What a trip to Kyrgyzstan costs

Two people can take the same route in the same week and be quoted very different sums, and none of it is arbitrary. This page gives the actual numbers: what a bed costs, what a day of four-wheel drive costs, what the permits cost, and what our own trips come to per person.

All figures are in US dollars, per person, and are what we charge when we arrange the item for you. Buying the same things yourself at the door is usually a little cheaper and a good deal more work. Prices were checked in September 2026 at 88 som to the dollar.

What our own trips cost

What a day costs

A day is cheap or expensive depending on one thing above all: whether you are sharing a vehicle with a driver.

The first line is independent travel and it works on the paved roads. It stops working the moment your route leaves them: there is no bus to Song-Kul, no marshrutka to Kel-Suu, and the shared taxi to a jailoo does not exist because nobody lives there in winter. Getting around Kyrgyzstan sets out which routes survive without a car.

Beds

Prices per person per night, two people sharing a room or a yurt. Meals are included where there is nowhere else to eat, which is most places above 2,000 metres.

Single travellers pay more, and by a wide margin: a guesthouse room priced for two costs the same whether one or two sleep in it, so a single room runs $40 to $70 in the mountains and up to $170 in a Bishkek business hotel. In a yurt camp it matters less, because a bed is a bed.

Getting between places

A car is charged by the day for the car, not for the seat, and that single fact sets most of the price of a trip here.

Guides, horses and camp support

This is why the word trekking covers two very different bills. A guided day walk above Jyrgalan adds one guide day to your costs. A supported crossing of the Ala-Kul pass adds a guide, riding horses, pack horses, the horseman, often a cook and the camp kit, every one of them by the day. Trekking in Kyrgyzstan says which routes need that support and which do not.

Entrances, permits and fees

Entrance fees are small and paid in cash at the gate. The border permit is the one to plan around: it is stamped paper, it takes weeks to issue, and your driver needs one too.

Group size is the strongest lever you have

The largest items are charged per vehicle, per guide and per group, so every extra traveller dilutes them. Going from two people to four takes about a third off the price per person on most of our routes. It is the single biggest change anyone can make.

The curve is not smooth, though, and it is worth knowing where it bends. Four is the sweet spot: four people fill one four-wheel drive. Six need a second vehicle and a second driver, so the per-person price goes back up before it falls again at eight. If you are five or six, ask what a minivan does to the figure before you settle the group.

Season

June and September are quieter and easier to arrange than July and August, when beds, drivers and guides in the mountains are all in demand at once. The trade is reliability: high passes can still hold snow in June, and the yurt camps on the pastures begin closing in the second half of September. Best time to visit has the month-by-month detail.

What these figures do not include

International flights, travel insurance, alcohol, tips and anything you buy for yourself. Most nationalities need no visa for sixty days, so that is usually nothing; visa and entry has the list. Tipping is not expected, though a driver who has spent five days on gravel for you generally gets something.

Every figure here is indicative and a planner confirms the final price with the camps and drivers before anything is booked. If you want a number for a specific route rather than a range, build the trip and the planner prices it as you go.