A trip to the petroglyphs in Cholpon Ata

Petroglyphs are located about 4.5 km away from the city center at its northwestern end. Most tourists therefore rent a taxi and go directly to the entrance to this area. It is quite interesting to walk there, as you will also see a few historic houses from the Tsarist period, a mosque, the largest market, but most importantly you will be able to walk around the canceled airport, where the locals shorten their way along the runway. A possible „medium“ option is to get on a marshal heading in the direction of Bishkek and get dropped off at the airport (saving 3.5 km of walking).

Less than two kilometers long airport in Cholpon Ata now serves only for locals as a pleasant shortcut to the main road

Right next to the airport is a half-inhabited housing estate with a prosaic name – Village 3. Simply built-up buildings in Kyrgyzstan will rarely captivate you.

The runway leads uphill (up to a total of 80 meters), so the view of the lake is getting better.

Just some two hundred meters from the end of the runway is a location with petroglyphs. There is a fence on the south side and an entrance is paid at the gate. However, most of the space is not surrounded, so it's up to you whether you pay (the most famous stone with a petroglyph is, however, right next to the house with a guard). The area is very large, about 800×300 meters with hundreds of stones. Only some of them show something and there aren't many signs here – so it's almost a detective job to find some of them.

The most famous stone depicts a large hunting scene with a whole herd of huge capricorns.

Some paths lead to some petroglyphs, and most of the most important ones are right from the start

One of the most popular petroglyphs is the one with a beautiful ibex.

Unlike petroglyphs, the gods will not be that old

If you want to go for a walk further „inland“ after a tour of the petroglyphs, continue north. about a kilometer from the beginning of the „field“ with petroglyphs. You will reach a river that supplies water to basically the entire Cholpon Atu. As part of this walk, calmly cross the bridge to the other side and continue along the footpath. However, if you are planning a 2–3 day trek into the interior of the Kungean Alatau, follow the dusty road on the west side of the river, which will take you to the mountains faster.

The whole area around the road is completely arid outside the short green belt along the water.

Thanks to the relatively low altitude of the surroundings – only about 1,800 m above sea level, there is a really big heat on this walk. You will definitely not despise cooling in the shade by the water.

After a while, you will have a view of the entire green valley, which stretches into the distance. On the left you can see a dirt road leading to farms in the north. So theoretically it is possible to shorten the path a bit if you plan to get to know this mountain range more. The way back to Cholpon Ata is basically the same