Bishkek → Burana Tower → Boom Gorge → Cholpon-Ata · 240km Burana Tower — the Silk Road in stone · Issyk-Kul arrival · Petroglyphs · beach

Your first stop is the Burana Tower — a solitary 11th-century minaret rising from the Chuy valley, all that remains of the ancient city of Balasagun, a major Silk Road waypoint where caravans stopped between China and the Mediterranean for centuries. The surrounding open-air museum holds stone balbals (warrior statues) gathered from across the steppe — each one the memorial of a nomadic chieftain. Then the Boom Gorge: the dramatic canyon through which the Chu river cuts the Tien Shan, red walls rising on both sides as you drive toward Issyk-Kul. You arrive at Cholpon-Ata on the northern shore — 182km of turquoise water at 1,600m altitude, mountain ranges on three sides. After checking in, you walk to the open-air petroglyph site: 2,000-year-old rock carvings depicting hunting scenes, deer, sun symbols and the animals of the ancient steppe. The afternoon is yours — the water at Issyk-Kul reaches 22°C in summer.

🏨 Hotel in Cholpon-Ata · 🍽 Breakfast included · 🚗 ~240km

Cholpon-Ata → Chong Ak-Suu → Karakol → Jeti Oguz · 200km Chong Ak-Suu gorge · Karakol city · Jeti Oguz — Seven Bulls and the Broken Heart

You drive east along the northern shore of Issyk-Kul — a road that gives you snow-capped Tien Shan on one side and turquoise lake on the other, for hours. A detour up into the Chong Ak-Suu gorge reveals a dramatically narrowing canyon with vertical rock walls and glacial streams. In Karakol — the regional capital at Issyk-Kul's eastern tip — you stop for lunch and a walking tour: a Dungan Mosque built without a single nail, and a Russian Orthodox church that somehow ended up here, both within walking distance of each other. Then the afternoon drive south to Jeti Oguz: the red cliffs of the Seven Bulls gorge, named for the rock formations that rise from the valley floor. You climb to the observation deck, listen to the legend of the Broken Heart rock, then descend into a valley where Kyrgyz nomads have been spending their summers for centuries — felt yurts, horses, the smell of woodsmoke.

🏨 Guesthouse in Jeti Oguz · 🍽 Breakfast included · 🚗 ~200km

Issyk-Kul north shore driveKarakol lunch + city walkJeti Oguz · Seven BullsBroken Heart rock

Jeti Oguz → Issyk-Kul south shore → Eagle hunters → Kochkor · 260km South shore Issyk-Kul · private eagle hunting encounter · Kochkor felt-making workshop

The south shore of Issyk-Kul is a different world from the north: quieter, wilder, the mountains pressing closer to the water. You drive west with snow-capped peaks on one side and the lake's deep blue on the other. The defining moment of the day happens on open steppe: you stop to meet a Kyrgyz family of traditional berkutchis — eagle hunters — and watch a golden eagle trained since birth demonstrate the hunting disciplines that nomads have practised for 2,000 years. The bird lands on the hunter's arm, circles overhead, and stoops on command. You are handed the gauntlet. Then Kochkor — a small town famous throughout Central Asia for its shyrdak felt carpets. You visit the women's collective where the entire production process is demonstrated: raw wool transformed into the dyed, layered, stitched felt that covers yurt floors across the steppe. Their shop and small museum hold pieces from surrounding villages.

🏨 Guesthouse in Kochkor · 🍽 Breakfast included · 🚗 ~260km

Issyk-Kul south shoreEagle hunting · berkutchiFelt-making workshopKochkor shyrdak collective

Kochkor → mountain pass → Song-Köl Lake · 3016m · 160km The ascent to Song-Köl — the alpine lake at the top of the world

Today everything changes. You drive out of Kochkor into increasingly dramatic mountain terrain — high passes, summer pastures, horses and cattle roaming without fences — until you crest the final pass and Song-Köl appears below. There is no gradual reveal: the lake simply materialises, vast and cobalt, surrounded by rolling green hills and dozens of white yurt camps. At 3,016 metres, the air is different, the light is different, and the silence is total except for wind and water. You arrive at your yurt camp in the afternoon. The rest of the day is yours — walk to the lake shore, try to swim (the water is bracing), watch the horses graze across the hillside as the light turns golden. Tonight, you sleep in a yurt under stars with no light pollution for 200km in any direction.

🏕 Yurt camp at Song-Köl, 3016m · 🍽 Breakfast included · 🚗 ~160km

Song-Köl arrival · 3016m ★Yurt camp · first nightMountain pass crossingLake shore · zero light pollution

Song-Köl Lake · 3016m - full day Full day at Song-Köl — horse riding, nomad visit, hillside panorama

A full day with nowhere to be and one of the most beautiful landscapes in Central Asia surrounding you. In the morning, you hike to the hilltop above camp — 30 minutes of easy walking that earns you a 360° panorama of the lake and the entire Tien Shan horizon. A nomadic family at a neighbouring camp may have invited you for kymyz — fermented mare's milk, Central Asia's drink of hospitality. You spend time in their yurt, watching daily life that has not fundamentally changed in five centuries. In the afternoon, you rent a horse and ride along the lake shore with a Kyrgyz horseman — included in the tour price. The evening belongs entirely to Song-Köl: watch the sunset reflect off the lake, feel the temperature drop rapidly as darkness comes, and understand why this place stays with travellers for the rest of their lives.

🏕 Yurt camp at Song-Köl, 3016m · 🍽 Breakfast included

Horse riding · includedNomadic family visit · Kymyz tastingHillside panorama hikeSong-Köl sunset

Song-Köl → 33 Parrots Pass → Kochkor → Bishkek · 330km The 33 Parrots Pass (3400m) — farewell descent · return to Bishkek

Your last morning at Song-Köl — a slow breakfast in the yurt, one final look at the lake. Then the drive out via the 33 Parrots Pass at 3,400 metres: the highest road crossing of the journey, with a broad panorama of the Tien Shan from the summit before the long, beautiful descent back down through the mountains to the valley. A lunch stop in Kochkor, then the drive back to Bishkek through the Chuy valley. You arrive in the evening with time to rest before a farewell dinner — free to choose your own restaurant and reflect on eight days of Kyrgyzstan.

🏨 Hotel in Bishkek · 🍽 Breakfast included · 🚗 ~330km

33 Parrots Pass · 3400mKochkor lunch · Return to Bishkek · Farewell evening free

Bishkek · Departure Transfer to Manas International Airport · departure

After breakfast, transfer to the airport. Eight days — from Bishkek's bazaars to Song-Köl at 3,000 metres, from a golden eagle on your arm to a kymyz bowl in a nomadic yurt, from the Silk Road to the alpine sky. Kyrgyzstan has shown you who it is.

✈ Airport transfer · 🍽 Breakfast included

Departure · Manas Airport