A city by this name was founded in 1877 by Russian and Ukrainian settlers in the central part of the Talas Valley on the left bank of the Talas River. Initially, it was a village called Dmitrievka. The development of the city, which today has more than 30,000 residents, noticeably accelerated due to the establishment of food and light industry enterprises here. One of the city's attractions is a large forest park, adjacent to its quarters from the north, sprawling across numerous branches of the Talas River.
The abundance of sunshine and greenery, the invigorating coolness of mountain air, the fast-flowing clear river, and the majestic mountain peaks will leave no one indifferent who visits this region. However, perhaps the most vivid impressions will be left for tourists by the architectural monuments located not far from the city.
Twenty-two kilometers from Talas, at the foot of Mount Manastyn-Chokudy, near the village of Tash-Aryk, there has been an ancient Kyrgyz cemetery for many centuries. Here lies the oldest of the surviving mausoleums in Kyrgyzstan — the tomb of Manas — an intriguing architectural monument of Central Asia from the 14th century. Legend has it that the mausoleum, unparalleled in beauty and grandeur, was built by the faithful Kanikey for her beloved husband. To preserve the treasures buried with Manas, Kanikey ordered a misleading inscription to be made on the mausoleum, stating that his bride was buried here. However, this is merely a beautiful folk fiction. In fact, as established by the scholar M. E. Masson, the mausoleum was constructed in 1334 for the burial of the daughter of Emir Abuki. Today, the majestic structure has been restored and presents itself to people in all its glory.
Four kilometers east of the neighboring district center of Talas — the village of Leninpol, three noteworthy mausoleums built in the 17th to 19th centuries have survived at the ancient Kyrgyz cemetery. Each of them is unlike the others, differing in both architectural design and decorative decoration. Once, there were significantly more mausoleums here, and they formed an interesting picturesque ensemble of folk cultural architecture. East of the city of Talas, on both banks of the Talas River, there was once the largest settlement of the Middle Ages, which reached its peak in the 11th to 12th centuries. Today, the Ak-Tyube settlement serves as a reminder of it.
The Talas Valley, with its natural wealth, climate features, and diversity of animal and plant life, can interest tourists no less than other regions. The Talas Valley is located in the northwest of the republic. It has a predominantly valley shape, stretching 230 km in length and widening up to 80 km. The eastern part reaches an altitude of about 3000 m. The wide ridge of the mountain range has no glaciers or firn fields. The slope of the ridge drops steeply to the valley of the Talas River. All slopes are richly dissected by streams and temporary flows, forming picturesque small and large gorges. The opposite ridge, Talas Ala-Too, is one and a half times higher than the Kyrgyz range, reaching a height of 4500 m. The highest point of Talas Ala-Too is Manas Peak. The slopes of this ridge, like the opposite one, are heavily dissected by gorges.
The flat parts of the valley are intersected by river mouths. The largest river in this part of Kyrgyzstan is the Talas, formed by the confluence of the Kara-Kol and Uch-Koshoy rivers. Downstream, the Talas receives numerous and water-rich left tributaries. Glaciers and snowfields of the Talas Ala-Too range feed the rivers Kalba, Besh-Tash, Urmaral, Kyuymyshak, Bakair, which flow into the Talas...
The second river of the Talas Valley is the Chatkal River and its largest tributary Sandalash, located at the ridge of Talas Ala-Too. The Chatkal is more water-rich than the Talas, although it is shorter. The lower course of the Naryn River, which brings its waters from the mountains of the Inner Tian Shan, is located in the Talas Valley. The Naryn crosses the Ketmentyubinskaya Valley from east to west, receiving large tributaries Uzun-Akmat and Chichkan. Folk names sometimes surprisingly clearly and vividly name geographical objects. Chichkan, translated from Kyrgyz, means rodent. The same word is used for a small mouse. The river of the same name behaves exactly according to its name: it meanders among the mountain debris, making its way into the most secluded corners, gnawing through the most inaccessible mountains in its flow, as if showing a person the way through the Ala-Bel mountain pass. In the gorges of many rivers, there are small lakes of morainal and debris origin. The most famous are the Besh-Tash lakes in the Talas Valley and the Kara-Suu lake in the gorge of the same left tributary of the Naryn in the Ketmentyubinskaya basin. As is common throughout Kyrgyzstan, the color of the lakes is striking, with water filtered to extraordinary transparency.
