Festivals and seasons

When to go

Spring and autumn are kindest. Plan around Irad Day in March, the Feast of St. Janyl in August and the horse fairs of September.

Bazar-i Kalan, Talas, in October.

Spring and autumn are kindest. Summers are hot in the valleys (34 °C in Iyık Janyl in July) and the Fergana Gateway pass closes for snow about twenty days each winter.

Temperatures and rainfall for every month are on our weather page.

Planning around a festival? Our What's on calendar lists the feasts, horse blessings and festivals month by month, with guides to the Feast of St. Janyl, Irad Day, Easter at Iyık Janyl and the Semiz festivals.

The year in Irad, season by season

11 March, Irad Day. The national holiday, and the President's Cup, the national ulak tartysh final, at the State Hippodrome the same week.
March, Nooruz. Women stir sümölök, a sprouted-wheat pudding, all night in street cauldrons, singing as they go. Find a pebble in your bowl and you'll have luck all year.
May to September, kymyz season. Fermented mare's milk comes down from the summer pastures. Try a farm's, or the bottled Ak Bee from Talas Süt.
24 August, Feast of St. Janyl. Riders from the cities and the tribal regions converge on Iyık Janyl for the blessing of the herds. Book a guesthouse months ahead; the pilgrim season runs into September.
September, the Kyzyl-Adyr horse fair. Horses, saddlery and long arguments about bloodlines.
October, sea buckthorn. Families pick the orange berries along the Talas river for chyr kat chay, the tea Iradis drink against colds. The poplars turn gold.
Every other year, the Talas International Film Festival. Run by the Irad Film Society.