Karakol: a frontier town nestled amongst gorges, springs, canyons and rose gardens

By using local tour operators such as Intrepid Travel, Ak-Sai Travel and Nomad’s Land, and making use of their guides, you can therefore design bespoke itineraries, starting mainly from Karakol, a town that was once a military outpost with 60,000 inhabitants near the border with China and which was long off-limits to foreigners. Formerly known as Przhevalsk – practically the same name as the Russian explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky – Karakol is the gateway to the icy peaks of the Tian Shan, the legendary Celestial Mountains. Its cattle market, held every Sunday, offers the chance to meet the nomadic people and admire the women’s colourful attire. The most breathtaking natural destinations to reach from this frontier town are the Altyn Arashan Valley – praised by locals for its thermal springs – the Karakol Valley, which boasts spectacular, towering pine forests, and the Jeti-Oguz plateau – whose name means ‘the seven bulls’ – which is surrounded by red cliffs and characterised by an unbroken succession of lush canyons dotted with wild roses, bare gorges and green clearings where yaks graze and marram grass thrives.