2022
I was featured last week in Local Guide's "Thankful Friday" for my travel guides by @DeniGu , super grateful for that! 🙌
Because of this I also realized that I did not write a travel blog of my last vacation in May to Kyrgyzstan. (although I posted my favorite pictures here)
Done with the chit-chat, let's get started! 😎
Kyrgyzstan is quite an undiscovered country located in Central Asia, squished in between Uzbekistan, Kazkhadstan, Tajikistan and China. Almost 90% of Kyrgyzstan lies more than 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level, and has the second world's biggest salt lake named "Issyk Kul". The initial language is Kyrgyz, but because of the Soviet Union that turned more into Russian and has remained that way. (most young children get only Russian educated at schools, no Kyrgyz anymore)
With less than 2 million tourists per year (one third of the Kyrgyz population), one might say that it is traveling out-of-bounds. That can be good and bad, depending on the person you are. If you love adventure, you will love it here. If you enjoy a structured vacation, you will most probably have a bad time.
An overview of the guide (same categories as previous guides)
- Getting around Kyrgyzstan
- Must-see things
- Food, food, food
- Recap
All pictures in this post are taken by myself, with a Google Pixel 3XL.
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1. Getting around Kyrgyzstan
Everything in the country is cheap coming from a "more developed country", from food to transportation to activities. Getting around Kyrgyzstan will require time, lots of time. The roads are horrible as there are no high speed highways. Public transportation is pretty non-existent here, especially if you want to go outside of the capital city Bishkek. There are some travel agencies that offer tours from Bishkek to the touristic attractions and bigger cities but they are rather expensive for the country's standards.
My advice: rent a car and get the full experience! Though, I have to warn you that this is not a typical road trip like on American movies. You will need to get used to the country's driving rules (read: there are no rules) and avoid the bumps, holes, animals when driving around. Because of this I will also recommend to only go for the rental car option if you are an experienced and confident driver. You will be going from animal traffic jams to dangerous overtaking to driving in snowy mountain passes.
A SUV car is strongly recommended to drive around in Kyrgyzstan, I rented mine at Travel Land in Bishkek. For a Toyota Highlander I have paid a little bit more than 500 USD for 15 days. This is cheaper than other very expensive car rentals (starting from 100 USD per day), but they have an incredible service. The agency will explain you all the driving rules from A to Z, where to drive and where definitely not to drive. Make sure to check the permits if you want to drive around in Kyrgyzstan as areas around the country borders require one, this travel agency will also help you with that.
Here are a few videos of mine that shows the driving conditions in Kyrgyzstan well. In the second video you can see me getting stopped by the police as I was speeding. The police is quite corrupt so you can get out of it relatively cheap if you bargain with them. (one useful tip when driving, when a car passing from the other side flashes his headlights, that means in Kyrgyzstan that there is a police car few corners ahead!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK9j2jzCEVM&ab_channel=Stephen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIDzjzn5xFM&ab_channel=Stephen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj0GvjTjtfQ&ab_channel=Stephen
2. Must-see things
I came in low season May ánd during the pandemic, so it made it not easier to get around and visit things. Lots of things were not open yet, especially sleeping accommodation outside of the capital Bishkek. I would recommend to go during high season July & August. On the good side, I did not see any tourist during my 2 weeks in Kyrgyzstan because I came in May. 😊
Below you can find my itinerary for 2 weeks, driving nearly 2.500 km seeing many gorgeous things.
You can consider Kyrgyzstan as a nature mekka with more than 2000 lakes. Hiking is a must here, although I did not hike that much because I only had 2 weeks here. Just driving around gets you to many incredible views.
The most scenic views according to me were definitely below: the Ala-Bel mountain pass at 3.175m & Toktogul Reservoir
The Ala-Bel pass you will find when driving from Bishkek capital to Osh, second biggest city. When going down from the top you will get a view on a valley with huge mountains as a backdrop, it was honestly one of the most amazing views I have seen in my life! 😍
Driving a few more hours more towards Osh, you will almost completely drive around Toktogul Reservoir. This reservoir has a hydropower plant that is generating more than 40% of the country's electricity. The size of it is bigger than the city where I live, Antwerp / Belgium. 😂
Honestly this reservoir was more memorable for me than the touristic Issyk-Kul lake, as this one is so rural you can just sit here peacefully and admire the views.
I had to drive an extra 6 hours around as a border access to Uzbekistan was closed, which caused me to completely reshuffle my initial plans unfortunately. Osh is a lovely old city with the original "Osh Bazaar" as its main attraction but I would not say that it is completely worth it to drive more than 10 hours from the capital, unless you want to proceed to Uzbekistan and visit the gems there.
