Kyrgyzstan travel tips

4 guides in Kyrgyzstan — when to go, how to get around, which ATMs not to use, and what a fair price looks like.

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