Almaty region, 70 km east
Issyk Lake
Green-blue water at 1,760 metres, an hour from the city.
A mountain lake held between steep forested slopes, with water an improbable shade of green-blue. It is the easiest of the big lakes to reach (an hour and a half through apple country), and the walk along the shore takes about an hour, with a photograph at every turn.
The lake that emptied and came back
In July 1963 a mudflow came down the valley and drained the lake in a matter of hours. What you see now has refilled since, held by the same natural dam of rock. Standing on the viewpoint above the water, you are looking at something that vanished within living memory.
The Golden Man
A few kilometres before the lake stand the Issyk burial mounds. In 1969 archaeologists opened one and found a Saka warrior buried in four thousand gold plaques: the Golden Man, now the figure on the monument in the middle of Almaty and on the banknotes in your wallet.
When to go
May to October. The water is coldest and clearest in early summer; by late September the slopes around it turn yellow and the light is worth the drive on its own.
Tours that go here
Prices are per group, not per person, and include the guide, the driver and the car.