Kyrgyzstan
Alay Valley
A high corridor beneath a 7,134-metre wall of ice, nomad herds drifting across the plateau.
The Trans-Alay Range fills the entire southern horizon — a 7,134-metre wall of ice and rock that runs for 150 kilometres without a break. Below it, the Alay Valley opens into grassland so wide that horseback is the only sensible way to cross it. Dust plumes trail behind herds of yak and horse, and the wind carries the metallic bite of high altitude.
The Alay Valley is a high-altitude corridor in southern Kyrgyzstan, running east-west between the Alay Range and the Trans-Alay Range at elevations between 2,500 and 3,600 metres. The Trans-Alay's highest peak, Peak Lenin (7,134 metres), dominates the southern view — one of the most accessible 7,000-metre summits on earth, drawing mountaineers to base camps at Achik-Tash each summer. The valley itself is inhabited by Kyrgyz herders who move between seasonal pastures with their yurts, horses, and yak. The ancient Silk Road ran through here, connecting the Fergana Valley to Kashgar via the Irkeshtam Pass. Today the valley is traversed by the road to Tajikistan's Pamir Highway, making it a crossroads for overlanders, cyclists, and trekkers heading south.
Solo
The valley is a corridor to everywhere — Tajikistan, China, Peak Lenin base camp. Solo overlanders and cyclists pass through on trans-continental routes, and the scale of the landscape rewards those comfortable with their own company.
Friends
Horseback expeditions across the valley floor, base camp treks toward Peak Lenin, and wild camping beneath 7,000-metre walls. The logistics demand teamwork, and the setting repays it.
- The Trans-Alai range along the valley's southern edge has peaks above 7,000 metres — including Lenin Peak — visible at road level.
- Kyrgyz nomad families set up summer camps across the valley floor each June, some willing to take in passing trekkers for a night.
- The valley road connects south to Tajikistan's Pamir Highway — most overland travellers use Alay as the gateway in one direction.
- Permit requirements for the Tajikistan side do not apply in the Kyrgyz valley — the Trans-Alai views are freely accessible.
Yurt-camp kuurdak — organ meat stew fried crisp with onions and fat — fuel for altitude.
Fresh mare's milk kumis from herders camped beside the Trans-Alay Range.
Pedra de Lume
Cape Verde
Float in a salt lake inside an extinct volcano, crater walls rising on every side.
Vale do Paúl
Cape Verde
Sugarcane terraces spill down a volcanic crater into the greenest valley in the archipelago.
Monastery of St. Anthony
Egypt
Earth's oldest inhabited monastery, wedged into a Red Sea mountain canyon since the fourth century.
Hoang Su Phi
Vietnam
Rice terraces so vertiginous they look like topographical maps carved directly into the sky.
Tulpar-Köl
Kyrgyzstan
Alpine pools at 3,500 metres that mirror a 7,000-metre peak at dawn like shattered glass.
Issyk-Kul (North Shore)
Kyrgyzstan
Soviet-era beach resorts with crumbling Ferris wheels, Kyrgyz families picnicking where Cold War generals once swam.
Song-Köl
Kyrgyzstan
Nomad yurts circling a lake at 3,000 metres where the only sound is wind through grass.
Issyk-Kul (South Shore)
Kyrgyzstan
A salt lake that never freezes at 1,600 metres, snow peaks dissolving into haze.