Natural wonders of Central Asia

5 wonders

Every wonder in the atlas that sits in Central Asia, across 4 countries. This region grows as the atlas expands.

Charyn Canyon

Almaty Region, Kazakhstan

A dramatic red-rock canyon on the steppes of Central Asia, its most famous stretch — the Valley of Castles — a maze of towering sculpted spires often likened to a smaller Grand Canyon.

Canyon Central Asia

Golden Mountains of Altai

Altai Republic, southern Siberia

Where Siberia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and China meet — glaciated peaks above turquoise rivers and steppe, holding the most complete sequence of vegetation zones in the region.

Mountain Central Asia

Issyk-Kul, Issyk-Kul Region, Tian Shan, Kyrgyzstan

A vast, slightly saline mountain lake ringed by the snow peaks of the Tian Shan — the world's second-largest alpine lake, 182 kilometres long, and warm enough that it never freezes despite sitting at 1,607 metres.

Lake Central Asia

Song-Köl

Naryn, central Kyrgyzstan

A vast alpine lake on a high Tian Shan plateau, ringed by summer pastures where nomadic herders raise their yurts — a serene, roadless world of grass, water, and sky at 3,000 metres.

Lake Central Asia

The Fann Mountains

Sughd Province, western Tajikistan

About a hundred peaks in a compact block of the western Pamir-Alay, a dozen of them above 5,000 metres, with turquoise lakes dammed by landslides sitting under the walls.