Kyrgyzstan - Art of the Nomads
11 days from £3645 per person
Experience sublime landscapes and a fascinating nomadic culture on this special TransIndus tour of Kyrgyzstan
Nomads and Mountains: Kyrgyzstan
16 days from £3795 per person
One of our favourite tours in Asia is this adventurous route through the wilds of Kyrgyzstan
Song Kol
This high-altitude lake in central Kyrgyzstan is one of our very favourite destinations in the region – a spot that has everything you come to this part of the world to see, in abundance.
Trekking and Horse Riding in Kyrgyzstan
For the most vivid experience of Kyrgyzstan’s dramatic mountain landscapes, it pays to venture away from road level and up to the remote ‘jailoos’ where the region’s nomads look after their flocks and herds during the summer months.
Torugart Pass
In the annals of Central Asian travel, the bleak, windswept, snow-prone Torugart Pass looms large.
Karakol
At the eastern end of Issyk Kul, Karakol was created at the end of the 19th century as a Russian military garrison town, and is today the region’s main hub.
Bishkek
A city of wide, tree-lined boulevards and marble-fronted municipal buildings, Bishkek retains the feel of a Soviet-block capital circa 1990, though it makes an engaging place to find one’s feet before heading into the nearby mountains.
Felt Makers
The collectivization policies of the Soviet era had a devastating impact on the Kyrgyz way of life. Some aspects of the old culture, however, are enjoying a renaissance thanks to tourism – among them the art of felt making, which has revived since the country opened its doors to visitors in the 1990s.
Balasagun and the Burana Tower
Rising from a grassy plain against a backdrop of windswept ice peaks, the Burana Tower in the Chuy Valley forms a superbly iconic spectacle. The remains of a minaret that once stood 45m (145ft) tall, it is virtually the sole surviving vestige of the ancient Sogdian city of Balasagun, once an important stop on the Silk Road.
The Ala Archa Valley
It’s astonishing that such a wild space as this spectacular valley in the Ala-Too range can exist so close to a city the size of Bishkek, less than an hour’s drive away.
Tash Rabat
If any sight in Kyrgyzstan could be said to encapsulate the atmosphere of the ancient Silk Road, it’s this mysterious monument in the lap of the Tianshan mountains.
