Is Kyrgyzstan safe for tourists?

Very comfortable in town. Across 4 guides Kyrgyzstan averages 4.4 out of 5; Karakol, Song-Köl, Osh are rated safe or very safe. Every guide names the comfortable areas and the ones that want care, with the reason.

Which parts of Kyrgyzstan need the most care?

None of the 4 guides in Kyrgyzstan is rated below 3: the usual big-city attention — bags in front on transit, phones away at the kerb — is the whole of it.

Kyrgyzstan travel tips

Is Kyrgyzstan safe?

4 guides, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.

4.4 average across 4 guides · Safe

Karakol Very safe

Very comfortable in town. The mountain is the thing: Ala-Kul crosses a 3,900 m pass and people get altitude sickness on it; Altyn Arashan’s track is a river in spring; the weather turns in an hour. A guide or the community office’s advice, and a paper map.

Comfortable: the town · the lake shore

the Ala-Kul pass — 3,900 m; altitude sickness is common and the weather closes in
the Altyn Arashan track in spring — a river, and the 4x4 drivers take it anyway

Song-Köl Very safe

Very comfortable, and the herders are the safety. The plateau is at 3,000 m: altitude headaches, sun that burns through cloud, nights near freezing in July, and horses that know the marsh better than you. Ask before riding off alone.

Comfortable: the yurt camps · the shore

the plateau — 3,000 m — altitude, sun and cold nights, and no help for a hundred kilometres
riding off alone — the marsh and the distances; ask the herders

Osh Safe

Comfortable now; the 2010 violence between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks is not forgotten and is not small talk. Pickpockets in the bazaar, and the usual taxi overcharge. The Uzbek border crossing is straightforward; the road south to Sary-Tash needs a full tank and a spare.

Comfortable: the centre · Sulaiman-Too · the river promenade

Jayma Bazaar — pickpockets in the crowd
ethnic politics — 2010 is recent; do not raise it

Bishkek Reasonably safe

Comfortable, and the centre is walked late. Pickpockets at Osh Bazaar and on the marshrutkas, and the occasional bag-snatch; taxis off the app overcharge. The mountains outside the city need real care: altitude, weather and distance from help.

Comfortable: the centre around Chuy avenue · Ala-Too square · the south of the city towards the mountains

Osh Bazaar and the marshrutkas — pickpockets in the crush
the streets around the western bus station late — unlit and a drinking crowd
taxis off the app — overcharging

The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.

The guides in Kyrgyzstan

The White House, the government building on Ala-Too square in Bishkek

BishkekKyrgyzstanThe greenest Soviet capital, a grid of poplars under 4,000-metre peaks, and the base for the most beautiful mountains in Central Asia

A river valley in the Tien Shan above Karakol, green meadow and snow peaks

KarakolKyrgyzstanA frontier town at the far end of Issyk-Kul, a wooden mosque built by Dungans, a Russian church, and every trek in the Tien Shan starting from it

A yurt and a horse on the grass plateau at Song-Köl, cloud over the lake

Song-KölKyrgyzstanA lake at 3,000 metres on a plateau of grass, yurts and horses and nothing else, where the herders spend the summer and you can too

Osh from the air, the city spread across the Fergana valley

OshKyrgyzstanThe oldest city in Central Asia, a sacred mountain in the middle of it, a bazaar that has run for two thousand years, and the door to the Pamir Highway