Kirgisistan ist ein Land mit unberührten Naturlandschaften, reichen nomadischen Traditionen und einer Geschichte, die eng mit der alten Seidenstraße verbunden ist. Lesen Sie weiter und erfahren Sie, wie Sie das Beste aus Ihrer Reise in dieses faszinierende zentralasiatische Land machen können.
Die zwei Wochen, in denen wir mit dem Auto durch Kirgisistan gereist sind, gehörten zu unseren schönsten Erlebnissen während unserer Weltreise (neben Omalo in Georgien und den zwei Monaten, die wir mit dem Auto im südlichen Afrika verbracht haben). Allerdings war es kein entspannter Urlaub – Kirgisistan ist kein besonders einfaches Reiseziel (auch wenn das Reisen dort jedes Jahr leichter wird, da sich die touristische Infrastruktur weiterentwickelt).
All die Schwierigkeiten bei der Verständigung mit den Menschen, bei der Suche nach Informationen über Unterkünfte und deren Buchung sowie bei der Planung unserer Reiseziele und der Anreise dorthin haben sich dennoch gelohnt. Die Landschaften Kirgisistans sind mit nichts vergleichbar, was wir bisher gesehen haben, und von atemberaubender Schönheit.
Brauche ich einen Geländewagen mit Allradantrieb (4x4) für Kirgisistan?
Theoretisch könnten Sie das Land auch mit einem „normalen“ Auto bereisen, allerdings wäre Ihr Reiseerlebnis ein anderes. Ihre Reiseroute würde sich auf die wichtigsten Sehenswürdigkeiten beschränken: den Issyk-Kul-See, den Skazka-Canyon, Karakol (mit einem Ausflug nach Altyn Arashan) und Naryn. Da unsere 7-tägige Reiseroute diese Orte abdeckt (mit Ausnahme von Naryn), benötigen Sie keinen Geländewagen mit Allradantrieb, wenn Sie dieser Route folgen möchten.
Wenn Sie jedoch länger im Land bleiben und vollständig in das eintauchen möchten, was Kirgisistan zu bieten hat, indem Sie auch sehr abgelegene Gebiete erkunden, benötigen Sie einen Geländewagen mit Allradantrieb (oder Sie müssen sich einer organisierten Tour anschließen). Die in diesem Artikel beschriebenen Reiserouten von 7 bis 21 Tagen setzen voraus, dass Ihnen ein 4x4-Fahrzeug zur Verfügung steht.
Wir entschieden uns schließlich für einen Toyota Fortuner. Für zwei Personen war dieses Auto eigentlich viel zu groß, aber wir hatten das Gefühl, dass es genau das richtige Fahrzeug für unsere Reise war. Der Renault Duster, den wir in Kasachstan hatten, hätte wahrscheinlich einige der Hügel und Flussdurchquerungen nicht bewältigt. Wir mieteten unser Auto bei Аренда Авто Бишкек und waren mit dem Unternehmen sehr zufrieden. Wenn Sie keine lokale Autovermietung nutzen möchten, können Sie auf Discover Cars nach einem Fahrzeug suchen.
Reiseverlauf
Tag 1
Day 1
Arrive in Bishkek and pick up your car - for the full list of our hotel and restaurant recommendations, see our Travel Guide. One hostel we can recommend is Nomad Inn, and if you have a bit of a larger budget, Futuro Hotel is a great option.
If you plan on heading to remoter regions, it might be a good idea to stack up on a few basics: Our shopping list included food (incl instant soups and other ready-made food), a few big canisters of water (5-10l each), toilet paper, disinfectant, ear plugs.
Tag 2
Day 2
The adventure begins! Start early and drive to the Skazka Canyon on the shores of the Issyk Kul lake - this will take you around 5 hours (distance: 300km). As there are not that many restaurants on the way, we had a bit of the food we bought on the previous day for lunch.
