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Condé Nast Traveler Names Kyrgyzstan’s Karakol Among 25 Best Places to Visit in 2025

Condé Nast Traveler has crowned the Kyrgyz town of Karakol as the "adventure capital of Central Asia" and included it in its prestigious list of the 25 best places to visit in 2025. Located southeast of Lake Issyk-Kul, and approximately 150km from the Kyrgyzstan-China border, Karakol is Kyrgyzstan’s premier winter tourism hub. The city boasts the nation’s largest and best mountain ski resort. The magazine highlights Karakol as a prime destination for outdoor enthusiasts, offering activities such as hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, and paragliding. It also praises the Karakol ski base, the highest ski resort in Central Asia, perched at an altitude of 1.8 miles. Looking ahead, Karakol is set to further solidify its reputation as a winter sports haven. A new resort, Three Peaks, is scheduled to open in 2026 in collaboration with French ski specialists Société des Trois-Vallées. This development is expected to attract even more winter sports enthusiasts to the region. Beyond adventure, Condé Nast Traveler lauds Karakol’s cultural and culinary diversity. The city is home to a mix of Uyghur, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Kalmak, Dungan, and Russian communities. This multicultural heritage has given rise to unique attractions, including wooden "gingerbread" houses, cold ashlan-fu soup, and the Dungan Mosque, built in 1907 by Chinese artisans. The mosque reflects Buddhist influences, with a pagoda replacing the traditional minaret. Condé Nast Traveler suggests visiting Karakol between June and September for trekking and cultural tours, while December through April is ideal for winter sports enthusiasts. The city has become more accessible with the reopening of its reconstructed international airport in December 2024. This development allows travelers to reach Karakol from Bishkek in under an hour by plane. Alternatively, the journey takes 6-7 hours by car or bus.

Tourism Cultural Heritage History CIS travel

Min-Kush — The Kyrgyz Time Capsule

Although Min-Kush is only about 100 miles from Bishkek, as the crow flies, the mountains make us travel 250 miles. We reached a scenic viewpoint along the road, and I stopped to take a picture. I exited the truck and approached a horse with dramatic snow-capped mountains peeking through the clouds. A man came and invited us to ride his horse around his farm. This is his farm, his 75 sheep, and his horse. The horse and I galloped around the farm, chatted with the farmer, and got back on the road. This was my first time on horseback after a year and a half in Central Asia. Min-Kush, once a prosperous town nestled in the Kyrgyz mountains known for its bustling uranium mining industry, has hit the end of the road literally and figuratively. Coming down the A367 highway, a nondescript road sign says “Min-Kush” with an arrow pointing left. We turned, and the road seamlessly transformed from pavement to dirt. It is the last and only settlement on this road off of the highway. The only other vehicles we pass are semi-trucks carrying tons of coal destined for Kyrgyzstan and China. [caption id="attachment_25324" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] @TCA H.Kuvin[/caption] The city peaked at around 20,000 in the 1980s, but today’s number hovers around 3,500. Established in 1955, the apartments and houses are built in the Stalinist architectural style. The vibrant blue paint that once covered the wooden panels is faded, and sections of the buildings are caved in, but people still live here. The contrast in one building is stark. On the top floor, there are broken windows and unhinged shutters. On the bottom floor, there are new window frames and flowers on the windowsill. The blossoming life on the windowsill is far from what it once was. We stopped and chatted with some locals and asked about their lives. “When Moscow supported us, we had everything: stores, schools, factories, and a hospital. Now…nothing, but we cannot dwell on things. Life is better now than it was after the fall of the USSR.” The man asks for a cigarette and a light; my French friend complies with his request. The main draw of Min-Kush for me is an abandoned felt pen factory. I’ve seen pictures online of some incredible Soviet banners that serve as a time capsule in the mountains. We asked if anyone knew where to find it, and a man told us it was torn down and replaced by a soccer field. As night set in, we looked for a guesthouse of sorts. I had read online that there is one, but there are no signs or information about it anywhere. We stop by a man fixing his Soviet Chaika car on the side of the road. He tells us the hotel is right up the road. We drive to an unlit building where two men are fixing another truck. We chatted, and he made a phone call. Ten minutes later, a lady shows up, unlocks the...