Another disappointment was that a mountain pass that I wanted to take to drive to the other side of the country was closed, which made me again completely reshuffle my plans. I had to take the same road back where I came from which was a pity, but luckily the views were breathtaking. This again proves that you need to be very adventurous going here as your plans can change where you did not expect them to change. Check with the car rental agency about the current information about mountain passes!
On my birthday I drove more than 10 hours on central rural Kyrgyz roads. This was not the original plan as I wanted to actually enjoy and celebrate my birthday a bit. But as it was May, all of the touristic accommodations were closed and I could not find any hotel or airbnb to sleep for 10 hours.
This setback actually was not the worst, as I had done 2 driving days done in 1, giving me an extra day to relax.
I arrived at Issyk-Kul, the enormous salt lake, and decided to stay for 2 nights at a farm via Airbnb. It was a lovely Kyrgyz family living with their 2 kids and grandparents having a farm with lots of animals and apricot trees. They showed us their way of living and talked about their lives and shared their thoughts. An incredible experience which made me seriously rethink my life as a Western European! (book the Airbnb here)
Just next to the Airbnb there are desert-like canyons called "Skazka Canyon". Skazka translates to fairytale in Russian, and oh boy is it a fairytale!
Huge peculiar rock formations are very interesting to see here, especially as the majority of the country is more green. I flew my drone here which gave me the opportunity to get amazing shots!
Driving one hour from Skazka Canyon will lead you to the Barskoon area which offers a great opportunity to hike to the Barskoon waterfall, which I gladly took! It was quite a steep hike with high elevation gain but it was so worth it. The views are out of this world and I again took the chance to fly my drone here delivering awesome stuff. The waterfall was actually capped with ice all over, which was pretty cool.
A few hours driving from Barskoon will lead you to a very touristic town "Karakol", which is the center for many activities in the neigborhood. The most popular one is the hike to the famous Ala-Kul lake, which I unfortunately could not do because it was a 4-day hike and I was out of time. (I will be back for that once though!)
Karakol is a good place to take a hotel for a few nights and just drive to attractions in the neighborhood. I did two of them, one being the "Seven Bulls rock" and the other doing some hiking in the pretty undiscovered Jyrgalan Valley. Make sure to also visit the natural hot springs in the neighborhood!
3. Food, food, food
One of my favorite things when traveling, is to discover the local cuisine. (and write reviews about them 😋)
I did not mention anything about Bishkek, the capital where my journey started and ended, because this city is where you can really get some serious foodgasms!
There are a lot of influences from all the neighboring countries, but especially from Russia and China. There are a huge amount of restaurants in the capital, even though the population is less than a million.
I did not really take many good food pictures, but let me share with you the places that I enjoyed the most:
Restaurant NAVAT - A pretty fancy restaurant that has tons of local dishes at very afforadble prices. The service is great and the decoration even better!
Restaurant Furusato - A Japanese man that moved to Bishkek many years ago that opened a traditional restaurant that has the best sushi I have ever tried in my life. What is incredible is that the owner actually comes to greet every single guest!!
Rooftop restaurant IWA - On the rooftop of a Sheraton hotel in Bishkek, you can find IWA. A fancy place that serves dishes in a Michelin star way. The prices are much more expensive than average restaurants here, but the experience is great and you would pay hundreds of euros in Europe for this.
Bar/Restaurant Oblako 53 - Oblako 53 means 53rd floor, which is the rooftop of this building. During the daytime it is a gorgeous place where you can eat, in the evening it turns into a party place with DJs, cocktails and waterpipes. Very cool!
Bublik Cafe - A touristic breakfast cafe that has lots of local specialities.
Restaurant Dastorkon (Karakol) - A restaurant with traditional boots where you can eat. A very unique experience as a tourist. Definitely try the shashlik here!
Restaurant Azamat (Djalal-Abad) - Very local dishes at incredibly low prices on a busy road next to Djalal-Abad.
4. Recap
Nearly 4 hours after starting to write this post, recollecting my memories and photos, we end up at this recap.
As I heard a local Kyrgyzstan talking about his country on a podcast, he was asked to describe his country in 3 words. His response was people, undiscovered, beauty.
I can not agree with him more, the people are just so amazingly sincere and hospitable. Even though they barely have money to survive through the month, they would give you everything with a smile. We can learn so much from them, seriously!
The country itself is just so undiscovered as said before, you can really have an experience of a lifetime here discovering the undiscovered.
Kyrgyzstan, you are BEAUTIFUL! (every single aspect of it)
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Make sure to check out my other travel pictures of Kyrgyzstan too.
