Classic Kyrgyzstan in 10 days: Bishkek, Issyk-Kul, Song-Kul and Karakol
The four things a first visit to Kyrgyzstan is for, in the order that works: a capital that eases you in, the largest alpine lake in the region, two nights on a summer pasture at 10,000 feet, and the mountain town that is the best base in the country. Five hotel changes in ten days, a private 4x4 wi
- Duration
- 10 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 5
- Best months
- Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep
- From
- $1,700 per person
Who it suits: first-time visitors to Central Asia, couples, walkers and anybody who wants mountains without a trek.
Your specialist: Osnat Angerman or Paz Prosianoy, our Southeast and Central Asia specialists, working with our long-standing partner in Bishkek.
A note before the days. Two of the nights below are in a shared yurt on the Song-Kul jailoo. That means several mattresses on the floor of one yurt, an outdoor long-drop a short walk away and no shower. It is the best part of this itinerary and it is also the part people should choose knowingly. A private yurt is available for a supplement at the camp we use.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Bishkek. Manas airport is forty minutes from the centre and most flights land in the small hours, so day one is a bed and a late start. Afternoon walk through Ala-Too square and the tree-lined avenues, then dinner. Altitude here is only 2,600 feet (800 m), which matters later.
Day 2: Bishkek and Ala Archa. The Osh bazaar in the morning with your guide, which is the best introduction to what people here actually eat. Afternoon in the Ala Archa national park, forty minutes from the city: a glacial valley with an easy two-hour walk up to about 7,200 feet (2,200 m). A gentle first taste of height and a good gauge of your own fitness. Back for dinner in the city.
Day 3: Bishkek to the south shore of Issyk-Kul, via Burana. Two hours east to the Burana tower, an eleventh-century minaret on the site of the Silk Road city of Balasagun, with a field of balbal grave markers around it. Then along the lake to the quieter south shore, about five hours of driving in total on asphalt. Late afternoon at the Skazka canyon, red rock formations on the shoreline, best in the last hour of light. Two nights on the lake at around 5,300 feet (1,600 m).
Day 4: Issyk-Kul, a slow day. Deliberately unscheduled. The lake is slightly saline, never freezes, and reaches about 68°F (20°C) in August, which is swimmable. Options in your document include the Barskoon gorge and its waterfalls, a horse ride along the shore, or nothing at all. This is the rest day, and after two long drives it earns its place.
Day 5: Issyk-Kul to Kochkor. Three and a half hours west and inland, to a small town in a broad valley at about 5,900 feet (1,800 m). Afternoon with a family who make shyrdak, the stitched felt carpets that are the country’s most recognisable craft, and it is a workshop rather than a demonstration: you will be handed wool. Night in a guesthouse, which means a family home, a shared or private bathroom depending on the room, and a large dinner.
Day 6: Kochkor to Song-Kul. Three to four hours, the last ninety minutes on gravel switchbacks over the Kalmak-Ashuu pass at around 11,300 feet (3,450 m), and then the lake opens out below with nothing built on it. Arrive early afternoon. Ride for two hours with a herder if you want to, or walk the shoreline. Dinner in the family yurt, then the sky, which at 10,000 feet with no settlement within thirty miles is the reason you came. Night in a shared yurt at about 10,000 feet (3,000 m).
Day 7: Song-Kul. The full day here is what makes this route work. A long ride or walk up onto the ridge behind the camp, an afternoon watching the animals moved and the milking done, and an evening that is entirely unhurried. Expect it to be cold once the sun goes: below freezing on a bad night, even in July. The stove is lit in the evening and out by two in the morning. Second night in the yurt.
Day 8: Song-Kul to Karakol. The long one, six to seven hours, down the other side of the lake by the Moldo-Ashuu pass and then east along the shore. It is a beautiful drive and it is still six hours, which is why we do not pretend otherwise. Arrive Karakol late afternoon. A hotel, a shower and the best food in Kyrgyzstan: ashlan-fu, the cold spicy Dungan noodle dish the town is known for. Three nights here.
Day 9: Jeti-Oguz and Altyn Arashan. A choice, made on the day with your guide according to weather. Either Jeti-Oguz, the red rock ridges and the valley of flowers, which is easy and lovely, or Altyn Arashan, ten miles (16 km) up a track that takes two hours each way in a proper 4×4 and delivers hot springs in a high valley. We usually suggest Altyn Arashan if the group is up for the ride and Jeti-Oguz if not.
Day 10: Karakol and the north shore, then Bishkek. Early, and here is where we differ from most itineraries: if it is a Sunday, the animal market starts before dawn and is genuinely one of the most interesting mornings in the country, so we build this route to put a Sunday here where dates allow. Then the wooden Orthodox cathedral and the Dungan mosque, built in the manner of a Chinese temple without a single nail, and six hours back to Bishkek along the north shore. Late flight out, or a final night in the city.
What is included
Accommodation throughout, including hotels, a guesthouse and two nights in a yurt camp at Song-Kul, full board at the yurt camp and breakfast elsewhere, a private 4×4 and driver for the whole route, an English-speaking Kyrgyz guide throughout, the felt workshop paid properly to the family, Ala Archa and national park entries, horse hire at Song-Kul, airport transfers, a day-by-day document with real drive hours and road surfaces, and a WhatsApp group with your specialist and our Bishkek partner’s operations team where there is a signal.
What we would change, and when
- Travelling in the second week of September? We confirm the Song-Kul camps are still standing before we commit, because they start coming down around then, and we hold the Kyrchyn valley at a lower altitude as the fallback.
- Not willing to share a yurt? A private yurt at the Song-Kul camp for a supplement, or we replace both nights with the Kyrchyn jailoo and day rides, which loses the lake and keeps the pasture.
- Want a shorter drive on day 8? We add a night at Kochkor on the way out, splitting the Song-Kul to Karakol leg into two shorter days.
- Four of you rather than two? The vehicle is the biggest single line in a Kyrgyzstan budget and it does not cost more with four in it, so the per-person price drops considerably.
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