Wayfare Travels
Song-Kül, Kyrgyzstan

Asia · Mountains

Song-Kül, Kyrgyzstan

Three thousand metres up, and nobody is in a hurry.

4.8(64 reviews)10 daysJune to SeptemberFrom $2,240 per person
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01Overview

Three thousand metres up, and nobody is in a hurry.

A high alpine lake that families have been driving their herds to every summer for centuries. You sleep in a yurt, you ride when the herders ride, and the night sky is the closest thing to overwhelming we can offer.

TrekkingWildlifeUnique stays

Key information

Best time
June to September
Trip length
8 to 12 days
Group size
Up to 6 travellers
Altitude
Lake sits at 3,016 metres
Language
Kyrgyz, Russian, some English
Nights
Cold, even in July

02Things to experience

What a week in Song-Kül actually looks like

  • Ride with the herders

    Out at seven with the family who keeps the horses, back when the work is done. No arena, no helmets on poles, just open pasture.

  • A night with no light pollution

    The nearest town is four hours away. On a clear night you can read by starlight, and we are not exaggerating.

  • Learn to make boorsok

    Fried dough, endless tea, and an hour in a yurt kitchen that will teach you more about the place than any museum.

  • Cross the Kalmak-Ashuu pass

    Thirty-three switchbacks down the north side, with the lake behind you and the whole valley opening up ahead.

A scene from Song-Kül
Song-Kül detail 1
Song-Kül detail 2

03The route

A suggested itinerary

This is the shape most people travel. Every part of it can be lengthened, swapped or dropped, and private departures run on any date you like.

Adjust this route
  1. Day 1 to 2

    Bishkek and the road south

    A night in the city, then out through Kochkor with a stop to meet the family you will stay with.

  2. Day 3 to 5

    Song-Kül

    Three nights at the lake. Riding, walking, helping with the animals if you want to, doing nothing if you do not.

  3. Day 6 to 7

    Down to Naryn

    Over the pass, into the gorges, and a night in a guesthouse with a very welcome hot shower.

  4. Day 8 to 9

    Tash Rabat

    A stone caravanserai from the fifteenth century, still standing on the old Silk Road route to China.

  5. Day 10

    Return to Bishkek

    A long drive back with a stop at Burana tower, then a last dinner in the city.

04Where you stay

Three places we book here

Family guesthouses, refuges and restored houses. We have slept in every one of them, and the prices below are what you would pay direct.

Jailoo Yurt CampFamily yurt

Jailoo Yurt Camp

Felt walls, thick bedding, a wood stove somebody else gets up to feed at four in the morning. Shared washing facilities.

from $42 per night

Kyzart Pasture CampSummer camp

Kyzart Pasture Camp

The lower camp, an hour below the lake, used when the weather closes in. Horses are kept right outside.

from $38 per night

Naryn GuesthouseTown guesthouse

Naryn Guesthouse

Four rooms above a family kitchen. Hot water, a washing machine, and the best plov in the region.

from $55 per night

An editorial photograph from Song-Kül

05From the field

“You stop checking your phone by the second day, and not because there is no signal.”

There is no hotel at Song-Kül. There is a lake, a ring of pasture, and between June and September there are families who bring their horses and sheep up from the valleys and live here until the weather turns. We have worked with three of those families for years. You stay with them. You eat what comes out of the same pot as everyone else. In the afternoon, somebody will offer you a horse, and the correct answer is yes even if you have never ridden one. The trip is not comfortable in the way a resort is comfortable. It is comfortable in the way a good fire is.

Written by the Wayfare planner who runs this route.

Plan your trip

Let us build your Song-Kül trip around you

Send us your dates and the kind of days you want. We will come back with a route, a realistic price and an honest view on whether the timing works.

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