Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: Almaty, Charyn Canyon and Issyk-Kul

Arrive in Almaty

Almaty International Airport to your hotel in central Almaty

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Almaty
• Environ 30 min de route

Soir

Plan to land by about 4 pm to reach the evening briefing; the latest arrival time is confirmed with your final itinerary. Almaty was Kazakhstan's capital until 1997 and is still its largest city: a grid of tree-lined streets running uphill towards the snow peaks of the Trans-Ili Alatau, which on a clear evening look close enough to touch. If you arrive early, walk the shady pedestrian stretch of Panfilov Street or sit in one of the cafes around it. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the trip: the border crossing, what to pack for the mountain nights and the yurt, and how the days are paced. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Kazakh and Central Asian dishes at a local restaurant.

Compris

• Pick-up at Almaty International Airport (ALA)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner

Almaty: the cathedral, the bazaar and Kok-Tobe

Central Almaty, then Kok-Tobe hill

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Almaty
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

We start on foot after breakfast in Panfilov Park, named for the 28 Panfilov Guardsmen of the Second World War, where the yellow Ascension Cathedral was finished in 1907, built of wood and one of the few buildings to come through the 1911 earthquake. In the same park the Museum of Kazakh Folk Musical Instruments holds dombras, kobyzes and drums, and the staff often play a few. A short walk on brings us to the Green Bazaar, at its busiest in the morning: dried fruit and nuts, horse sausage, mountains of apples (the wild apple is thought to have come from these hills) and stalls of kurt, the dried salty yogurt balls you will see all trip.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal near the bazaar. The afternoon is free, for a rest, the State Museum of Arts or a coffee. In the late afternoon we ride the cable car up Kok-Tobe hill for the view over the city as the light falls on the mountains.

Compris

• Panfilov Park and the Ascension Cathedral with your guide
• Museum of Kazakh Folk Musical Instruments
• The Green Bazaar
• Sit-down lunch in Almaty
• Kok-Tobe cable car and hilltop in the late afternoon

Activités en option

• Medeu and the Shymbulak cable car in the free afternoon, priced at booking

Charyn Canyon and into the mountains at Saty

Almaty to Charyn Canyon, then Saty village and Kaindy Lake

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Saty
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Après-midi

From the rim of the Valley of Castles we walk down a gravel path between towers of sandstone to the river, about 3 km each way on a gentle grade, and stop for a sit-down lunch near the water. On summer weekends the canyon fills with day-trippers from Almaty; we schedule this day on a weekday where the dates allow.

Soir

In the afternoon we drive south into the foothills to Saty, a village at the gate of the Kolsay Lakes National Park, where we stay one night in a guesthouse. In the late afternoon local 4x4s take us up a rough track to Kaindy Lake, formed when the 1911 earthquake dammed a gorge and drowned a spruce forest; the grey trunks still stand in the turquoise water. Dinner is home cooking at the guesthouse.

Compris

• Charyn Canyon: the Valley of Castles walk down to the Charyn River with your guide
• Sit-down lunch near the canyon
• Kaindy Lake by local 4x4, with the walk down to the sunken forest
• Dinner at the guesthouse in Saty
• Charyn and Kolsay Lakes national park fees
• The border-zone permit for Kolsay and Kaindy, arranged by us before you travel

Kolsai Lake early, then across the border to Karakol

Saty to Lower Kolsai Lake, then Kegen, the Karkara border and Karakol

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Karakol
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Matin

The lake lies at about 1,800 m in a steep valley of Tian Shan spruce, and in the still morning air the water is a deep blue-green. Walk the shore path with your guide for an hour or so, or sit with a coffee by the water. Mid-morning we set out east over the open plateau to Kegen and the Karkara valley, where we cross into Kyrgyzstan. This is the trip's longest day: about 230 km and four and a half hours on the road, plus one to two hours at the border, so six or more hours in all from Kolsai to Karakol.

Après-midi

We break it with a sit-down lunch in Kegen and the crossing itself. Our Kazakh driver takes us to the Kazakh post, we cross on foot with our bags, and our Kyrgyz driver meets us on the other side. Clocks go forward an hour.

Soir

The road then follows the Tüp valley down to the eastern end of Issyk-Kul and on to Karakol, where we arrive in the early evening for two nights.

Compris

• Morning walk at Lower Kolsai Lake with your guide
• Sit-down lunch in Kegen
• Your guide handles the border paperwork at Karkara and carries the group list
• A new vehicle and driver for Kyrgyzstan from the border

Jeti-Oguz valley and Dungan Karakol

Karakol to the Jeti-Oguz valley and back, then Karakol town

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Karakol
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive about 40 minutes west to the Jeti-Oguz valley, named for its seven bulls, a wall of red sandstone cliffs above the river. Close by is the split rock called the Broken Heart, and every family here has a legend for it. We walk up the valley past summer yurts and grazing horses into the Kok-Jaiyk meadow, the valley of flowers, under spruce slopes and with snow peaks at its head.

Après-midi

Lunch is in the valley. We are back in Karakol by mid-afternoon, so the rest of the afternoon is free. Late in the day we walk the old town of single-storey Russian houses with carved window frames to the Holy Trinity Cathedral, built of wood in 1895, and the Dungan Mosque, finished in 1910 without metal nails by Dungan craftsmen in the style of a Chinese temple.

