Kyrgyzstan Discovered

A stone Silk Road staging post at Tash Rabat, an eagle hunting demonstration at Karakol, and a permit-only run through the Sary Jaz Valley on the border.

PricePOA

Duration15 days

StyleAdventure

Find out more

An independent Stradora pick. Details from the operator's published information, last checked 1 Nov 2026. Stradora DiscoveryChosen independently by our editors because we think it's worth the drive. We're not partnered with this operator: dates, prices and booking are handled by them, and we last checked their published details on 1 Nov 2026.

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The route

Fourteen nights across Kyrgyzstan from Bishkek, driven by the travellers themselves with a guide leading, with yurt nights at Song Kol and Tash Rabat. Compass supply the 4×4.

Bishkek starts it, then the Burana Tower, an eleventh-century minaret on the Silk Road, and Chong Kemin National Park. Lake Issyk Kol follows, the second largest alpine lake in the world, which never freezes despite sitting at 1,600 metres because the water is slightly saline. The petroglyphs at Cholpon Ata are scattered across a boulder field on its shore, the oldest of them well over two thousand years old.

Karakol comes next by way of Semenov Gorge, with the red sandstone formations at Jeti Orghuz, and an eagle hunting demonstration, which is a living tradition here rather than a performance laid on for visitors. The Chong Ashuu Pass then leads into the Sary Jaz valley, a restricted border zone that requires a permit and sees almost no outside traffic at all.

Naryn follows on the southern shore, then Tash Rabat, a stone caravanserai in a side valley where Silk Road traders sheltered, with a yurt camp beside it. The Moldo Ashuu Pass leads to Song Kol, a high lake ringed by summer pasture, then Kazarman, Arslanbob, the Sary Chelek biosphere reserve and its lakes, the Toktogul reservoir, the Chychkan gorge and the Too Ashuu Pass back to Bishkek. The price for this itinerary is on application. Kyrgyzstan is roughly nine tenths mountain, holds some of the highest drivable passes in Central Asia, and sees a tiny fraction of the traffic that the Silk Road countries to its west and south now attract, which is the argument for going while that remains true.

Style

Adventure, Expedition, Guided

Duration

A fortnight (12-16 days)

Region

Asia

Vehicle provision

Vehicle provided

Departures

No departure dates published, enquiry only

Starts/ends

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan