Travel dates:

14th May – 22nd May 2022

The question I had on my lips for a while before coming here was “is it worth going to Kyrgyzstan in May when we were told that some of the big treks are closed, such as Ala-Kul lake”. And the answer is absolutely yes!

Getting in during Covid:

Myself and 2 others have British passports, and we didn’t need visas or any covid tests to get in if you’re fully vaccinated (and covid didn’t appear to ever be a thing here from what the locals told us). We flew from Istanbul to Bishkek on Turkish airlines and had no issues.

General Things to Know:

• Beeline is probably the best option for SIM cards, and they are located just before arrivals at the airport. It was about 300 som for a week of unlimited data and calls. We saw Beeline shops all over the country.
• Russian is mostly spoken in Bishkek and it appears a lot of people don’t actually know Kyrgyz, but this changes when you leave the city and Kyrgyz is more commonly spoken, but I think Russian is still widely understood. We couldn’t keep up!
• It is a very cheap country, especially outside of Bishkek, but you can get overcharged for taxis often as I explain below
• ATMs where we could withdraw Som worked fine, especially in Bishkek but also in Karakol – smaller towns have far fewer ATMs so get enough cash when you can

Days 1-2 & 8-9 / Bishkek

We got our hotel to arrange a pickup from the airport which was $20 between us, although I’m sure you can get taxis for cheaper we didn’t want to haggle with anyone at 5am after no sleep. We stayed at Havat hotel right in the centre which was excellent, costing about $30 a night each for a triple room. You can get cheaper of course but the location and place were perfect, with a great breakfast included!

We all really enjoyed this city, and preferred it to Tashkent as there seems to be more of an atmosphere with the many craft breweries and pubs around. We had 1 full day here and easily filled it strolling and drinking and could have spent more time.

Our other full day was spent at the Ala-Archa National Park which is a must-see when in Bishkek. You can arrange a taxi to the park and have it wait for you there until you’re done for around 2000 som, although they will try and charge much more. We ended up paying 7500 som as the hotel booked the taxi for us, which we were very disappointed with as did not know the costs yet, so do not let the hotels mindlessly call a taxi like this as they should know better. Alternatively you can get the bus, but we didn’t do this so I don’t have info on it. I do know that the bus stop is about 11km from where the trekking trails start so you’d have to try and hitchhike or add some more hours to the hike.

Central Bishkek, around Ala-Too Square, is really worth checking out. There are amazing soviet style buildings, the State History Museum, Oak Park which is filled with loads of statues, and the Old Square with a statue of Lenin! We also went to Osh Bazaar, although unless you want 5kg of chicken or some knock-off Yeezys then I’m not sure it’s worth the walk.

Main recommendations:

• Ala Too square and all surrounding parks and monuments
• Navat Hotel
• Brewster – craft beer pub
• Navat restaurant – local cuisine
• Time Out – really nice cafe/bar with good outside area
• Ala-Archa National park – spend a full day trekking here!

Day 3 / Burana Tower & Cholpon-Ata

We got a private taxi to here from Bishkek as recommended by a friend, which cost 4500 som between the 3 of us. We were told this was a good price for this journey, but I’m not sure that it was considering how much we paid for later journeys. A friend we met said they got this exact journey also for 2000 som. However, this included a stop at Burana Tower which is totally worth it, as it’s a nicely preserved minaret similar to that of the one in Khiva, Uzbekistan. The scenery around and behind the tower is stunning, and you can climb up! There is a very small entrance fee. I am not sure how you’d get to the tower using a shared taxi or bus, you’d probably need to get off at Tokmok. The journey took about 4.5 hours with about an hour stop in Burana Tower stop.

Cholpon-Ata is very small but has some nice lake and mountain views and is a nice stop-off on the way to Karakol. I recommend only 1 day here, or skip it if you’re tight on time. 

We wanted to see the famous Kok Boru game here but never saw it anywhere in our week in Kyrgyzstan, and locals didn’t have much info on it, although the Hippodrome is an impressive building with amazing views. We visited the open air Petroglyph museum (about 30 minute walk from the centre), and cost 80 som each to enter. This was nice but not worth a stop if you don’t have time.

We also visited the Cultural Centre “Ruh Ordo” which cost a whopping 500 som each, and was a weird experience to say the least. Again, not sure this is worth it but there are nice lake/mountain views.

Main recommendations:

• Burana Tower – absolutely worth a stop when heading east
• Barashek – nice restaurant with great food
• Family Guest House – really amazing guest house with super friendly people who speak English
• Hippodrome (ask around for Kok Boru)
• Open Air Petroglyph Museum (if you have time)

^{“Ruh Ordo” Cultural Centre and the Kyrgyz vodka we were we were greeted with when arriving at the “Family Guest House”}

Days 4-6 / Karakol

The very friendly people at Family Guest House drove us to the correct bus station (there are 2 in Cholpon-Ata) agreed a local price for us, and we got a shared taxi to Karakol for 250som each. About 2 hours later we arrived in the centre and walked 5-10 minutes to our hotel (Caravan Hotel).

