Tips for those who are going to go to Issykul (Kyrgyzstan).

Place of residence. Ordering through travel agencies is much more expensive than choosing yourself. You can also come and already on the spot will agree with people renting cottages. Here you will be selected according to your taste and your abilities. The cost of living per day with three meals a day in a good sanatorium about $ 30. If you like to hang out, hang around in clubs, you had better go to Bostery (for example Golden Sands), there you will find a lot of night clubs, and at night there life only begins))). For family holidays, it is better to go to Cholponota. It is quieter and quieter there. For example, you can relax in boarding houses "Resort village" or "Enesay". There is a very cool nature, a lot of blue fir trees and clean air.

Excursions. In each sanatorium, the prices for excursions are different. On my own experience I can say that the difference in price between the sanatorium where we lived with my wife and sanatorium which was 100 m away was five $ higher than ours. You can also haggle with guides.
However, on trips with guides there are some disadvantages. They spend too little time on sightseeing, you will not have time to really look at anything. So my advice to you, you had better book a taxi and go there yourself. The money will be the same, but emotions and impressions will be much more.
Excursions here go to: Semenovskoe and Grigorievskoe gorges, hot springs, a dead (salt) lake and ride a steamer. Also, my wife and I discovered that there is a museum of ancient drawings on rocks (petroglyphs).

On hot springs you will be offered an additional service in the form of bio piling (fish will eat your dead skin). There are two options for this service, partial and full immersion. Partial - when in the pool with fish you drop only the legs, and full, when you plunge into the pool completely. When you touch fish, it will be very ticklish at first, but you quickly get used to it.
If you choose a trip by boat, then you will be offered to swim when the steamer stops a few kilometers from the shore.
On a dead (salt) lake, there are therapeutic muds. That help from various diseases. Their three types: black, bluish-gray and ordinary. From personal experience, black is better not to smell, the smell is specific.

Food. On average in boarding house 3 meals, a day for a person costs about $ 10. However, I warn the food for an amateur. You can try the first day of eating in the dining room, if you do not like it, give up and eat in a cafe (there are a lot of them here). Just offer a try trout, they have their own look. They cook it very tasty.

Trip to Bishkek. If you are going to travel to the capital of Kyrgyzstan - Bishkek, then there are two options to get there. Taxi and minibus. The minibus costs 4500 soms, where it is 55-60 $ there and back, if you eat the company, it turns out very profitable. If you are traveling alone or together, it is better to choose a minibus, the cost in one direction is 300 soms, $ 4.5. Time of trip to one side is 3-4 hours.

Time of visit. It is best to go in mid-July, early August. From personal impressions, we managed to get on all kinds of weather (except snow, it fell out after 2 days as we left). The water is salty, a little cool, but when you go into it, you quickly get used to it.

P.S. All good rest!