Feedback on our itinerary

[Neok]

Hi all,

I'm just new on this forum because my girlfriend and I have planned a trip to Kyrgyzstan for September. It will be our first experience within Central Asia, so really looking forward to at. We have been making an itinerary, which was quite hard as there are so many things we want to see! However, out of experience we don't like our holiday to be too rushed, as this ruins the whole idea of "holiday". We came up with the next itinerary, and although it is a bit stuffed, we are curious about your feedback. In case it appears to be to much, we would have to cut some parts. The main issue is we want to visit both the east side of the country as well as Osh. This is what we made:

Day 1: Arrive in Bishkek
Day 2: Stay in Bishkek, wander around the city
Day 3: Drive from Bishkek to Karakol
Day 4: Check out Karakol city
Day 5: Start with the hike to Ala Kul lake
Day 6: Continue hike
Day 7: Continue hike, and return to Karakol
Day 8: Drive to Kadji Say (stops in Skazka)
Day 9: Drive to Narynn
Day 10: Drive from Narynn to Kol Suu lake
Day 11: Drive from Kol Suu lake to Tash Rabat
Day 12: Drive from Tash Rabat to Son Kul lake
Day 13: Drive from Son Kul lake to Bishkek
Day 14: Flight from Bishkek to Osh
Day 15: Osh
Day 16: Osh
Day 17: Flight from Osh to Bishkek, and transfer onto the flight back home

Although there is a lot of driving involved, some parts are short drives. We do not like to drive 4-5 hours each day. I hope some of you could provide us with feedback on this!

Thanks in advance!

[bwv812]

Are you renting a car? Hiring a car and driver?

Why do you want to see Osh?

[AreWeThereYet?]

I concur, two days in Osh are a bit of an overkill.

[Neok]

Thank you for the replies! We are renting a car, without driver. We do drive the country by ourselves.

I've heard about Osh that is a completely different region. For that reason, we want to check this part out as well. With 2 days Osh, we intend not to be in Osh only, but also take a hike or something that is on close driving distance.

The idea I have now, is to maybe skip the Narynn-Kol Suu-Tash Rabat triangle, saving three days.

[saule]

As an idea, I would suggest to skip Ala Kul and instead hike around Osh in Pamir Alay mountains. Ala Kul gets crowded, while Pamir Alay is a new alternative destination for hikers. I recommend getting in touch with CBT in Osh and organise a trek or a horse-riding like this for example https://caravanistan.com/tour/horseride-alay-5-days/

[bwv812]

I'd also consider driving from Song Kul to Osh via Kazarman. You can make brief stops in Jalal-Abad and Ozgen. You might not like driving that much, but for me the scenery on the road is something I wouldn't want to miss by flying. Having your car in the southwest means you aren't locked into Osh itself, and can visit the Pamir Alay valley like Saule suggests, or go to Arslanbob, etc.

[Neok]

Thanks for the tips! After reading quite a lot about the Als Kul lake trek, I allready had the idea it might be busy with tourists.

Would you still advice us to visit kol suu lake and tash rabat, or go to osh directly and skip these?

How about the hike to peak lenin peak base camp? We could drive with the car to sary mogul and start there.

[Neok]

Hi all,

Thanks to your feedback, we have made some major changes to our original itinerary. We decided to skip the round trip around Issyk-Kul lake, as we have the experience that lakes do not always appear to offer so much (as we are used to live very close to the sea). Furthermore, we want to do some hiking in the Alay region. So this is what we came up with:

Day 1: Arrive in Bishkek
Day 2: Stay in Bishkek, wander around the city
Day 3: Drive from Bishkek to Tamga, or some place at the southwest shore of lake Issyk-Kul
Day 4: Visit Skazka canyon, Barksoon valley (have to see when we get there).
Day 5: Drive to Son Kul (appr. 4 hrs)
Day 6: Stay in Son Kul (if there appears to be enough to do here)
Day 7: Drive from Son Kul to Jalal-Abad, over Kazarman (appr. 6 hrs). If driving goes fast, maybe directly to Osh.
Day 8: Drive from Jalal-Abad to Osh (2 hrs). Visit the city of Osh.
Day 9: Drive from Osh to Sary Mogul (4 hrs). Maybe do a short day hike, or gain info at CBT.
Day 10: Hiking near Sary Mogul
Day 11: Hiking near Sary Mogul
Day 12: Drive from Sary Mogul to Arslanbob (7 hrs). Not sure about this one yet, as it takes quite some time.
Day 13: Stay at Arslanbob
Day 14: Drive from Arslanbob to Bishkek (11 hrs.)
Day 15: Bishkek
Day 16: Departure from Kyrgyzstan

In case you have any additions, always welcome!

[bwv812]

It will probably take more than 6 hours to drive yourself from Song-kul to Jalal-Abad.

Between Jalal-Abad and Osh I recommend a brief stop in Ozgen, which has some interesting mausoleums and a minaret you can climb if you can find someone to open the gate (both are in the middle of town, just off the main road, and you should be able to see the minaret from the road).

Since you don't like driving it may make slightly more sense to go from Jalal-Abad straight to Sary Mogul, then break up the drive from Sary Mogul to Arslanbob with your stop in Osh.

[Neok]

Hi all,

After our visit in 2019, we might decide to go back next Year. Although we never go back go a place we’ve allready visited, we want to make an exception for Kyrgyzstan.

We however want to combine it with a visit to Uzbekistan, something we did not get to do last time. Travel time will be from mid may to beginning of June. We would like to combine a week of Uzbekistan with a week in Kyrgyzstan. In Kyrgyzstan we mainly would like to do some outdoor events,such as hiking, as we have seen some of the sights allready last time.

Do any of you have some tips based on itinerary? Transport can be either a rental car, train or a short flight. What would be a good place to do some hikes in Kyrgyzstan (or Uzbekistan) in our preferred travel period?

Thanks in advance for the answer!