Talas is a small town, beautifully located in a long valley between two imposing mountain ranges in northwestern Kyrgyzstan and the administrative headquarters of an administrative district ("oblast") of the same name. Its economy traditionally oriented towards the Kazakh city of Djambul, the Talas valley has suffered severely from the imposition of rigid border controls by Kazakhstan following the demise of the Soviet Union, as transport and trade links to the rest of Kyrgyzstan are now constrained by the formidable mountains separating it from the Chui Valley and Bishkek.

The mythical Kyrgyz national hero Manas is said to have been born in the Ala Too mountains in Talas oblast.