Fairy Tale Canyon

The Mysterious Place - Fairy Tale Canyon.

The Issyk-Kul region is famous not only for its amazing pristine nature, which can rival the "Seven Wonders of the World." In this rich territory, there are places where it is hard to believe that this is planet Earth.

There is a sense of irrationality, an unknown beauty from another planet. One of these mysterious places is Fairy Tale Canyon.

Fairy Tale Canyon is located on the southern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, in the foothills of the Teskey-Alatoo, not far from the highway (about 3-4 km), between Kaji-Sai and Tamga, with the nearest settlement along the highway being the village of Tosor. The distance from the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, to Fairy Tale Canyon is approximately 270 km.

The canyon began to form several million years ago from sandstone and red clay. Its modern appearance has been shaped by time, water, and wind. Together, the forces of nature have created unique patterns, stone sculptures, and countless labyrinths. Upon entering Fairy Tale Canyon, one immediately understands why it has such a name. During walks along the bends of the canyon, the imagination runs wild.

The bottom of the gorge is adorned with bushes of ephedra, and the endless reliefs resemble images of fairy-tale monsters, animals, non-existent cities, and their inhabitants. The most impressive sight appears before travelers on a sunny day when the red clay begins to "play" with color. After a rain, the relief of Fairy Tale Canyon can noticeably change. Moreover, the shades of colors on the slopes of the canyon can dramatically shift with strong gusts of wind. Furthermore, remaining in Fairy Tale Canyon during complete calm and clear skies from morning to evening, an observer will discover new details of the landscape every hour. They will be illuminated differently by the movement of the sun across the sky and the shifting shadows on the ground.

And if you climb to one of the high elevations of Fairy Tale Canyon and look north, you can see an even more astonishing landscape, a beautiful combination of various elements: high snow-white mountains, the blue-green surface of the beautiful Lake Issyk-Kul, and the fiery red clay-sandy lands of the canyon.