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9 Beautiful places to visit in Kyrgyzstan
April 13, 2025
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Visiting Kyrgyzstan? Here are nine beautiful places to visit in Kyrgyzstan to add to your itinerary!
Last year we spent two and half weeks exploring the incredible country of Kyrgyzstan, which was truly unlike anywhere I have ever visited!
The landscapes are so diverse, the food is fresh and delicious, and the people are unbelievably kind and welcoming (despite the difficult language barrier).
In this guide I’ve outlined my top spots across the country, going from west to east.
Best places to visit in Kyrgyzstan
Song Kul Lake
Song Kul Lake is one of the most popular places in Kyrgyzstan — a beautiful high alpine lake surrounded by family-run yurt camps. Song Kul Lake is in the Northern Naryn region of Kyrgyzstan.
It’s the second-largest lake in Kyrgyzstan and one of the must-visit spots in this beautiful country. It’s a popular summer destination that attracts visitors from all over the world, despite the lake’s remote location.
The lake itself sits high up in the mountains, at around 10,000 feet above sea level. Song Kul Lake can typically only be visited from June to September. During the winter months many of the passes, including the main passes from Naryn and Kochkor are not passable due to snow and bad weather.
A 4×4 is recommended if you plan to drive yourself.
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Kel Suu Lake
Kel Suu is one of the most beautiful high-alpine lakes in Kyrgyzstan. Did you know that there are over 2,000 high alpine lakes in the country?
The lake is only accessible by foot or horse, so if you’re driving you’ll need to park your car by the yurts in the village and go the rest of the way on foot, or hire a local horse.
4×4 car and border permits are necessary to reach the town, so you’ll want to make sure that you secure these permits ahead of time, as they take at least 2-3 days to process them. We got ours from the CBD in Naryn, however you can also contact them ahead of time and pick them up on your way. I definitely recommend doing this, as we had to rearrange our trip a bit while waiting for permits.
Once you reach the “town,” you have the option of hiking up to the lake. It is approximately 7 miles to the lake, with an elevation gain of about 700 feet. Kel Suu Lake sits at 11,529 feet, so make sure to take your time and drink plenty of water. If we had planned better, I would have camped right at the lake which looks like an incredible experience. Instead, we hiked back to the main after and set up camp there.
Naryn
Naryn is a small city in southeast Kyrgyzstan that makes an excellent base. The city provides easy access to popular tourist destinations like Tash Rabat, Kel Suu Lake, and Song Kul Lake.
You don’t need much time in Naryn, but it’s a good base to stock up on fruits and veggies from the market, access some high-speed WiFi and get a hot shower. We stayed in Naryn two separate times during our time in Kyrgyzstan, and enjoyed having it as a base to come back to.
Kezgin Guest House is an excellent option for lodging, it’s basic but sufficient! Plus, the breakfast is absolutely delicious! It’s a bit outside of town so you’ll want to have your own car if you’re staying here.
Make sure to grab some food from Bamboo Coffee. We ate here three times and the food was surprisingly delicious and affordable! The coffee is also super strong.
Kezgin Guest House
A simple but charming guest house in the heart of Naryn, Kyrgyzstan. The breakfast is an absolute hit and makes it worth the stay. Great place to recharge with hot showers and fast WiFi.
Check rates and availabilityTash Rabat
Tash Rabat is a remote mountain village, home to many nomad yurt camps. When you think of Kyrgyzstan, this is probably exactly what you picture.
Like many parts of Kyrgyzstan, there is no cell service in Tash Rabat, so make sure to download any offline maps, translator apps, and books/music before your trip into the valley.
Access to the Chatyr Kol Lake hike over Panda Pass starts here. We originally planned to do this full hike as a long day out and back, however, we learned quickly that we would not be able to reach the lake without a border permit.
If you’re planning to visit any of these border areas, make sure you arrange your border permit ahead of time with a local CBT in Kyrgyzstan. You can easily pick it up in Naryn on your way to Tash Rabat.
Issyk Kul Lake
Issyk Kul is a massive lake in eastern Kyrgyzstan surrounded by many small towns. In fact, it is the second biggest alpine lake in the world, 182 km long, 60 km wide!
Issyk Kul Lake is most popular in the summer months when locals and tourists head to the shores of the lake to swim and sunbathe.
You can visit either the north or south side of the lake. The north is more popular with Kazak tourists, so it is more built up. The south is more raw, with some amazing canyons and mountains that you can visit.