Spend the afternoon exploring Skazka Canyon. The road is accessible for 4x4, but does consist of a lot of sand. We parked our car on the first parking lot as we felt the sand was getting too deep for us, but if you have experience in adjusting your tyres pressure, you can drive almost all the way up to the canyon. If you do not have a 4x4, use your judgement to see how far you can drive - you can then simply park your car at the side of the road and walk the rest. Once you reach the canyon, spend a bit of time walking around and admiring the view of the crevasses with Issyk Kul as a backdrop. You can also consider stopping at Aalam Ordo - even though you cannot enter, it's an interesting place for a quick stop. Built in 2009, Aalam Ordo was envisioned as a hub for culture, science, and spirituality. The concept was ambitious: it aimed to be a gathering place where Kyrgyz youth could engage with elders, exchanging ideas and learning in an informal setting devoid of lectures, curriculum, or structured lessons.
We stayed at this yurt camp next to the lake and can highly recommend it. It's simply beautiful to wake up to views of the shores of Issyk Kul lake! This one seems to be an equally great option.
Tag 3
Day 3
Start early, drive the 2 hours (130km) to Karakol and leave your car as well as your main luggage there - we negotiated with our hotel that allowed us to leave ours in their parking lot against a small fee - ideally, this should be the hostel you will spend the night after returning from Altyn Arashan.
Catch the Matrushka from Karakol to Ak-Suu. Usually, this leaves every hour or so from the main square, but double check with the hostel / hotel you leave your car at as timings and also the number of matrushkas going there change frequently. If you cannot get a Matrushka, there are many Taxis that can take you the 20min there. If you end up taking a taxi, ask to be dropped here. Then it's time for your first hike in Kyrgyzstan! It's not too long nor too hard - 15km and 245 elevation gain gets you to the village of Altyn Arashan. Here's the AllTrails link.
If you do not want to hike, there are old Soviet military cars that take tourists up the mountain. As we did not do this, I am not sure how it can be arranged - check with your hostel in Karakol or contact Visit Karakol for more infromation. Even if you have a 4x4, do not attempt to drive to Altyn Arashan! Normal 4x4s cannot make it - the road has a lot of huge boulders, so you need a vehicle with axle articulation where the tires can move independently of each other.
Spend the night in Altyn Arashan. After the long day, a soak in the hot springs might be exactly what you need. It's not exactly fancy (a hut with a 1m deep basin that you can rent for 1 hour), but it's a super relaxing experience!
Tag 4
Days 4 - 6
Once you reached Altyn Arashan, you have two options for the remaining two days (days 4-6): Either you base yourself in Altyn Arashan for two nights and do day trips (the chill version), or you can do a multi-day circular hike that includes Ala Kul lake (for fit people :P).
Option 1: Speak to your guesthouse to arrange for a horse ride day trip to go see the Ala-Kul lake. The horses will take you to 90% of the way there and you only need to climb the final ascent to the Ala Kul Pass. On day 2, you could do some of the shorter hikes in the region or go on a horse riding excursion again. On the third day, make your way back to Karakol.
Option 2 (recommended): From Altyn Arashan, hike a half circle to get back to Karakol. You can either take your own tent and supplies or sleep in Yurt camps on the way. On day 1, start early and hike to Yurt Camp Sirota. This is the AllTrails link of this hike - it's not too long, but especially the last bit is of high technical difficulty: It's essentially a scramble up a gravel mountain. The views at the top are spectacular!
On day 2, hike to Aydin-Kol Yurt Camp - the distance is approximately 15km and goes 920m downhill. If you are feeling very energetic, you can consider hiking a bit in the opposite direction and deeper into the mountains once you reach the Karakol river.
On the last day, you can either take one of the Matruschkas back to Karakol or hike the 10km back into town. If you have time, you could also consider booking a half-day horse riding tour with your Yurt Camp.
See our Travel Guide for recommendations of where to stay and what to eat in Karakol!
Tag 5
Day 7 -
Drive back to Bishkek in time to catch your flight out.
Tag 6
Day 7 - 9
Follow the itinerary above as described - however, instead of driving back to Bishkek on day 7, use the day to get ready to drive into the Tian Shan mountains (you need a permit for this trip!).
Tag 7
Day 10
Make your way towards Naryn. If you feel like another half-day hike, consider getting up very early and driving the 5 hours (280km) to Usonbak yurt camp. From there, you can do the 5 hour hike (11km) up Ak-Tash Mountain.