The rest of this day we spent exploring Karakol, which felt like a bigger version of Cholpon-Ata, and reminded us of Nukus in Uzbekistan. It’s a pleasant and clean place, like everywhere in Kyrgyzstan, but there isn’t much the city itself has to offer, it is primarily a good base for the incredible hikes in that area of course.

The first full day here we did a day-hike of Karakol valley following the Karakol river (the first stage of the famous Ala-Kul 3-4 day hike). We got our hotel to arrange a taxi which cost 900som total each way and agreed a time for him to pick us up from the park entrance. This was also an overpriced taxi, so try not to get hotels to book them, instead flag them down from the street. Entrance cost 250som each plus 50som to get the taxi through.

We were told that Ala-Kul is closed for hiking at this time, and so the tour companies didn’t offer any multi-day tours to the lake. However, after hiking down Karakol valley in good time, we reached the section of the trail where you ascend to the lake, so we went for it. We made it most of the way up this ascent but turned back due to time concerns as it got very rocky towards the top, and we needed to get back to Karakol that night! If we set off earlier, or camped at the end of the valley and done 2 days 1 night there, we reckon we could have reached the lake – so perhaps it is possible during this time too, but I would not endorse it in case things go wrong. Pictures below show how far we got on our 36km day! Karakol valley is incredible though so this is definitely worth a day-hike!

The 2nd full day here we were rather broken but decided to hike some of the Altyn Arashan valley (which is the final part of the Ala-Kul trail). Two of us just did about 7km into the valley but our friend got all the way to Altyn Arashan and back, and we all agreed that Karakol valley is a bit nicer in terms of scenery (in case you need to pick one for a day hike). To get to the start of this valley we flagged a taxi from the street and it cost 400som total to get to Ak-Suu village (starting village). We then paid an additional 300som total to get form the village centre to the hike start point further south. The taxis always charge more for these journey due to the very bumpy roads towards the hike start points.

Jeeps do run from Ak-Suu to Altyn Arashan and you can get tours up and down. They wanted to charge us 7000som total for the return journey to Altyn Arashan, but you can get them cheaper with bartering. We decided to just walk anyway.

Main recommendations:

• Karakol valley day hike
• Caravan Hotel – not a bad hotel in a very good location – costing around 1000som each per night for a triple room
• Karakol Coffee – really nice little cafe with breakfast and dinner (pizzas) ran by a super nice woman. Very good prices and calming atmosphere amidst the chaos of the Karakol streets
• Holy Trinity Cathedral – nice Russian orthodox cathedral with stunning mountain backdrop 
• Karakol Yurt Lodge – cool rock bar with friendly staff and pub games
• Altyn Arashan valley day hike plus jeep 

Days 6-7 / Issyk-Kul south side Yurt Camp

We were staying in Feel Nomad Yurt Camp, which I hugely recommend! We needed to get to the village of Ak-Sai from Karakol. Most of the yurt camps are in this area on the south side of Issyk-Kul, around the town of Bokonbayevo. To get to this area, we 100% suggest a taxi. You can head to the South Bus Station in Karakol on Toktogul Street like we did. We got a minibus to Ak-Sai which cost 150 som each, but waited for over an hour before it set off as they need to fill up with people. I DO NOT recommend this at all if you’re in a group or value your time. A taxi was offering us 400, but came down to 250 som each, which we regret not getting due to the time saving. The bus then also stopped for another 20 minutes in Bokonbayevo, what seems like a bus hub on the south side of the lake. The bus driver got out to post some boxes or do whatever chores he needed doing that day. A painful journey when trying to get to the yurt camp on time.

After arriving almost 2 hours later than planned we got picked up from the bus stop in a jeep which we arranged with the yurt camp to bring us there, as there are no actual roads there. Even being late they were very accommodating and lunch was ready and delicious! We then did some horse riding through the canyons, followed by an eagle show. The eagle show included way more than we bargained for, including holding the eagle, watching it catch multiple types of prey (including live, not for the faint hearted but a real idea of nomad life), hunting dog hunting, falcon hunting and even archery which was a nice bonus! We then had dinner and breakfast and it was all excellent, and our stay in the yurt was amazingly comfortable! It was a bit of a glamping experience for sure.

For this 1 night including jeep pickup and drop off, 3 meals, horse riding and eagle show extras for 3 of us, it came to about 19,000 som, or $80 each.

We all loved Kyrgyzstan immensely and hope to return soon to conquer some of the lake hikes and meet our new friends that we made in Bishkek! People also recommended coming back in the winter to see the country under the snow, so we will see about that!