The area is also very popular for eagle hunting demonstrations, but we didn’t get a chance to experience one ourselves.
How to get to Issyk Kul Lake
The lake is super accessible with public transportation via the town of Bokonbayevo. You can either take a marshrutka from Bishkek or Karakol, or book a shared taxi for a more comfortable ride. The journey from Bishkek to the south part of the lake is about 5 hours.
Mars Canyon
Mars Canyon is the much less popular alternative to Fairytale Canyon, another red rock canyon area located just up the road. Mars Canyon is a lot smaller, but it feels raw and untouched.
It is an awesome area to camp in near the lake. We spent a beautiful night here with no other campers, which really made us feel like we were on Mars!
To get here you can use Google Maps and navigate to Kan’on “Mars”, which translates to Mars Canyon. If you don’t have your own car, you can easily be dropped here by public transportation.
Our camping spot (exact coordinates are 42.1408501, 77.1405398) can be reached by foot from the main road in less than 30 minutes, you’ll just need to have a driver drop you by the main entrance.
If you are self-driving, then it’s important that you have a 4×4 vehicle for the dirt roads. We rented our car from Iron Horse Nomads and it was great!
Fairytale Canyon
Fairytale Canyon, locally known as Skazka Canyon, is one of the most beautiful, and unique, places to visit in Kyrgyzstan. Located on the north shore of Issyk Kul Lake, Fairytale Canyon is a popular hiking area with iconic red rock mountains and a view of the lake.
There are several different trails that you can follow, with panoramic views of Lake Issyk-Kul and the surrounding landscapes.
Jyrgalan
Sitting just over 8,000 feet, Jyrgalan is a small mountain town 1 hour from Karakol. Jygylan is located in the Terskey Alatau mountain range, near the border of the Issyk-Kul region.
This area is truly a hidden gem for outdoor lovers. It’s easily one of the most beautiful places to visit in Kyrgyzstan. You’ll find incredible hiking trails, including trails that lead to a number of high alpine lakes.
If you’re looking for a quiet, remote location, then Jygalan should be on your travel itinerary. There are several options to stay in local family-run yurts if you visit during the high season. We visited in early June before the peak tourist season, so we chose to wild camp instead. The views from our tent were incredible, and we were even greeted by a horse in the early morning.
Food options were limited in the town, especially during the shoulder season, so consider packing your own. We picked up some takeout from our favorite restaurant in Karakol — ‘Bair cafe’.
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Karakol
Karakol was on the places in Kyrgyzstan that surprised me the most. We originally planned to just stop by for a night in passing, but ended up extending a few days to use the city as a base to get some work done.
Karakol is a small city just east of Issyk Kul Lake. It’s a great base surrounded by striking mountain peaks on all sides. Many tours head up to the surrounding mountain areas from Karakol for hikes and horseback riding trails.
Here are a few things you need to do while in Karakol:
- Try ashlan-fu: Ashlan-fu is a local soup with Chinese origins. Head to Bugu Bazaar in the center of Karakol and you’ll find a strip of shops all serving up this same delicious spicy cold soup.
- Visit the Dungan Mosque, built by the Dungan people completely out of wood.
- Head on a tour (or with your own 4×4 into the mountains)
- Grab a coffee from snow coffee, the cutest little espresso stand in town
- Try a Langman from ‘Bair’ cafe
Getting around Kyrgyzstan
My number one tip for getting around Kyrgyzstan is to rent a car. While you can definitely get around by shared taxis and marshrutkas, it is not the same as having your own vehicle.
Renting a car will give you the freedom to explore so much more of the country – visiting places and overnighting in areas with no one else around.
We rented our 4×4 car through Iron Horse Nomads and only have good things to say. A 4×4 is necessary for adventuring, as the roads can be super tough.
Other popular options for getting around Kyrgyzstan include:
- hiring a local driver
- joining a tour
- hitchhiking (this is super common in Kyrgyzstan)
- marshrutkas (minibusses)
The best time of year to visit Kyrgyzstan
The high season in Kyrgyzstan is generally considered to be July and August, with most travelers visiting between late May and September. We arrived in Kyrgyzstan in late May and stayed through mid-June. Overall the weather was pretty good, with a few very cold snowy nights.
We loved visiting in June because there were so few tourists that we had popular camping areas completely to ourselves, but the weather was still relatively good.
If you wish to do any high alpine hikes then July or August would be best, as many of the high trails are still covered in snow in June.
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