Tamchy ( ky, Тамчы, ''Tamçı'', تامچى; russian: Тамчы, ''Tamčy'', previously Тамчи, ''Tamči'') is a village in the

Issyk-Kul District Issyk-Kul District ( ky, Ысык-Көл району, ''Isıq-Köl rayonu'', ىسىق-كۅل رايونۇ; russian: Иссык-кульский район, ''Issyk-kuljskij rajon'') is a district of Issyk-Kul Region in north-eastern Kyrgyzstan. ...

of the

Issyk-Kul Region Issyk-Kul Region ( ky, Ысык-Көл облусу, Ysyk-Köl oblusu; russian: Иссык-Кульская область, Issyk-Kulskaya oblast) is one of the regions of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is Karakol. It is surrounded by Almaty Region, Kaz ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

. Its population was 2,412 in 2021. The name used to be transcribed into English as ''Tamchi'', and some local road signs have it, surprisingly, as ''Tamczy'', which seems to be based on the

Polish orthography Polish orthography is the system of writing the Polish language. The language is written using the Polish alphabet, which derives from the Latin alphabet, but includes some additional letters with diacritics. The orthography is mostly phonetic, or ...

Geography

Tamchy is located on the north shore of Lake

Issyk Kul Issyk-Kul (also Ysyk-Köl, ky, Ысык-Көл, lit=warm lake, translit=Ysyk-Köl, , zh, 伊塞克湖) is an endorheic lake (i.e., without outflow) in the Northern Tian Shan mountains in Eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the seventh-deepest lake in th ...

, between

Balykchy Balykchy ( ky, Балыкчы) is a town at the western end of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, at an elevation of about 1,900 metres. Its area is , and its resident population was 42,875 in 2021 (both including Orto-Tokoy). A major industrial and tr ...

and Cholpon Ata on highway A363. To the west is Kosh Kol.

Natural environment

The village stretches for a couple kilometers along the shore of a bay formed by promontories at Kosh Kol (to the west) and Choktal (to the east). A gently raising desert plain stretches for more than ten kilometers north of the village, towards the foothills of the mountain range that separates Issyk Kul basin from the

Kemin Kemin (before 1992: ''Bystrovka'') is a city in northeastern Kyrgyzstan, the administrative headquarters of Kemin District in Chüy Region. Its population was 10,354 in 2021. It is located about 95 km eastward of Bishkek on the left bank of th ...

Valley farther north. Remote snow-covered mountain tops can be seen from the village, and, on a clear day, one can see the

Tian Shan The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...

mountains across the lake to the south. A creek flows from the mountains to the shore, bringing fresh water to the village. Along much of its course, the creek is artificially rerouted (and thus locally known as an ''

aryk In Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north ...

'') to run not along the bottom of ravines and gulches, but on a high ground, so that it is possible to divert water from it for irrigation. However, as the amount of water in the creek is quite limited, only a few square kilometers of land around the village is actually irrigated. Village houses are often surrounded by orchards, apples and walnuts being local favorites. Tamchy is one of the popular family beach vacation destinations on Issyk Kul's north shore. Much less developed and more low-key than Cholpon Ata, it is popular with both the Bishkek middle class and budget travellers from as far away as central Russia and Siberia. Unlike its western neighbor, Kosh Kol, Tamchy was spared the large-scale resort development during the Soviet era, and its hospitality industry consists mostly of smaller, family-run guesthouses.

Transportation

Tamchy is located on the highway that runs along the north shore of

, and is served by passenger vans and buses operating on Bishkek-Balykchy-Cholpon Ata- Karakol route. The Tamchy Airport, the largest on the lake, is located approximately 5 kilometers to the east of the village. In 2006 plans were announced for a major upgrade.

References

External links

* * {{Issyk Kul places Populated places in Issyk-Kul Region