Soviet Kyrgyzstan Tours
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MAKE TRAVEL NOT WAR
Meet-and-greet at Bishkek International Airport and transfer to our hotel of choice in central Bishkek.

We will devote two entire days to an architectural and cultural immersion into the national capital Bishkek, formerly called Frunze after the namesake Bolshevik leader Mikhail Frunze.

The list of highlights of our gallivanting around Bishkek will include traditional Central Asian bazaars, Soviet modernist shapes, USSR-made mosaics, monuments and memorials, as well as the usual share of offbeat sights, such as an incongruously futuristic Wedding Palace.

On our second day in the capital we’ll also take a half-day trip to Ala-Archa, an alpine nature reserve located in the Tian Shan mountains featuring a spectacular gorge and many-coloured juniper forests.

Overnights in Bishkek.

Today we'll head for lake Issyk-kul, the country’s answer to its missing ocean: nostalgic resorts, young pioneer camps, and post-Soviet party vibes.

En route to the lake, we’ll stop at the quintessential Soviet towns of Tokmok and Balykchy and admire some of the best USSR-era bus stops scattered along the road.

In the afternoon we’ll eventually reach the lakeside town of Cholpon-Ata, where we’ll spend the last hours of the day relaxing along the sandy shores of the Issyk-kul and plunging into its cold and slightly saltish waters.

Overnight in Cholpon-Ata.

In the morning we’ll continue our drive along the northern shore of the Issyk-Kul and head for the market town of Karakol.

We’ll spend these days exploring Karakol and the surrounding areas: bustling bazaars, Soviet memorials, Russian wooden churches bright-coloured Dungan mosques, former mining towns set against stupend natural backdrops (Enilchek and Jyrgalan)*, and melancholic USSR-era sanatoriums.

Our sojourn in Karakol will also comprise a full gastronomic experience in the village of Yrdyk, home to a sizeable community of Dungans, an obscure Chinese-speaking Muslim ethnic group who fled Northwest China for the Russian Empire after failure of the Dungan Revolt (1862-1877) against the Qing dynasty.

Overnights in Karakol.

*Your gallivanting around Karakol will include a visit to either Enilchek or Jyrgalan, as to cover both we would need an extra day in the area.

Today we'll travel west skirting the southern shore of the Issyk-Kul and heading for Kochkor via the former uranium mining town of Kajy-Say and the timeless Soviet sanatorium in Tamga, a must of every USSR-heritage trip around northern Kyrgyzstan.

Besides the routine breaks for random landscape pictures, we'll make several stops along the way to visit impressive monuments (such as the giant Gagarin’s bust in the Barksoon Valley and the iron-mash WW2 memorial near Ottuk), atmospheric Houses of Culture (true time capsules from the heydays of the Soviet Union), and picturesquely syncretic graveyards where nomadic, Soviet and Islamic symbolisms come together.

At the lakeside town of Bokonbaevo we might even be lucky enough to witness a traditional session of salburun, an iconic hunting style that involves falconry and mounted archery.

Once in Kochkor, we’ll spend the rest of the day walking around the dusty alleys of this pleasant bazaar town nestled in a majestic setting of high mountains and green pastures.

Overnights in Kajy-Say (Day 6) and in Kochkor (Day 7).

We’ll leave Kyzyl-Oi early in the morning for the longest drive of our journey following the course of the new North-South National Road up to the junction town of Kazarman.

On our way to Kazarman we’ll also indulge in a de rigueur detour to the former mining town of Ming-Kush, a captivating place where time seems to have stood still since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

We’ll then bid adieu to the wild Kyrgyz hinterlands and turn south to the Central Asian chaos of southern Kyrgyzstan, heading for the multi-ethnic market town of Jalal-Abad.

Overnight in Jalal-Abad.