tourism industry international tourism travel Economy Tourism

Kazakhstan Listed as a Top Destination by Lonely Planet

Kazakhstan has been included in Lonely Planet's prestigious "Best in Travel 2025" ranking, earning it recognition as one of the year's best travel destinations. Lonely Planet, a leading international publisher, was established in 1973 and since then, has published comprehensive travel guides in 14 languages, covering 195 countries. Aimed to inspire people to explore the world, the organisation also publishes articles, lists, and rankings of the best places to visit, based on recommendations from experts and travelers and according to their unique cultures and natural diversity. Kazakhstan's high ranking in 'Best in Travel 2025', is largely attributed to its ancient traditions and modern achievements, and especially, its rich history and varied landscapes. Vice Minister of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Erkinbayev warmly welcomed the country's inclusion in the list as validation of the growing international interest in Kazakhstan and stated that it emphasised the importance of promoting sustainable tourism. Lonely Planet's executive editor, Nitya Chambers, said the publication is proud of its choice and confident that this list will inspire travelers to make new discoveries. In its description of Kazakhstan, Lonely Planet focuses on the intertwining of ancient traditions and modern culture, hailing the country a place where every visitor can discover something unique. The publication also mentions echoes of the ancient Silk Road, tangible in the vast steppes. Tourism in Kazakhstan has been actively developing in recent years, and the country is becoming increasingly popular among international travelers. Popular destinations include Almaty, Astana, and national parks. In the first six months of 2024 alone, 566,500 foreign tourists visited Kazakhstan, an increase of almost 10% compared to the same period in 2023. The demographics of foreign tourists is also on the rise. In the first quarter of this year, the average revenue of Kazakh companies working in the tourism sector - tour operators, travel agencies, and other organizations - increased five-fold. For January-March, it exceeded 160.3 billion tenge; the highest quarterly income indicator of tourism companies since the beginning of 2022. Kazakhstan's tourist potential has also been praised by other well-known travel publications. Earlier, “Conde Nast Traveler” and “Wanderlust” included Kazakhstan as one of the top world destinations for travel in 2024, and Almaty was included in a list of the 52 best tourist destinations issued by The New York Times.

international tourism Extreme Sports travel Tourism

Tajik Company Restores “Tatra Around the World” Expedition Bus

A minibus, involved in an accident in the Pamir Mountains during the "Tatra Around the World-2" expedition, is currently being repaired by a Tajik company. The accident occurred on August 5 , at 3,000 meters near the village of Tukhgoz in the Ishkashim district, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, when the minibus veered down a slope and got caught in trees. Fortunately, none of the nine tourists, rescued by residents and the Committee for Emergency Situations, were seriously injured. Eight members of the expedition returned home, whilst Marek Havricek remained with the vehicle in Tajikistan. The minibus is now at the Obi Zulol factory, which has pledged to undertake and finance its repair. As soon as the vehicle is roadworthy, Havricek plans to travel through Tajikistan's neighboring countries and return to Europe. Once home, he is considering displaying the restored vehicle in a museum. The “Tatra Around the World” project, founded in 1987-1990, aimed to show people the real world, as opposed to that promoted through the prism of media and propaganda, and over the past five years has comprised expeditions to the Czech Republic, Iran, North Africa, South and North America, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The last expedition started in February 2020 and prior to the accident, the minibus, designed to accommodate 15 passengers, had covered over 175,000 kilometers through Europe, Africa, America, and Central Asia.

Repair and Reconstruction Airports travel

Airport Opens in Talas, Kyrgyzstan

Following its year-long reconstruction, Talas airport in north-west Kyrgyzstan reopened on 21 May. Built in 1979 to receive planes and helicopters, the airport had not been operational since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The facility now has a runway that adheres to international standards and a terminal which can accommodate 100 passengers per hour. Speaking at the launch, Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov stated that the reconstruction in Talas marked a significant step in progressing the government’s plans to resume air communication with the country’s regions through the revival of several redundant airports. Construction of terminals is currently underway at international airports in the city of Karakol and the village of Tamchy in the Issyk-Kul region. The runway at the Naryn regional airport is under repair and the reconstruction of the runways at airports in Kazarman, Kerben, and Batken in the south, are nearing completion.

Pharmaceuticals Kazakhstan Kazakh-UK ties travel

British Companies Enter Commercial Agreements with Kazakhstan

Two new Kazakh-British business agreements were signed off during UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron’s visit to Kazakhstan on 24 April. The first, between AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Healthcare, Almaty City Administration and Kazakh Invest, aims to implement an investment project for contract manufacturing of biotechnological products in Kazakhstan. According to Kazakh Invest, the agreement represents a significant step towards Kazakhstan’s goal to increase its share of domestically- produced medicines in the local market to 50%. The second deal, signed by the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan and British company Car Park Transformer, makes provision for the construction of roadside service facilities on Kazakhstan’s national and international highways. Comprising 250 service stations equipped with restrooms, retail spaces, as well as electric vehicle charging points, the project aims to provide essential services and enhance the comfort of motorists.