Apart-Otel Novel Hotel & Apartments

The beach was fairly nice and relatively clean, but the sunbed setup was outrageous. If the hard wooden beds were taken, you had to pay for a gray one. The beach attendant was extremely rude to me and even told me to carry the sunbed away myself. The pool was unusable too, the water was so green. And relaxing was out of the question with pool party music blaring across the whole beach from 11 a.m. I asked several times for it to be turned down. They lowered it briefly, then turned it right back up. If they insist on playing it that loud, they could at least choose better tracks. It sounded like DJ Skip was just skipping through songs. Breakfast was pretty good, though dinner was overpriced and not to our taste. The rooms felt cold and very uncomfortable, with no decoration, careless cutlery storage, and poor cleanliness. We first had a comfort apartment, then Expedia upgraded us to a deluxe suite because of an error. Aside from the extra room, there was nothing deluxe about it: one mattress had completely broken springs, the bathroom soap dispenser had fallen off and looked as if it had been there for a while, and some of the drawer cutlery was broken. Cleanliness still left a lot to be desired. I suppose this counts as a good hotel by Kyrgyz standards, but we had a bad experience. We regret spending so much money here and definitely won't book again.

The staff were so friendly and helpful, and breakfast was delicious. Our room was clean, spacious, and had everything we needed, including artesian water. Right beside Lake Issyk-Kul, the place has beautiful views and a peaceful feel. They offer service all year, with things to do in every season: you can relax by the lake in summer or ski in winter, with transfers to Karakol. A lovely choice for a family holiday or a weekend away.

Beautiful.