The Lake Sary-Chelek is one of the most beautiful and picturesque alpine lakes in Kyrgyzstan, a bright attraction of the Chatkal ridge (a spur of the Western Tien Shan). The lake is located in the west of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, 500 kilometers from Bishkek and 300 kilometers from Osh, on the territory of the Sary-Chelek nature reserve, at an altitude of 1940 meters above sea level and stretches from northeast to southwest for 7.5 km, filling with water area of 507 hectares. Sary-Chelek is the third deepest lake in Central Asia and the second deepest in Kyrgyzstan.

In summer, the water temperature in the lake reaches + 19.8 ° C, and in winter it ranges from + 4 ° C to 0 ° C. The lake is drainage and, therefore, fresh; the Kojo-Ata River flows out of it. Dozens of streams flow from the gorges surrounding the lake. The steep, and sometimes completely sheer shores of the lake plunge sharply into impenetrable depth, reaching 234 meters in places. Its northern shores are covered with large forests of slender spruce and fir. If you climb into their dense coniferous thickets, you may get the feeling that you are in the impenetrable Siberian forests, where even the sun’s rays penetrate only if the wind blows and spreads the densely woven branches. These powerful woodlands peacefully admire their beauty in the mirror image of the lake. In this mirror, you can find your “second self” and the surrounding colorful rocks, and panoramas of blue mountains, which makes the lake itself take on a bright fabulous look.