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Bishkek
A green, low, Soviet-planned city. One night on the way in, one on the way out.
Central Asia
Kyrgyzstan
A lake at 1,600 metres and the mountains around it
From Delhi
≈3 h 30 Delhi–Bishkek, direct
Visa
Visa-free for many passports; confirmed for yours before booking
Currency
Kyrgyzstani som (KGS)
Language
Kyrgyz and Russian
Kyrgyzstan is where the region stops being about architecture and starts being about altitude. Issyk-Kul is the second-largest alpine lake on earth and does not freeze; the pastures above it are still worked by families who move up in June and down in September.
This is the trip for people who would rather sleep in a well-run yurt camp than a five-star hotel, and it is the one where the guide matters most.
Where you will go
Where you will go
The places this country is actually about, and what each one is for.
Issyk-Kul
Salt water at 1,600 m that never freezes, with 4,000 m peaks on the far shore.
Osh
Sulayman-Too and a bazaar that has been trading on the same ground for two thousand years.
Know before you go
- The season is genuinely short. Outside late June to early September, half of this itinerary is under snow.
- Yurt camps are comfortable and basic at the same time: good bedding, shared washing, no lock on the door.
- Altitude is real at Song-Kul (3,000 m). We build an acclimatisation night in.
Gallery — Kyrgyzstan
Journeys
Journeys in Kyrgyzstan
The one trip in this collection where the accommodation is deliberately simple and the landscape does the work. Two nights in yurt camps, run by the families whose animals graze there.