Soir

In the evening a Dungan family welcomes us to dinner at home, with ashlyamfu, the cold noodle dish Karakol is known for, among a long run of small dishes.

Compris

• Jeti-Oguz valley walk with your guide: the Seven Bulls, the Broken Heart and the Kok-Jaiyk meadow
• Lunch in the Jeti-Oguz valley
• Karakol walk: the Holy Trinity Cathedral and the Dungan Mosque
• Dinner with a Dungan family in Karakol

Activités en option

• The Przhevalsky museum and memorial on the lakeshore near Karakol, in the free afternoon

Along the south shore to Skazka

Karakol along the south shore of Issyk-Kul to Skazka Canyon, then a yurt camp near Bokonbaeva

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Bokonbaeva
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down stop in a lakeside village on the way. We reach Skazka, the fairy-tale canyon, in the late afternoon, when the low sun brings out the reds, yellows and purples of its eroded clay ridges and the heat has gone. Walk the paths between the formations with your guide, then climb a ridge for the view over the lake. It is a short drive on to our camp on the shore near Bokonbaeva, where we stay two nights.

Soir

Tonight is the yurt night. The camp we book must have felt yurts with proper beds and bedding, heating for cool evenings and hot showers on site; dinner is at the camp as the light goes off the mountains on the far shore.

Compris

• Drive along the south shore of Issyk-Kul with your guide
• Sit-down lunch on the way
• Skazka Canyon in the late afternoon
• A night in a yurt at the south shore camp
• Dinner at camp

Eagle hunters, yurt makers and a lake afternoon

Bokonbaeva and Kyzyl-Tuu on the south shore

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Bokonbaeva
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

In the morning a local eagle hunter, a berkutchi, shows us how golden eagles are raised and trained to hunt from horseback, a craft that families around Bokonbaeva still keep. Then we drive a short way west to Kyzyl-Tuu, a village of yurt makers, where a craftsman shows how the wooden frame, the felt and the woven bands are made, and how a yurt goes up in under an hour; you can help raise one.

Après-midi

Lunch is with a family in the village. The afternoon is free at the camp: swim from the shore (in July and August the water is cool but swimmable), walk the beach or sit in the shade.

Soir

Tonight you sleep in a room with its own bathroom, which we require of the camp we book, so the yurt night is a night by choice and not the whole stay. Dinner is at the camp.

Compris

• Eagle hunting demonstration near Bokonbaeva
• Yurt-making workshop in Kyzyl-Tuu
• Lunch with a family in Kyzyl-Tuu
• Dinner at camp

Activités en option

• Horse riding from the camp, priced at booking

Burana Tower and on to Bishkek

Bokonbaeva to Balykchy, the Boom gorge and Burana Tower, then Bishkek

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Bishkek
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Matin

We leave the lake after breakfast and drive to its western end at Balykchy, then down the Boom gorge of the Chu River into the Chuy valley.

Après-midi

This is a long day, about 270 km and four and a half hours of driving, so it is broken with a sit-down lunch near Tokmok and a long stop at Burana Tower. The tower is an 11th-century minaret, the stump of a once taller tower, standing alone in fields near the site of Balasagun, a Karakhanid capital; it is part of the Silk Roads UNESCO World Heritage listing. Around it lie earthworks, a small museum and a field of balbals, carved stone grave markers with faces, brought from across the region. Climb the tower's narrow inner stair if you like, for the view over the valley to the mountains.

Soir

We reach Bishkek in the late afternoon for two nights, and the evening is free.

Compris

• Drive through the Boom gorge with your guide
• Sit-down lunch near Tokmok
• Burana Tower, the balbal field and the site museum

Bishkek: Ala-Too Square and Osh Bazaar

Central Bishkek on foot, then Osh Bazaar

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Bishkek
• Environ 30 min de route

Après-midi

After a sit-down lunch we visit Osh Bazaar, the city's best-known market, for felt, spices, dried fruit and kalpaks, the tall white felt hats men still wear. The afternoon is free: rest at the hotel, find a cafe on Erkindik Boulevard or join the walk in Ala Archa National Park.

Soir

In the evening we sit down together for a farewell dinner at a local restaurant.

Compris

• Bishkek walk with your guide: Ala-Too Square, the Manas monument, the State History Museum and Oak Park
• Sit-down lunch in Bishkek
• Osh Bazaar
• Farewell dinner

Depart from Bishkek

Bishkek to Manas International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 45 min de route

Matin

The trip ends after breakfast.

Soir

A driver takes you to Manas International Airport (FRU), about 30 km and 40 minutes north of the city; many flights from Bishkek leave at night or in the early morning, and the transfer is timed to your flight. If your flight is late in the day, the morning is yours: the Frunze House-Museum, a last walk in Panfilov Park or Erkindik Boulevard, or a coffee in one of the city's cafes. If you want more of Kyrgyzstan, ask us about Song-Kol, a high mountain lake at about 3,000 m with shepherds' yurts, as a two-day extension from Bishkek in June to September. Your guide says goodbye at breakfast or sees you to the airport.

Compris

• Drop-off at Manas International Airport (FRU)

Activités en option

• Song-Kol extension: two days and one yurt night at about 3,000 m, from Bishkek, June to September, priced at booking