Alternatively, take it easy, sleep in, and then take the whole day to reach Naryn, where you will spend the night.
Tag 8
Day 11
Today, you will drive into the mountains again, again into a border region with several border posts: Towards the Kel Suu base camp! Allow the whole day to arrive there - it's a beautful drive and you'll want to stop for the occasional pictures. Make sure you get to your yurt camp before it gets dark! I can recommend to stay at either this yurt camp or this one.
Tag 9
Day 12
Hike to Kel Su lake - it's an incredible lake that has a large underground cave system that means it sometimes drains completely. The hike there is 9km one way and one of the most beautiful hikes we did in all of Kyrgyzstan. Take lunch from the yurt camp and eat it looking at the beautiful lake.
Tag 10
Day 13
A driving day! Drive out of the border region and to Tash Rabat. Once you reach here in the afternoon, visit the Tash Rabat Caravan Palace. Spend two nights here.
Tag 11
Day 14
Organise horses with your yurt camp and do a horse ride to the Mountain pass to Chatyr Kol lake. You can also hike there, but we found the hike to be quite rocky and the views (up to the end) not on par with the other hikes we had done. However, riding on horses made this into a fun day trip - and you can't leave Kyrgyzstan without having ridden a horse at least once. Don't be worried if you've never ridden before: The tour guides are very knowledgable and adapt the speed and also the type of horse they give you to your abilities.
Tag 12
Day 15
A long driving day is ahead of you as you drive the 430km (ca. 6h 30min) back to Bishkek to catch your flight out of Kyrgyzstan.
Three weeks (21 days) self-drive itinerary
21 days gives you enough time to drive into the region around Osh - this is a bit of a difficult place to get to as there are simply so many mountain passes between this region and the other regions of Kyrgyzstan, which makes for quite a long drive.
Do the 14-day itinerary as described above. However, instead of driving back to Bishkek on Day 14, do a driving day towards Jalal-Abad. You can either try to get as far as possible on this day (to Jalal-Abad is 8h and 440km), or find a yurt camp on the way.
Tag 13
Day 15
Drive the remaining distance (ca. 6h, 510 km) to Sary Mogul - or the region around it, it does not really matter where exactly you base yourself for your day trips as long as it's within a 30min driving radius. Abdumalik Guesthouse is a good place to base yourself while you explore the region.
Tag 14
Day 16 & 17
We recommend you take two days to do two day hikes. Alternatively, you can do a multi-day hike to the Lenin Peak Base camp - but you do need to be very fit for that.
Day hike 1: Visit the Koshkol lakes. This is a moderately difficult, 7-8 hours and 22km day hike to a series of turquoise alpine lakes.
Day hike 2: Drive to Tulpar Lake and do a day hike from there - you could for example hike to the Lenin Peak First Base Camp. You should also consider spending the night in one of the yurt camps at the lakes, for example this one.
Tag 15
Day 18 & 19
Drive to Osh (3h 30min, 220km) and spend the afternoon as well as the next day there. The most prominent sights in the city are the Bazaar and Сулайман Тоо. Wander around the city to check out the many Soviet murals as well as the many mosques. Do a half-day trip to the ancient city of Uzgen.
Tag 16
Day 20
Start very early and drive to the Song Kul lake from Osh - this will take around 8h (430km). Make sure you arrive before sunset so you can get some nice views of the lake.
Tag 17
Day 21
Drive from Song Kul back to Bishkek in time to catch your flight out!
P.S: We know this route - and Central Asia in general - is still a lesser travelled destination. So don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, we're happy to help! Similarly, if you find the information here is outdated or we're missing something don't hesitate to get in touch and we'll update it so fellow travelers can profit from this.
Make sure you check our our artice about an adventure 4x4 self-drive in the Kyrgyz Tian Shan mountains next!
Inklusive
Reiseleiter
Verpflegung
Unterkunft
Trinkwasser
Transport im 4x4-Geländewagen
Unterstützung bei der GBAO-Genehmigung (30 $)
Nicht inklusive
Flugtickets
Alkoholische Getränke
Persönliche Ausgaben
