Frunze Airport to Bishkek
- Took the "GoBus" connection to the city center, which basically is a fancy Marshrutka. Worked well and we were even able to exit right next to the Western bus station. It leaves from the car park on the left when you're leaving the airport building.
- We also bought a SIM card after baggage claim and only got a bad conversion rate for paying in Euro, everything else was smooth.
Bishkek
- Stayed at Apple Hostel: We had a decent private room in their second building. Breakfast was better than some reviews say: We could get Omelette or sunny side up with bread and some vegetables or a French Toast with jam included in the price. Also met some other travellers there and the supermarket around the corner is great.
- The Soviet Flea Market unfortunately only had very few sellers and they even seemed to hide their goods. Not sure why, but that was a bummer.
- Rented a Suzuki Jimny at Ironhorsenomads: Great car for two people and very good rental company, too.
To Kyzyl-Oi via "Too Ashuu Pass"
- Good road until after the pass, after that (in the Suusamyr Valley) a bit rocky
Kyzyl-Oi
- Nazgul Guesthouse had a very nice owner, good food, a quiet private room and hot water
- We could also park the car on their property
- Nice small village in the Suusamyr Valley
Song Köl
- Stayed at Azamat Yurt Camp: Private yurts with oven, nice owner family, daughter speaks good English and fluent German, decent food
- The camp is quite far from the roads we came from and were leaving to and the road around the lake is not great, so be prepared to spend some time going there
Road from Song Köl to Bokonbaevo via "33 parrots" Pass
- Road up and down the pass only possible with 4x4, but very doable with that
- One very rudimentary bridge (looked scary but ended up being no problem with the Jimny and we seems to be used frequently by locals with heavier cars, too)
- After the 33 parrots pass and the bridge you'll meet the main road between Kochkor and Naryn after some time. At this point the road condition will be good again
- On the way from Kochkor to Bokonbaevo there was a lot of road work going on so it got bumpy from time to time
Bokonbaevo
- Stayed at Guesthouse Emily: Good private room with private bathroom, nice owner family. Good food, too, but the dinner was a bit on the expensive side.
- We could also park the car on their property
- Town was good for breaking up the journey to Karakol, but otherwise not very interesting for us. We've heard it's good for buying felt products though, particularly Shyrdak carpets and for workshops in felt making, etc.
Karakol
- Stayed at Duet Hostel: Nice owners, good dorm, very good private room. Great breakfast and especially coffee, too. Helped us with the Ala Kul Trek (see below).
- The Dungan Dinner with Destination Karakol was great: Interesting small museum in the Dungan village, very tasty food and our host and guide we're also extremely kind and nice to chat to.
- The photo exhibition in the local history museum was cool
Ala Kul Trek
- We decided to do the Ala Kul Trek in 3 days with one night in the "Sirorta" yurt camp and one night in Altyn Arashan. The tent camp at the lake was still up though, so it probably would have been possible to do the trek in 4 days as well, even without camping equipment. But as no one seemed to know for sure when we asked around at the hostel, we didn't try that. It's also not possible to pre-book the tent camp and it might be full or closed if you just show up. If you want more flexibility I would advise you to bring your own gear or rent it in Karakol.
The trek was doable in 3 days, but especially the second day was very tough for us. Taking 4 days would probably make it a bit easier. There also was a yurt camp after the pass where you could probably stay for another night to either make the second day shorter and the third longer for the 3 day trek or do the trek in 4 days.
- If you're staying at Duet Hostel, they have some hand drawn maps of the trek that provide a good overview and also some trekking maps. They also have a pdf guide on their website, which was quite handy for finding the way down the pass.
- Duet Hostel pre-booked the Sirorta yurt camp for us and Destination Karakol can also book it for you. It's 4000 som per pax though (including dinner and breakfast), which seems to be a fixed price.
- In Altyn Arashan we stayed at the first guesthouse in town (right at the bridge), which was basic but good and had very nice owners! They even gave us the key to their hot spring to stay there as long as we want as we were the only guests. We didn't pre-book anything and there seemed to be plenty of space in town with some places even advertising discounts outside. Probably there's less space in high season though.
Engilcheck
- Cool place if you are into lost places. The "MadWay" Rallye stopped there apparently, so everything was still decorated in a Mad Max style with lots of scrapped cars, etc.
- We saw some signs on the way promoting a Guest House in Engilchek, even with a WhatsApp number. It's called "Khan Guest House" and if I got the number right it should be "0501 47 1919". We didn't try it though as we we're sleeping in the car.
- The Kara Tash hot springs are also worth a visit and you will probably have them to your own. We camped right next to them, which was great for getting warm in the morning. Also met some overlanders there.
- If you're lucky you can find some petroglyphs in the next valley: Just follow the road after the hot springs for 15min and take a look around there
- Road is quite good (at least with a 4x4), but it takes quite long to get there, so visiting in one day will probably not be very fun
- Getting the border zone permit through Visit Karakol worked well, even with express service as we were a bit late. The border guards were nice too, only forced us to take some selfies with them
Cholpon Ata
- We didn't really like it there and would skip it next time. The place we stayed at (called Family Guesthouse) was quite decent though.
Rot-Front
- Didn't expect much but really liked it there
- Stayed at "The Farm Guesthouse", which is run/supported by a Canadian couple, who help disabled children (if I got that right). Had a good room there and very good breakfast. Dinner was good, too and they gave us some apples for the way to Bishkek. Very good English spoken.
- The even better surprise was a small museum, run by a German expat, who teached German at the school in the next village for many years and is now a pensioner. He turned his whole house into a museum of everyday objects of the Soviet Union and the life of the German Mennonites in Rot-Front. Two rooms are specifically dedicated for the museum with one holding a photo exhibition. But he will probably also show you around the rest of the house and maybe also around the village. And if you're lucky like we were, you might be invited on some tea, coffee, homemade lemonade or cake. The address is Подгорная улица 24 (just opposite the guest house). Might not look like a museum at first, but trust me, it is!
- It's also close to Burana Tower, if you want to visit that
Bishkek to Almaty
- Took a bus from the Western bus station (at 8am, runs multiple times a day, you can find the schedule online). Bought the tickets the day before, everything went smooth and the lady at the ticket booth even spoke some English and was also very good with explaining departure times on a piece of paper
We payed around 500 soms per person. The bus departed more or less on time and it was easy to find on the other side of the border. Apparently the ticket number doubles as a seat number, which we (and a lot of other people) didn't understand at first.- When you arrive at Sayran bus station there will be no Wi-Fi. But there is a mall around the corner with free Wi-Fi, where we were able to order a Yandex.