flag of Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan

Introduction

There are 3 things to master in Kyrgyzstan :

-the streetview coverage : it is quite limited.

-the rearview mirror meta : it divides the country in 4 main areas.

-the landscapes : i sorted them by type, it makes learning easier.

The easy guide focuses on basics : streetview coverage and rearview mirror meta. Then the places are sorted by landscape type, for each type there is an associated geoguessr map to train. You will learn faster if you focus on each part one at a time rather than trying to learn all at once.

If you want to play the whole country, the best geoguessr map i found is Kirguistan +12,900 locations.

Streetview coverage

Not all cities and orads have coverage :

streetview coverage of Kyrgyzstan

The rearview mirror


The left rearview mirror will tell you in what part of the country tou are :

rearview mirror meta

-the "normal" rearview mirror, as seen in the east of the country, in Bishkek, and in Tarlas valley.

normal

-the rearview mirror not properly adjusted, as seen in the south, mainly Och and Jalal Abad :

Och and Jalal Abad

-The muddy rearview mirror as seen in the southwest, from Arslanbob to Tashkoumyr.

ArslanBob and Tashkoumyr

-le cleaned rearview mirror as seen in the west of the country (except Tarlas). There is still mud at the top but the mirror is clean.

west Kyrgyzstan

Mountain valleys

This part is about narrow valleys. Road orentation will help you find your valley and also your exact location.

Training map : Kyrgyzstan valleys.

Map of the valleys

There are 3 types of narrow valleys : Tachkoumyr valley, valley with a main road, valleys with a small road.

map of th evalleys

Tachkoumyr valley

Very easy to recognize thanks to the Naryn river that is quite large in this valley, and has a deep blue color.

Tachkoumyr valley

Valleys with a main road

Kara-Balta Valley has specific concrete blocks :

Karabalata

Toktogul valley has dry mountains, trees bordering the road, and some kind of torrent with fast moving water.

Toktogul

Koshkor valley leading to Naryn has a very arid climate. there is yellow/dry grass on the mountains, the trees bordering the road are small with no leafs. The river is small, sometimes you dont even see it. The road alternates between asphalt and dirt.

Koshkor

Valleys with minor roads

The valley north of Grigorivka is a dirt road along a torrent, you can see many pine trees. The road leads to a lake in a meadow.

Grigorievska valley

The valley south of Dzhety-Ogyuz has a granular road. The south of the road has a unique landscape, with green grass and red rocks.

Dzhety Ogyuz valley
Dzhety Ogyuz valley

In Al asha valley, wherever you are in the valley, if you look north you feel like it's the end of the snowy part, if you look south you feel like you arrive in the snowy part.

Al Asha valley north
Al Asha valley south

The valley east of Chukurchak has an asphalt road in bad shape, and you can se snow on the peaks of the mountains.

Chukurchak valley

The Chukuchak valley has a dirt road. When you go at a higher altitude, there is a lot of snow (see the snow guide).

Snow

This part focuses on places with snow on the ground.

map of snowy streetview coverage

The training map : Kyrgyzstan snow.

West of Suusamyr

Very easy to recognize, a big asphalt road and heavy snow.

Cities

If there is snow on the ground and you're in a major city, it is either Karakol or Oktyabr District in Bishkek.

To tell them apart, Karakol has a sunny streetview where you can see a specific mountain in the south, while Bishkek's streetview is greyish weather.

Karakol
Bishkek

The road north of Karakol also has snow, it is an asphalt road bordered with trees.

Uzgen is the only city with snow and the rearview mirror meta of the south.

ArslanBob is a big village, with the muddy rearview mirror. The road leading to Arslanbob also has snow.

Other places with snow

As i already said, in Al Asha valley, if you look north you feel like it's the end of the snowy part, if you look south you feel like you arrive in the snowy part. The south of the valley has a trekker with a large hiking trail.

Al Asha north
Al Asha south
Al Asha endpoint

Chukurchak is a mountain hamlet, the acces road is a dirt road with many zigzag. It looks similar to the south of Song-Kul lake.

Chukurchak

South of Song-kul lake, there's an asphalt mountain road, it becomes flat when you go north.

Near Sary Chelek, the road itself has snow on it.

Lakes

There are 3 huge lakes, 2 regular, and 1 minuscule that have streetview coverage.

map of Kyrgyzstan lakes

The training map : Kyrgyzstan lakes. Il y a volontairement très peu de points pour que vous puissiez tomber sur les lacs "rares" peu streetviewés.

Iessuk Kul

The biggest lake, you will know when you see it. The orad north of the lake is bordered with trees and looks like the Bishkek area.

Toktogul

Toktogul is the biggest reservoir of the country. South of the lake, there are lots of concrete blocks. When you see the lake you can clearly see it is not at full capacity.

Toktogul reservoir
Toktogul reservoir from above

The road in the north of the lake leads to Toktogul, you cannot see the lake from this road.

Song Kul

Only the south of lake Song Kul has streetview coverage, it is a dirt road with the lake barely visible, you need to zoom to see it.

Song kul lake

Orto Tokoy

Like Toktogul, it is a reservoir that is not quite full (you can see a white border around the lake). On the road, you will find black and white concrete bollards. Check the rearview mirror meta if you're not sure wether it is Toktogul or Orto Tokoy.

Orto Tokoy reservoir

Sary Chelek

The lake is only visible at the end of the road, the place is covered with snow.

Sary Chelek lake

Ozerko

The end of Grigorivka valley, that ou can recognize thanks to the pine trees.

Ozerko lake

Double carriageways

If you're on a double carriageway, you're either in Bishkek or in one of the following roads :

map of double carriageways in Kyrgyzstan

The training map : Kyrgyzstan dual carriageways.

As usual, make sure to check the rearview mirror.

The Bishkek-Balyktchy highway

It's the only real highway of Kyrgyzstan. Check the orientation of the road and the river to find where you are on this road.

The avenues exiting Bishkek

Fuchkik street (road to the airport) and Kurmanjan Datka street (road to Kazakhstan) have a unique orientation, the Abasamat Masaliev avenue has three traffic lanes.

Naryn & Talas

I grouped Naryn and Talas together because they're both east-west valleys with the same dry landscape.

Naryn and Talas

The training map : Kyrgyzstan Naryn and Talas.

Differences

Talas valley ahs an asphalt road, with lines painted on the ground and some road signs, while the road in Naryn valley is very basic.

In the Naryn valley, the google car goes away from Naryn, this is a way to know on which side (east or west) you're on.

Talas

Talas has unique electric poles with white and red paint :

Talas electric poles

Other landscapes

All other kandscapes are grouped into one training map : Kyrgyzstan other landscapes.

map of other landscapes

South of Naryn

South of Naryn, there's a major road going south-west with big mountains in th south. This road then turns into the mountains and ends at Tash-Rabat caravanserai.

The hill road

it's the only road going through inhabited hills.

the country roads

Both roads leading to Arslanbob and Sary-Chelek are country roads goign through small villages, check the rearvie mirror to know which one you're on.

Bishkek

Bishkek is a huge city, some landmarks can help you find your location :

map of Bishkek

The training map : Bishkek landmarks.