Assy Plateau

The Assy plateau opens out at around 2,500 metres above the head of the Turgen gorge, a broad rolling grassland above the treeline with mountains around its rim, and it is used as jailau, summer pasture, with herders bringing horses, sheep and cattle up from June and living in yurts and huts until autumn. The Assy-Turgen observatory stands on the plateau, built in the Soviet period for the clear high-altitude air, with domes visible from a long way off; parts of it are still working and parts abandoned. The road up is rough and steep, and the plateau is bitterly cold at night even in summer. Petroglyphs and burial mounds are scattered across the grassland.

What you actually see

• The summer pasture - herders, yurts and livestock across the grassland.
• The observatory - the Soviet-era domes on the plateau.
• Burial mounds - kurgans scattered over the open ground.
• The plateau rim - the mountains enclosing the grassland.

When to go

June to September, when the road is open and the herders are up; the plateau is snowbound and inaccessible the rest of the year. Nights are cold year round and frost is possible in any month.

Honest expectations

The road requires a four-wheel drive and takes hours from the gorge mouth. There are no facilities, fuel or shops on the plateau. Weather changes fast and cold and cloud are common in summer. The observatory is partly derelict and access is not guaranteed.

Nearby

Turgen gorge lies below; Lake Issyk is west.