The landscape of the Talas Valley is primarily formed by meadows and forested areas. Located in the gorges and along the river mouths, the meadows and especially the frequent steppes here impress with their high-altitude diversity of flora. One of such amazing plants is the prickly ash. On a hot summer day during its flowering period, the prickly ash abundantly releases essential oils. Overzealous jokers put on a show: they bring a lit match close, the flame engulfs the bush and instantly goes out, while the bush — the popular name for the prickly ash — remains untouched. Hence, it is called the unburnable. However, newcomers, attracted by the large, bright flowers of the prickly ash, may pay the price: when picked for a bouquet, the flowers retaliate with painful blisters that take a long time to heal. It seems that even in special greenhouses, one cannot see as many blooming plants at once. The flowers of wild rose come in various shades: from completely white with delicate yellow-tipped stamens in the depths resembling a porcelain cup, to deep pink, almost red, and even dark yellow. Each bush is generously covered with them, and a layer of petals decorates the ground beneath it. Hawthorn, barberry, mountain cherry, and, of course, numerous herbs also bloom. The air, in the usual sense, is absent. In ancient books, this is apparently called ambrosia, which you drink, absorb with every cell, in which you bathe. You begin to feel complete relaxation, the highest degree of trust in all this otherworldly grace. The sensation can only be compared to the absolutely happy days of early youth when the state of happiness sometimes envelops you for no apparent reason. "To see — and to die" — you begin to understand the meaning of this saying.
The animal world of the Talas Valley is represented by numerous reptiles: snakes and lizards, which are metaphorically called "stone frogs" in Kyrgyz. There are many rodents — jerboas, relic gophers, and an abundance of the tolai hare. Typical birds for the Talas Valley include partridges, quails, and among the raptors — harriers, owls, and buzzards. As everywhere in Kyrgyzstan — foxes and wolves. Steppe cats, porcupines, and badgers are not uncommon in the Talas Valley. Bears, wild boars, lynxes, and among birds — the juniper grosbeak and pheasant can be found in the forests. As throughout Kyrgyzstan, the highlands differ from other regions and landscapes in their animal world: stoats and martens, mountain goats, and rams. Typical birds for the highlands include the rock partridge, rock pigeon, kestrel, grouse, golden eagle, and griffon.
Numerous hunting farms — "Karakol," "Uch-Koshoy," "Besh-Tash," "Kek-Kel," "Toluk," "Uzun-Akmat" — allow licensed hunting of wild boars and ibex, mountain partridges during hunting seasons. The hunting and forest reserves of the valley protect the snow leopard and roe deer, argali and maral, ibex and lynx, wild boars. In Uzun-Akmat, a forest reserve has been established to protect the Semenov fir — an evergreen coniferous tree of the pine family. The fir is an accurate natural indicator of air quality. It cannot tolerate smoke or air pollution at all. Draw your own conclusions: it grows abundantly only in the mountains of the Talas Valley. Urban residents are only familiar with products made from fir oil, which is widely used in perfumery and medicine for obtaining camphor.
The Talas Basin is also interesting for speleology enthusiasts: one can explore the Manas cave, in the Uzun-Akmat gorge — whimsical grottoes with giant entrances, the Ak-Unkur cave, which has two tiered entrances. Antiquity lovers can visit the widely known mausoleum of Manas, which is surrounded by legendary tales, no less colorful and beautiful than this ancient mausoleum in Kyrgyzstan. Travelers can also explore the medieval settlement of Ak-Dyube near the city of Talas, the stone sculptures of Kesken-Dyube on the shore of Lake Besh-Tash, and the Upper Paleolithic site (from 40,000 to 12,000 years ago) in the Nicheke-Sai area, where tools of ancient humans have been found. In this same area, there are many large ancient burial mounds. In the Aiyrtim-Oy area, runic signs have survived. The curiosity of petroglyph enthusiasts can be satisfied by rock paintings in Kyurkureo-Suu, Kugande, and Chiyim-Tashe.
Fishing enthusiasts can catch trout and osman, marinka. The tranquility of the lake's surface, the leisurely movements of marinka schools are enchanting: one can sit on the shore for hours, feeling neither boredom nor a sense of lost time. The water surface reflects the coastal slopes overgrown with fir and spruce, alternating with the picture of crawling clouds.
All the natural diversity of the region is currently virtually unused. The tourism bureau in Talas mainly functions as a link, transferring tourists from the Talas Valley and the adjacent Jambyl region of Kazakhstan to more popular areas of Issyk-Kul and Southern Kyrgyzstan, as well as through Osh or Bishkek to other countries. In the future, the role of the Talas bureau in the republican tourism development system should be reoriented. Numerous attractions allow the Talas Valley to serve as a kind of interception hub, limiting the tourist flow directed towards the Chui Valley or the Issyk-Kul basin. For the conditions of the Talas Valley, the most acceptable development is primarily auto tourism. This type of tourism also determines the necessary service facilities: the presence of a tourist hotel in Talas, tourist shelters "Besh-Tash" and "Chat-Bazar" in the gorges of the same name. The tourist hotel should be oriented towards year-round operation.