Kolsai Lakes by motorcycle: the road, the lake and the coffee
By Amir · SilkOffRoad Motorcycle Tours
The Kolsai Lakes sit high in the Tian Shan, close to the border with Kyrgyzstan: dark blue water in a steep valley, with spruce forest running down to the shore. Every photo of them looks edited. It isn't. This is what we tell our riders before we go.
The road is half the reason to come
Most people arrive at Kolsai asleep in the back of a minibus, which is a waste, because the road in is one of the best in the Almaty region. After hours of flat steppe it turns into the mountains and starts to climb, bend after bend, through river valleys with yurts by the water and horses on the hillsides. In late September the slopes go red and gold.
It is tarmac, it is winding, and it is very beautiful. On a motorcycle you will want to stop every five minutes for a photo. Give in. Nobody has ever regretted being late to a car park.
You can ride to one lake, not three
There are three Kolsai lakes, one above the other. Only the lower one is reachable by road. That is the one in all the photos, and it is worth the trip on its own.
The two higher lakes are a different day out. The trail up is for horses, or for walkers with strong legs and a full day to spare. Motorcycles stay at the bottom. The horse has done this trail a thousand times and will not be impressed by your riding gear.
The car park, and why we arrive very early
It is the same story as at Charyn Canyon. There is a large car park above the lake, and from mid-morning it fills with coaches and day-trippers from Almaty. By noon the viewing deck sounds like a shopping centre.
So we come very early. Our last group stood at the viewpoint a little after nine in the morning, with the car park nearly empty and the lake completely still. An hour at that time of day is worth more than an afternoon later on.
Where to sleep
To be at the lake early you need to sleep nearby, not in Almaty. The village is called Saty, a few kilometres below the lake, and that is where we usually stay, either in the village or in a hotel close to the lake. You wake up, have breakfast, and you are at the water before the first coach has left Almaty.
What it costs, and where the coffee is
The entrance and parking fees are the same as at Charyn: in 2026, around 3,000 tenge for a car and around 1,700 tenge for a motorcycle, a few US dollars either way. You can pay in cash or online with a Kazakh banking app. Bring cash.
At the top you will find something that surprises people who came for the wilderness: plenty of coffee shops and cafes. You can drink a decent cappuccino at 1,800 metres while looking at a mountain lake. We don't complain.
Lake Kaindy: leave the bike in Saty
Everyone who comes to Kolsai asks about Kaindy, the lake with the drowned forest standing in it. It is close by, and it is worth seeing. Just not on your motorcycle.
The road to Kaindy is under construction and crosses several rivers on the way. We don't take our groups there, and we don't allow our rental bikes to go either. A river crossing looks great on video right up to the moment the engine drinks some of it.
The easy way is the "Kaindy taxi": the local marshrutkas that run from Saty to the lake and back. The drivers do that road every day, they know every ford, and the vehicles are built for it. You sit in the back, hold on, and see the lake without a recovery bill.
Getting there on a bike
Kolsai is about 300 km from Almaty. You can do it as a very long day trip, and many people do, which is exactly why the car park is full at noon. The better plan is to make it one night on a longer loop: Altyn-Emel and the Singing Dune, the hot springs at Chundzha, Kolsai, and Charyn Canyon on the way home.
The season is May to October. It is the mountains, so pack a warm layer even in July.
Kolsai on our tours
We ride to Kolsai on two tours.
The Almaty Adventure Loop is our most beginner-friendly ride: six days with four riding days, about 70% tarmac and 30% dirt, on a Suzuki DR650SE, with a ride leader in front and a support vehicle carrying the luggage. Kolsai is the fourth day: up from the steppe into the mountains, a night by the lake, and Charyn Canyon the next morning on the way back to Almaty. 2027 dates: 29 May – 3 June and 2–7 October.
Almaty Adventure Loop — itinerary and price
The 11 Passes of Tian-Shan comes to Kolsai from the other side, over the Karkara border crossing from Kyrgyzstan, on the second-to-last riding day of a 12-day ride.
11 Passes of Tian-Shan — itinerary and price
Related: Charyn Canyon by motorcycle: what the guidebooks leave out