Best Kyrgyz Issyk-Kul Lake, Song-Kol Yurts, Bishkek, Ala Archa, Tash Rabat, Osh and Kyrgyzstan Deep Nomadic Heritage Tour Destinations
Browse more guides: Kyrgyzstan travel | Asia destinations Best Kyrgyz Issyk-Kul Lake, Song-Kol Yurts, Bishkek, Ala Archa, Tash Rabat, Osh and Kyrgyzstan Deep Nomadic Heritage Tour Destinations (Sulayman-Too UNESCO 2009, Silk Roads Tian Shan UNESCO 2014, Yurt UNESCO 2014) TL;DR I have been threading my way through Kyrgyzstan since 2019, and I keep coming back because the country compresses three full continents of scenery into a Romania-sized space of 199,951 square kilometres. The Tien Shan and Pamir-Alay mountain ranges cover roughly 80 percent of the land, Issyk-Kul Lake sits at 1,608 metres above sea level holding 1,738 cubic kilometres of slightly saline water, and the summer pastures called jailoo open up between mid-June and early September with white felt yurts that you can sleep inside for USD 25 to USD 40 per person including dinner and breakfast. Bishkek, the capital with a population of about 1.05 million, makes a soft landing for first-timers because its grid layout, S...