Kyrgyzstan photo tour

Day 1

We meet at Bishkek airport. Our guide will pick us up from the airport and take us to the hotel. The day is meant for recovery from the long flight. If you’d like, you can explore the city on your own. In the evening, we meet for a welcome dinner at one of Bishkek’s best restaurants. We get to know each other and discuss the plans for the upcoming journey.
Overnight at the hotel.

Day 2

After breakfast, we board our 4×4 vehicles and the adventure begins. We will drive all day (about 6 hours) with a short break for lunch. Our destination for the evening is the Ak-Sai Canyon. Here, wind and weather have shaped breathtaking structures that, with some imagination, resemble crumpled paper. With a telephoto lens or a drone, we can capture this landscape in the best way. After sunset, we drive to a nearby village (30 minutes) for dinner and rest.
Overnight at a guesthouse.

Day 3

We start early before sunrise to get to the Ak-Sai Gorge and photograph the sunrise. After the sunrise, we return to our guesthouse for breakfast. We pack our belongings and get into the cars for another drive (2.5 hours). Our destination is the Jeti-Oguz Gorge. Here, we will see the famous Tien Shan Mountains for the first time, with their needle-like pines and yurts—nomadic homes of the Kyrgyz people. Some of these yurts are tourist camps, and we will have lunch in one of them. Afterward, we continue our journey for another 40 minutes to enjoy the breathtaking view of the Jelzin Peak. To reach the best photo spot, we need to walk about 1.5 km on an easy path. But the view is worth it! We can stay here until sunset. After sunset, we return to our car, drive to the yurt camp for dinner, and then continue for another 40 minutes to the village of Karakol, where we will spend the night at a guesthouse.

Day 4

Today is one of the most adventurous days of our journey! We leave Karakol around 9 AM and drive all the way to the Chinese border. We will pass the border control (don’t worry, we will arrange all the necessary papers for you) and drive along the Saryzhaz River (about 6 hours). If we’re lucky, we will catch a glimpse of the breathtaking Khan-Tengri mountain, about 7,000 meters high, at the end of our journey. We will camp here in tents. The temperature can drop below 0°C at night, so make sure to dress warmly. We will provide the necessary camping gear for this part of the journey.

This night is perfect for practicing star photography.

Day 5

After sunrise and breakfast, we drive back to Karakol (about 4-5 hours). After lunch at a local restaurant, we continue to the village of Tamga and the nearby Fairytale Canyon (1.5 hours). We will explore this stunning place and, for sunset, we will take you to the most spectacular photo spots. After sunset, we drive to our guesthouse for dinner and rest.

Day 6

This morning, we will visit Fairytale Canyon again (30 minutes from the guesthouse). After sunrise, we return to the guesthouse for breakfast. We pack our things and head up into the mountains. Today, we will reach the highest point of our journey—the Arabel Plateau, which is 3,800 meters high! (About 2.5 hours drive) We will be surrounded by amazing landscapes with snow-capped mountains, small lakes, and winding rivers. Another opportunity for night photography awaits us tonight.
Lunch and dinner at the camp. Overnight in tents. Be prepared for a cold night.

Day 7

In the morning, we take a short walk up a nearby hill (15-20 minutes) to enjoy the view over the valley. Here, we will witness the sunrise.
After breakfast, we pack up our camp and drive down to the village of Barskaun. We will take a break from the active days of our journey here.
In this village, we will have lunch, but this time at a very special place — a small yurt factory. The locals will show us how the different parts of the yurt are made. They will also share interesting information about the local nomads and their culture.
Dinner and overnight at a guesthouse.

Day 8

After a relaxing morning, we pack our things and bid farewell to Barskoon. After a long drive, we first reach the village of Kochkorka for lunch and then head to Son-Kul Lake. We will spend the evening at the moss-covered rocks near the lake.
After sunset, we drive to the yurt camp at the lakeshore (30-40 minutes drive). Here, we will have dinner and rest.

Day 9

This morning, we wake up early again and drive 30 minutes to our morning photo spot at the shore of a small swampy lake. The greatest treasure of this place is not the landscape itself, but the local herders who tend to their horses. Sometimes, the horses appear on the summit of the nearby hill and reflect in the water puddles.

Once the magic of sunrise has passed, we return to camp for breakfast and rest. This would be a good opportunity for a short landscape post-processing workshop, as there will be electricity in the camp to recharge our equipment.

After lunch, we will take part in an interesting activity. Local shepherds will organize horse games for us and show us their impressive riding skills.

Just before sunset, we take a short walk to our sunset location. Here, we need to climb a hill to get a better view. We will start early from the camp so everyone has time to climb at their own pace. The view from the top will be worth the effort!
After sunset, we return to the camp for dinner.

This will be our last night in the mountains, and perhaps we will take some more night shots.

Day 10

After breakfast in the camp, we pack up our things and begin the journey back to Bishkek. The drive to the city takes about 6 hours, with a short lunch stop along the way. In Bishkek, we check into a hotel and meet for a farewell dinner in the evening.

Day 11

Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to the airport. Our adventure is over, and we begin our journey home.