Home / Tours / Issyk-Kul Loop via Chong-Kemin - 5 Days
Issyk-Kul Loop via Chong-Kemin - 5 Days
Five days around the whole of Issyk-Kul, with more riding and cooking than a usual lake tour. You ride three hours into the Chong-Kemin mountains, bake boorsok with a local family, ride again into Kok-Jaiyk Valley to a yurt and finish with an eagle show and archery near Bokonbayevo. Suits travellers who want culture and time outdoors in one trip.
Why you'll love this tour
Good to know
- Accommodation: 1 night at guesthouse, 1 night at hotel, 2 nights at yurt
- Activities: horse riding - 2 days, hiking - 1 day, sightseeing - 5 days
- Departures from: Bishkek
- Local certified English-speaking guide
- Private transport & airport transfers
- Small group or fully private
- 24/7 support team in Bishkek
What to pack
- Long trousers that won't chafe during long hours in the saddle
- Closed shoes or boots with a small heel that sit well in the stirrups
- Riding gloves to protect your hands on the reins
- A waterproof, windproof jacket and a warm layer for cold yurt evenings
- Sun protection: a hat or cap, sunglasses, and high-SPF sunscreen
Full packing list and arrival tips: Easy from abroad: visas, arrival and logistics
Before you go
- Visa: most Western and East-Asian passports enter visa-free for up to 30 days within any 60-day period (the rule changed at the end of 2025), so check your own nationality on evisa.e-gov.kg
- Money: the local currency is the Kyrgyz som; carry cash for villages and camps, as card payments mostly work only in towns
- Connectivity: mobile data is decent in towns, but there is usually no signal at high mountain yurt camps, so let people know you may be offline
- Altitude: camps sit around 2,500 to 3,900 metres, so take it easy on the first day and drink plenty of water
- Drinking water: stick to bottled or boiled water, and bring enough for stretches where none is available
Read before you go: Staying in a yurt: nomad culture & etiquette · Safety first: how we look after you in the mountains
Day-by-day itinerary
Tap any day to expand. Every itinerary can be tailored to your dates, pace and fitness.
We meet you at your hotel in Bishkek and drive to Burana Tower near Tokmok. You walk among old mausoleums and finds dug up by archaeologists, then climb the tower for a view over the Chuy Valley and the Tien Shan. A small museum and an open-air yard of gravestones and rock drawings fill in the history.
On the road we stop for samsa, baked in a clay tandoor at a local street stall. In Boom Gorge you try tea with milk and kattama, a layered onion flatbread.
In Chong-Kemin National Park you swap the car for a horse. The ride lasts three hours and climbs into the mountains, with the Tien Shan in view.
Back at the guesthouse, a local family shows you how to make boorsok, a Kyrgyz puffed pastry. You eat what you made at dinner and spend the night in the park.
After breakfast in the park we drive to Cholpon-Ata. You see the open-air petroglyph field and the Rukh Ordo cultural centre, a good primer on Kyrgyz history and culture.
Lunch is Kyrgyz food at a good restaurant in town. Then a boat takes you out on Issyk-Kul. From May to September you can swim from the boat, and life jackets are on board.
Next come the Grigoriev and Semenov gorges, two of the best-known valleys on the lake. Your guide tells you about the area as you go.
Around sunset we reach Karakol and head to natural hot springs by a mountain river. Dinner is at a local restaurant, and the night in a hotel.
Breakfast at the hotel, then a look around Karakol. We visit the Dungan Mosque and the Russian Orthodox church, two sides of the town's mixed history.
We drive out to Jeti-Oguz to see the red rock called the Seven Bulls. Here you get back in the saddle and ride deeper into Kok-Jaiyk Valley, between high peaks and glacier rivers.
The ride takes two to three hours and ends at a yurt camp, where lunch and a rest are waiting.
Before sunset there is time to walk around and take photos. Dinner and the night are in the yurt.
We start early to see sunrise on the Seven Bulls. Then we drive to Barskoon Valley, known for its waterfalls. Nearby stands a giant head of Yuri Gagarin, a tribute to the cosmonaut's training at Issyk-Kul.
A hike of one to two hours takes you to the main Barskoon waterfall.
Further along the south shore we stop at Skazka Canyon, the Fairytale Canyon, known for rocks in odd shapes. A 30-minute climb to a small hilltop gives you a view over the lake.
The night is at a yurt camp on the Issyk-Kul shore. It has showers, toilets, laundry and a bar with a lake view. There is free time before dinner, and you fall asleep to the sound of the waves.
Breakfast, then free time until late morning for a swim or a slow start by the water.
Next is the eagle show, with three demonstrations. The hunter calls his eagle from far off to his hand, then stages a hunt with a fox fur. The last one is a real hunt on a live rabbit. After the show you get an archery lesson.
We then drive into the Ak-Sai canyons and the Canyon of Forgotten Rivers. At its entrance you can still see the beds of rivers that dried up long ago. Down by the lake a wild beach waits for a picnic lunch.
From there it is about 200 km back to Bishkek, where we drop you at your hotel.
Sights visited on this tour
Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan's leafy, Soviet-planned capital and the gateway to the mountains.
Karakol
A characterful eastern town with a wooden mosque and Russian church.
Fairy-Tale Canyon
Wind-carved red and orange rock formations near the Issyk-Kul shore.Cholpon-Ata
Chong-Kemin
A long river valley and national park threaded with forest and meadow.Jeti-Ögüz
Burana Tower
Gallery
Common questions
It runs 5 days, starting and ending in Bishkek.
It's moderately paced, with 2 days horse riding and 1 days hiking and 5 days sightseeing. Good general fitness is enough, and there is no technical climbing.
No. Our guides match each horse to your level and keep the first day gentle, so complete beginners ride this route every season.
A mix over the trip: 1 night at guesthouse, 1 night at hotel, 2 nights at yurt.
From $1400 per person. The exact price depends on group size and season, and we confirm it for your group within 24 hours.
Tell us about your trip
Tell us your dates and we'll confirm availability and a tailored price within 24 hours. Free to enquire, no prepayment.
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