Ten days in Kyrgyzstan: north and centre

Ten days is the point where Kyrgyzstan stops being a lake trip. The three days beyond a week buy the centre of the country: the pastures at Song-Kul, the valley town of Naryn, and the stone caravanserai at Tash-Rabat on the old road towards Kashgar. Issyk-Kul is still there, but as the second half of the trip rather than the whole of it. That is the shape of our ten-day route.

The route, day by day

• Day 1. Arrive in Bishkek and sleep at valley level.
• Day 2. East to the Burana tower, then south through the Boom gorge to Kochkor, about four hours in all.
• Day 3. Over the Kalmak-Ashuu pass to Song-Kul: 90 km, three hours of gravel, four-wheel drive.
• Day 4. A day on horseback across the pastures, and a second night in the yurt camp.
• Day 5. Down the Terskey-Torpok switchbacks to Naryn, 100 km in about four hours.
• Day 6. South to Tash-Rabat, 115 km and three hours, with a night in a yurt beside it.
• Day 7. Back north through Naryn to Kochkor, about five and a half hours.
• Day 8. West to the southern shore: an eagle hunter near Bokonbaevo, then Skazka canyon.
• Day 9. The Barskoon waterfalls, then east to Karakol.
• Day 10. The northern shore back to Bishkek, 398 km and six and a half hours.

Burana, an eleventh-century minaret standing alone in the Chuy valley, costs nothing but a stop on the way south. Karakol arrives late in this version, so the eastern lake gets one night rather than three.

Hours in the car

Days five and seven are mountain days spent mostly moving: Song-Kul to Naryn is only 100 km but four hours over a pass at 3,132 m, and the return from Tash-Rabat through Naryn to Kochkor is 115 km plus 122 km, near enough five and a half hours. Days four and six are almost free of driving, and day eight is short hops: Kochkor to Bokonbaevo is 118 km and two and a half hours, the canyon another 34 km east.

If you only have a week

Cut Naryn and Tash-Rabat. Without them the route folds back into the classic seven days: Bishkek, the eastern lake, the southern shore, Song-Kul, home. One week in Kyrgyzstan sets that version out day by day. With nine days rather than ten, take out the second night at Song-Kul instead: it is the pleasantest night to lose, but it is a night rather than a day of driving.

Kel-Suu, if you plan far enough ahead

The big addition in this region is Kel-Suu, a lake filling a rock canyon at about 3,514 m south of At-Bashy. It is 150 km from Naryn but five to eight hours by four-wheel drive, with river fords, and it lies inside a border zone. The permit is a stamped paper original, processing takes five to ten working days, your driver needs one, and copies are turned away. Allow two extra days and apply two to three weeks ahead. Tash-Rabat needs no permit at all.

Walking or riding instead of driving

Two driving days can become days on foot or in the saddle. A horse trek from Kyzart reaches Song-Kul in two or three days instead of the three-hour drive, which changes the lake completely; horse riding in Kyrgyzstan explains how those trips work. At the other end, the Ala-Kul crossing out of Karakol takes two or three days and replaces two driving days.

When to go, and what it depends on

Everything above is a summer route. The Song-Kul camps run from about mid-June to mid-September, the Tash-Rabat camps from June to September, and Kel-Suu opens later and closes earlier than either. Kalmak-Ashuu is cleared at the end of May and shuts with the first snow in October. The climb from Bishkek to 3,016 m inside two days catches people out, so take the first afternoon at the lake slowly. When to go and two weeks in Kyrgyzstan cover the alternatives.