DESTINATION GUIDE
A freshwater lake at 3,016 m ringed by summer pastures, where herding families raise their yurts from June to September.
Song-Kol is the postcard version of nomadic Kyrgyzstan, and unusually for a postcard it is still true. For three months a year the shoreline fills with yurts as families drive their herds up from the valleys; by October it is empty again and the passes are closed.
There are no hotels, no shops and no mobile signal worth the name. You sleep in a family yurt, eat what the camp cooks, and go to bed when the stove burns down. The lake sits in a shallow bowl, so sunset light runs across the whole basin at once.
Getting there is part of it. The route over the Kalmak-Ashuu pass climbs in tight switchbacks with the lake appearing all at once at the top — which is why we always drive it in that direction.
Every itinerary below spends at least one full day in this region.
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
A proper expedition to Kel-Suu with high camps, 4x4 travel and a spare day built in for weather. Maximum eight travellers.
From
€1,290
per person
A short horseback trek: meet your horse in Kyzart, ride through the Kilemche jailoo to Song-Kol, and sleep in a yurt camp on the shore.
From
€610
per person
The full traverse: Song-Kol, the Naryn gorge, three-thousand-year-old Osh and the passes of the Pamir Highway above 4,000 metres.
From
€1,680
per person