Six unforgettable days through majestic mountains, pristine lakes and nomadic traditions.
HANDPICKED ROUTES
Three itineraries that show what Kyrgyzstan does best: high pastures, glacier lakes and nights in a yurt.
Son-Kol, Kel-Suu, Issyk-Kul and Ala-Kul in one week — the most action-packed route we run, with hiking, horses and two nights in yurt camps.
From
€1,190
per person
Bishkek, Song-Kol and Kel-Suu in one loop — horse riding, two nights in yurts and two of the most striking lakes in Central Asia.
From
€890€1,040
per person
The short version of the classic Kyrgyz trip: over the Too-Ashuu pass, two nights in yurts at Song-Kol, and back with time for an evening in Bishkek.
From
€560
per person
Discover the beauty of Kyrgyzstan day by day
Pickup at 06:00 and out of the city by half past, south through the Boom gorge with a stop at the Kalmak-Ashuu pass. We reach the yurt camp on the shore around midday and eat at half one; the afternoon is yours. Dinner comes with a fire and the evening games the camp is known for.
Breakfast at seven and away by eight, over the pass locals call 33 Parrots and down to Naryn for lunch. Passports come out at the border-zone checkpoint in the afternoon, because this is a restricted area, and we reach camp around half six with dinner an hour later.
The day the route is built around. Eight kilometres on foot from camp, reaching the lake between eleven and half past, with the rest of the morning and the afternoon on the shore — there is a boat if you want it. We start back at four, and if the sky stays clear there is a fire after dinner.
Out of the mountains the way we came in: water canyons at ten, the border checkpoint at half eleven, lunch in Naryn. The afternoon is the long drive north, and by half six you are checking into a guesthouse on the southern shore of Issyk-Kul with the lake in front of you.
A day of stops rather than a drive: the Fairytale canyons in the morning, both Barskoon waterfalls before lunch, and the Jeti-Oguz gorge at half three. We reach Karakol at half five and change into ex-military trucks for the track up to Altyn-Arashan, arriving at the guesthouse around half seven.
An early breakfast and then twelve kilometres on horseback towards Ala-Kul. The horses stop where the ground steepens and the last kilometre is on foot, up a forty to forty-five degree slope. Time at the lake, then the same way back down to camp for dinner. This is the hardest day of the week.
Breakfast at eight, an unhurried morning, and back down to Karakol for lunch at noon. A last stop on Issyk-Kul in the afternoon — the final swim of the trip — before the drive west at seven. Bishkek around eleven at night, and the tour ends there.
WHERE WE TRAVEL
From the boulevards of Bishkek to a lake at 3,500 metres that almost nobody reaches.
A freshwater lake at 3,016 m ringed by summer pastures, where herding families raise their yurts from June to September.
A hidden glacier lake at 3,514 m in the border zone near China, reachable only by 4x4 and a permit.
The world's second-largest alpine lake, warm enough to swim in and framed by the snow of the Tien Shan.
Red sandstone cliffs above a green valley of spruce forest, hot springs and easy walking.
A green, low-rise Soviet-planned capital at the foot of the mountains, and the start of nearly every trip.
The oldest city in the country and the start of the Pamir Highway, climbing to passes above 4,200 m.
TRAVELLER STORIES
Reviews collected after every departure — the good, and the things we then fixed.
The pace was perfect. Long enough in each valley to actually feel it, and our guide translated far more than words — he explained why things are done the way they are.
Lena Bauer
Germany · Heart of Kyrgyzstan
Kel-Suu is genuinely remote and the team treated it that way: proper vehicles, spare fuel, a real plan for the weather. I never once felt improvised.
Tom Whitfield
United Kingdom · Kel-Suu Expedition
I slept in a yurt for three nights and would happily have stayed a week. The family we stayed with made us part of the evening, not an audience for it.
Sofia Marchetti
Italy · Song-Kol Nomad Life
Well organised and honest about what each day involves. The only thing I would change is asking for one more day at the lake.
Hugo Lefevre
France · Issyk-Kul & Jeti-Oguz