Home / Tours / Mai-Tor Pastures Horse Trek - 5 Days
Mai-Tor Pastures Horse Trek - 5 Days
Ride from Epkin to the Kereshke pasture, on to Mai-Tor and over the Jalgyz-Karagai pass to Song-Kul, where you spend a full day with herder families. You leave over the Tuz-Ashuu pass. Three nights in yurts and one in a shepherd's house.
Why you'll love this tour
Good to know
- Accommodation: 3 nights at yurt, shepherd’s house - 1 night
- Activities: Horse riding - 5 days
- Departures from: Bishkek
- Best time to go: June to September
- 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.
You leave Bishkek in the morning and head for Epkin Village, where a family homestay puts out a homemade lunch and you meet the horse that will carry you the next few days. Your guide settles you in the saddle before the trail begins.
The ride opens onto wide views of the Korumdu and Baba-Ata ranges, an easy stretch of smooth ground that lets you find your rhythm. By evening you reach a herder's house on the Kereshke pasture, where dinner is shared at the family's table.
After breakfast you ride on toward Mai-Tor, crossing gentle hills and passing the yurts and winter houses where local nomads live with the seasons. Lunch is at a herder's yurt along the way.
The afternoon brings a steady climb toward the Kyzyl-Kiya Pass, with daily life unfolding around you the whole time. You spend the night with a herding family, sharing their yurt and their evening.
A traditional breakfast sets you up for a longer day. You follow the Chaar-Archa River down through the Kilemche pasture, then begin the climb toward the Jalgyz-Karagai Pass at 3400 m, the hardest effort of the trip so far.
From the top, Song-Kul opens out below you, vast and quiet. You ride down to a yurt camp on the shore, where the evening is yours to walk by the water and sit with the nomad families who summer here.
Today you slow down and live by the rhythm of the jailoo. From the early-morning milking of the horses to gathering dried dung for the fire, you lend a hand with the tasks that fill a herder's day and watch how a family works the land.
There's an optional ride if you want more time in the saddle, but the day is really about being here, among the herds, the yurts and the people, with nowhere you need to be.
Your last morning in the saddle climbs to the Tuz-Ashuu Pass at 3300 m, where Song-Kul spreads out one final time behind you. You ride down to Kyzart Village for lunch.
From there it's an afternoon on the road back to Bishkek, closing a trip built from quiet trails, mountain passes and nights at a herder's table.
Sights visited on this tour
Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan's leafy, Soviet-planned capital and the gateway to the mountains.
Song-Kul Lake
A high alpine lake ringed by summer yurt camps and grazing horses.Gallery
Common questions
It runs 5 days, starting and ending in Bishkek.
The season runs June to September. June to September brings the warmest days, and the high-pasture yurt camps are open.
It's moderately paced, with 5 days Horse riding. 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: 3 nights at yurt, shepherd’s house - 1 night.
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