Not long ago, a small country town with a long history lived a quiet, secluded life, but now you can't say that about modern Karakol. In recent years, there has been a huge influx of those who move to this city for further residence; who open diverse businesses here; who simply come to relax and learn about the history of the city, and Karakol is almost always flooded with tourists, climbers, and travelers.

Not far from the city there are the most picturesque places - the Altyn-Arashan gorge, the famous resorts of Zheti-Oguz, Zhyluu-Suu, Jyrgalan, the Karakol ski resort, and the majestic mountains of the Tien Shan hide the beautiful glacial lake Merzbacher, which disappears twice a year; through the mountain ranges you can walk to the Enilchek glacier, see mountain raging rivers, visit the hot springs, climb the peaks of the snowy peaks.

Since ancient times, this town has been a crossroads city on the Great Silk Road. As in ancient times, today there is multilingual speech in Karakol, cultures of different ethnicities are intertwined with the roots of history, and this can be seen in the historical sites, buildings, and houses in the city. Kyrgyz, Russians, Ukrainians, Dungans, Kalmyks, Tatars and dozens more different ethnicities live in Karakol, which is why the dastorkons (tables or table-cloth) of local cafes are full of a rich variety, where all kinds of Eastern and European cuisines are mixed.

The city is famous for its sights. This is the Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral, built of wood in 1895 and preserved to this day. The architecture of the Orthodox Church is unique and of interest to all those interested in the history of Russian architecture.
The Dungan mosque was built by craftsmen from China at the invitation of a local Dungan and was built in the style of a Chinese pagoda with complex architectural construction - without a single nail. Both the church and the mosque are still functioning today.

The city also has a Tatar mosque and a Russian quarter with gingerbread houses decorated with wood carvings, openwork architraves and beautiful manor buildings. This is something that has remained since the days of tsarist Russia.
There are excellent historical and ethnographic museums in Karakol, which houses a photo exhibition by Ella Maillard – swiss traveler who visited Karakol and Central Asian region in the early 20th century, and the Nikolay Przhevalsky Museum not far from the city.

The city has the only zoo in the republic. Russian explorers and scientists are associated with the city, but the history of the city is so intertwined with the name of the great Russian traveler Nikolai Przhevalsky that even in the near past the city was called Przhevalsk. Now there are names- Przhevalsk Pier, Przhevalsky Bay, Przhevalsky Peak, Przhevalsky horse and more names of plants and many others. The scientist made many discoveries in his life and completed five large-scale expeditions to Asia, during which he discovered dozens of scientific discoveries, observations, wrote many documentary stories, which is of interest today. And that is why I would like to write about this great traveler separately.

If you visit the famous N. M. Przhevalsky Museum, do not hesitate to invite a guide who works in this museum who will tell you in detail about the life and work of the great Russian traveler. Because just walking around the exhibits and hearing the tour guide is a big difference. What the museum employee will tell you will not be found either in the notes of field notebooks or in textbooks. And the museum guide will tell you a lot that will leave you impressed by the intense and adventurous life of the famous scientist, researcher, traveler N. M. Przhevalsky.

His whole life was devoted to science, he made five major expeditions to Asia and collected exhibits of new species of flora and fauna, miraculously survived the attack of robbers. He met and described the way of life and culture of many peoples, and his field diaries are still an invaluable source of ethnographic research and discoveries. He was received by lamas and khans, chiefs and leaders of small nations and tribes, he rightfully earned the authority of the most recognized scientists and ethnographers of the world, because he made a huge contribution to the study of biology, history, geography, ethnography, mineralogy and many more sciences.