One week in Kyrgyzstan: what fits

Seven days is the shortest stay that reaches more than one kind of country: the eastern end of Issyk-Kul, one high day on foot, the quiet southern shore and two nights on the pastures at Song-Kul. Kyrgyzstan is small on a map and long on the road, and a week that tries to add the south as well turns into a week in a car. The route below is the one we publish as the seven-day classic.

The route, day by day

• Day 1. Land in Bishkek. Draw cash, buy a SIM, sleep low before going high.
• Day 2. East along the northern shore to Karakol, 398 km and about six and a half hours.
• Day 3. The long walk up the Karakol gorge towards Ala-Kul, or an easier day at Jeti-Oguz.
• Day 4. Up the track to the hot springs at Altyn-Arashan: 30 km, about three hours in an old 4x4.
• Day 5. West along the southern shore for the Barskoon waterfalls and Skazka canyon.
• Day 6. The back road to Kochkor, then the Kalmak-Ashuu pass and a yurt camp on Song-Kul.
• Day 7. Down to Bishkek, with Ala-Archa added if you leave the lake early.

Karakol is the hinge of the week: Ala-Kul, Altyn-Arashan, Jeti-Oguz and the Barskoon gorge all sit within a morning of it, which is why three of the seven nights belong there.

What it means behind the wheel

Day two is 398 km of paved road through a string of villages with speed limits and radar, so allow more than the distance suggests. Day six adds up: 34 km from the canyon to Bokonbaevo, 118 km and two and a half hours to Kochkor, then 90 km and three hours of gravel over a pass at 3,446 m, close to six hours in all. Day seven is 300 km and about seven hours back to the capital, so Ala-Archa, 40 km out of Bishkek, only fits if the morning starts early.

If you have five days, or three

Take the days out of the middle, not the ends. With five days the lake alone makes a complete trip and Song-Kul comes out: that is the five-day Issyk-Kul loop, Bishkek to Cholpon-Ata in about four hours, then Karakol, the springs and the southern shore. With three days, keep only the pastures: three days at Song-Kul. Lose one day out of seven and it is the Ala-Kul walk that goes, not the yurt night: it is the most weather-dependent part of the week.

South instead of north

The week has a mirror image in the south, reached by the daily flight from Bishkek to Osh rather than the 680 km and twelve hours of road over the Too-Ashuu and Ala-Bel passes. A southern week covers Sulaiman-Too and the bazaar in Osh, the Alay valley under Lenin Peak, 220 km and four hours to Sary-Mogol and then an hour of gravel to Tulpar-Kul, and the walnut forest of Arslanbob, 185 km from the city. It is lower, hotter and less travelled; we run it as the southern seven days. The Alay valley is a border zone, so the permit has to be started weeks before you fly.

Walking instead of driving

Days three and four can become one trek instead of two drives. From the Karakol gorge it is 16 to 18 km and five to eight hours to the camp below the lake, then 600 to 1,000 m more to the water, the pass at about 3,900 m and a long descent into Altyn-Arashan: two or three days, with a night under canvas. A gentler version bases you at Jyrgalan, where the trails are marked and a village bed waits each evening. Trekking in Kyrgyzstan covers what each route asks of you.

When to come

This is a July and August week. The Ala-Kul trail is normally clear of snow from the start of July to mid-September, the Song-Kul camps run from about mid-June to mid-September, and the Kalmak-Ashuu pass is cleared at the end of May and shuts with the first snow around mid-October. June and September are quieter and colder. When to go works through the seasons.