Kyrgyzstan

Stay in a yurt by a lake. It is the entire point of the country

Kyrgyzstan is over ninety percent mountain, with a average elevation around 2,750 metres, and it has become the accessible entry point to Central Asia for independent travellers. Visas are unnecessary for most Western passports, English is increasingly spoken by younger people, and the country is set up for exactly the kind of trip most people want from the region.

The nomadic heritage is not staged for tourists. Families still move livestock to high summer pastures called jailoo, live in yurts while doing it, and take paying guests through community-based tourism schemes. Sleeping in a yurt at Song Kul, a lake at 3,000 metres surrounded by grazing horses, is the defining Kyrgyz experience.

Issyk Kul is the second largest alpine lake in the world and does not freeze despite the altitude. Karakol on its eastern shore is the trekking hub, with serious multi-day routes into the Tian Shan. Add a genuine tradition of hospitality, horse trekking as normal transport, and prices that remain very low, and it is hard to argue with.

Annual events and festivals

• Nooruz (21 Mar) — the spring new year, with sumolok pudding, horse games and city celebrations.
• World Nomad Games (biennial, Sep) — founded here. Eagle hunting, horseback wrestling and kok boru.
• Eid al-Fitr, Orozo Ait (varies) — a public holiday ending Ramadan.
• Eid al-Adha, Kurman Ait (varies) — the second Eid, also a public holiday.
• At Chabysh (Aug-Nov) — a horse festival celebrating the native Kyrgyz breed.
• Independence Day (31 Aug) — marks the 1991 declaration.
• Birds of Prey Festival, Bokonbaevo (Aug) — demonstrations of hunting with golden eagles and falcons.
• Kymyz Muryndyk (May) — marks the first fermented mare milk of the season.
• Jailoo season (Jun-Sep) — not a festival, but the months when yurt camps operate in the high pastures.
• Issyk Kul regional games (Jul-Aug) — wrestling, archery and horse sports around the lake.