Southern Kyrgyzstan culture tour

Arrive in Osh, the ancient Silk Road city of southern Kyrgyzstan (about 800 m). You are met and taken to the hotel for a rest (early check-in is included), followed by lunch. In the afternoon set off on a city tour of Osh. Climb the sacred Sulaiman-Too mountain with the small house of Babur – the founder of the Mughal dynasty and a descendant of Timur – and explore the colorful oriental bazaar. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Osh, Sulaiman Too, Jayma Bazaar (Osh)

Overnight: Osh (Hotel)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast drive to Jalal-Abad (150 km, about 3–4 hours). On the way stop in Uzgen to see its medieval minaret and meet a local farming family who grow rice – you help them clean the rice before lunch. In Jalal-Abad you get an introduction to a local organic cotton project at its regional office. Then continue to the villages where the project’s farmers live, about 40–50 km from Jalal-Abad. Meet the farmers and have dinner together at a community guesthouse. For the next four nights you stay with farming families in one or two villages, 2–3 travelers per family. The families do not have tourist-class facilities, but they have been taught how to welcome guests in their homes with what they have – a real chance to share the local way of life (about 800 m).

Uzgen, Jalalabad

• Osh → Jalalabad (150 km)

Overnight: Jalalabad (Homestay)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast join your host family and other selected farmers for volunteer work in the fields during the first half of the day. In your free time the farmers can take you to the local school to see how children are taught in villages far away from the big cities. All meals are prepared by the farmers’ families. Overnight with your host family (about 800 m).

Overnight: Jalalabad (Homestay)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Another morning of fieldwork together with the farmers. On one of the days in the villages you can also visit the Arslanbob walnut forest for a light hike. Meals with your host family and overnight in the village.

Arslanbob

Overnight: Jalalabad (Homestay)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Spend a last morning working in the fields with the farmers. In the afternoon you can teach your host family how to cook a traditional dish from your own country. In summer the villages have plenty of fruit and vegetables, and potatoes, rice and meat are easy to find, so you can cook with local ingredients – and the families are keen to share the experience. Dinner and overnight with your host family.

Overnight: Jalalabad (Homestay)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast say goodbye to your host families and set off on the long drive north to Kyzyl-Oi (450 km, about 7–8 hours), a mountain village at about 1,800 m. In Kyzyl-Oi you stay with a family in a community-based tourism guesthouse. Guesthouses like this were set up to improve living conditions in remote mountain regions through sustainable ecotourism. The accommodation is very simple, but the rooms are cozy and clean, with 4–5 guests per family guesthouse. Dinner with the family and overnight.

Kyzyl-Oi

• Jalalabad → Kyzyl-Oi (450 km)

Overnight: Kyzyl-Oi (Homestay)

• Toilet: Shared (indoor)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast drive to Kochkor village (200 km, about 4–5 hours; 1,750 m). Here you visit a group of local women who make the traditional nomad felt carpets shyrdak and ala-kiyiz. Their cooperative was founded in the spring of 1998 by more than 200 women to earn an income from felt carpets and to defend the interests of private carpet makers. Every shyrdak is still unique: it is designed and made by hand with the Kyrgyz knowledge of patterns, symbols, colors and sewing techniques, and the women work on it together, keeping carpet making part of their social and economic life. Dinner and overnight in Kochkor. Over dinner your hosts tell you about their long experience in tourism.

Kochkor

• Kyzyl-Oi → Kochkor (200 km)

Overnight: Kochkor (Hotel)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

In the morning you can join an optional 2-hour cultural show in Kochkor, Kyrgyz-Kochu: local shepherds re-enact the nomads’ move from one summer pasture to another, with a yurt being set up to local songs and music. Then drive to the Chon-Kemin Nature Park (130 km, about 3 hours; 1,800 m) and check in at a local farmer’s guesthouse. Take a light hike to a viewpoint above the village, or rent a horse for an optional ride. Before dinner join a cooking class and learn how to make boorsok, the Kyrgyz fried bread. Over dinner the farmer tells you how he started welcoming tourists. Overnight in the guesthouse.

Boom Gorge, Chon Kemin

• Kochkor → Chon Kemin (130 km)

Overnight: Chon Kemin (Guesthouse)

• Shower: Yes
• Toilet: Private (in the room)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Enjoy a free morning to explore the village and its way of life, then continue to Bishkek (180 km, about 3–4 hours). On the way stop near the town of Tokmok to visit the Burana Tower, an 11th-century minaret on the Great Silk Road. On arrival in Bishkek (800 m) check in at the hotel and set off on a city tour: the central Ala-Too Square, the Parliament building, Oak Park, Victory Square and the oriental Osh Bazaar. Dinner, with an optional folklore show, and overnight at the hotel.

Burana Tower, Bishkek, Ala Too Square, Bishkek Oak Park, Bishkek Victory Square, Osh Bazaar (Bishkek)

• Chon Kemin → Bishkek (180 km)

Overnight: Bishkek (Hotel)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast transfer to Manas International Airport for your flight home.

• Bishkek → Manas International Airport (30 km)

Meals: Breakfast