not advertising anything, just sharing since there’s so much promo stuff in this chat.
Oh, and I booked all our accommodations without any prepayment—paid everything on arrival. A couple of days before check-in, the hosts contacted me just to confirm, and that was it—they trusted my word.