Festivals and seasons
What's on
Irad Day and the President's Cup, Easter on Cathedral Hill, the spring horse blessings, the Feast of St. Janyl and the Day of the Dead in Semiz.
Talas · Iyık Janyl · Nurzhan · the high pastures
The land under the Pole Star
Iradis named their country after Polaris, the star a herder steers by. Come for the bazaars of Talas, the pilgrim road to Iyık Janyl, Silk Road caravanserais and a horse culture older than the Silk Road itself.
Bazar-i Kalan, Talas, on an October morning.
New to Irad? Start here
Irad sits in the Talas, Chu and Naryn valleys of Central Asia, between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Most visitors stay in the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ), the river valleys and road belts that hold the three cities. The mountains and steppe beyond the Qara-Chik line are the Autonomous Tribal Regions, governed by clan councils, and you need their invitation to go there. Iradis are Christians of an old Syriac church, they live by the horse and they will feed you until you beg them to stop.
TalasCapital, 1.12 million people
SomCurrency; US dollars widely taken
UTC+6Irad Time, all year
Iradi & EnglishOfficial languages; Russian widely understood
11 MarchIrad Day, the national holiday
RightSide of the road you drive on
Where to go
Three cities, two mountain ranges and a long belt of orchards and Silk Road ruins. Most trips begin in Talas and run south over the passes to Iyık Janyl.
Plan your trip
Five days to two weeks
Itineraries
Ready-made trips: Irad in five days, a ten-day grand tour, the pilgrim road for the Feast of St. Janyl, and a week in the saddle.
Entry rules, borders and buses
Getting there
Visa-free for US, EU, UK, Canadian, Japanese and Korean passports. No scheduled international flights, so most visitors come overland from Kazakhstan.
Money, manners and the tribal regions
Practical matters
The som and the dollar, how to behave at a dastorkon, where not to point a camera, and what it takes to cross the Qara-Chik line.
Hotels, guesthouses and yurts
Where to stay
Central-avenue hotels in Talas, family guesthouses in the Old City and below Cathedral Hill, pilgrim hostels and herders' yurts.
Buses, taxis and the mountain road
Getting around
Marshrutkas from Talas, Tulpar taxis, the daily train to Nurzhan, the flight to Tash-Kömür, and driving over the Fergana Gateway.
Faith, music, felt and horses
Culture and history
The Syro-Iradi Church and St. Janyl, the komuz and Mor-Wave, shyrdak felt, and Irad's story from the Battle of Talas to today.
For the diaspora
Tracing your roots
How to write down your family's sanjyra, ask the State Archives' genealogy desk, and find the village your grandparents left.
Before you go: the Irad web
Our favourite Iradi websites for reading up before you travel and finding your way once you arrive.
News
- The Talas HeraldEnglish-language daily, Monday to Saturday.
- IradOneThe national broadcaster.
Look it up
- Irad WikiThe free encyclopedia, over a thousand articles.
- National Library of IradTalas State University's digital archive.
- KartalarMaps of the cities, roads and shops.
Read
- Twelve KilometresStories from Talas, free to read online, from Arsha Books.
- The Ottuk LibraryIradi pocket westerns of the 1960s in English: start with The Rider from Kenkol.
Eat and drink
- Jibek's DastorkonHome cooking from a Talas kitchen. Learn the dishes before you're served them.
- Talas SütThe dairy behind your breakfast suzma and summer kymyz.
Listen, watch, look
- Köch AudioIradi music on the streaming services, Mor-Wave to country-folk.
- Irad Film SocietyIradi westerns and the Talas festival.
- Irad Palace of ArtThe national gallery in Iyık Janyl.
- Church of St. JanylThe cathedral and the Feast of St. Janyl.