Burana Tower Tours

At 09:00 AM, your guide will meet you at your hotel lobby. Departure to the UNESCO World Heritage Site — Burana Tower. This is one of the few remaining structures from the 11th century, an excellent place to get acquainted with the Silk Road and the medieval history of the region. Your guide will also show you open-air museum of balbals (stone warriors) and petroglyphs. After a one-hour guided tour, continue the journey to Lake Issyk-Kul.

Museum of Petroglyphs

In Cholpon-Ata - resort town in the North of Issyk-Kul, you will visit the open-air Stone Art Museum, where your guide will tell you about ancient civilizations that depicted their lives and customs on stone more than 2,000 years ago.

Cholpon Ata

After an excursion in the open air rock art museum, take a walk in the city park featuring statues of characters from Chyngyz Aitmatov’s works and see the city beach. Check into the hotel.

Karakol

Start the day with breakfast and departure to Karakol. You arrive in Karakol at noon. In Karakol, you’ll visit the city park to see monuments dedicated to World War II and the Urkun tragedy of 1916. You will also visit the Russian Orthodox Church and the Dungan Mosque. Your guide will explain the bright history of the place and the multiethnic population of the town. Karakol is a fascinating city where Kyrgyz, Dungans, Russians, and Uyghurs live peacefully together. Each community has its own interesting story of how they came to this region. You can also taste ash-lyanfu at the local bazaar with your guide.

Jeti-Oguz Canyon (Seven Bulls Rocks)

After breakfast and a 45-minute drive, you’ll arrive in Jeti-Ögüz. You will have an hour for a short hike to a panoramic viewpoint. Jeti-Ögüz means Seven Bull from Kyrgyz. Legend says these red rock formations were gigant bull in the past. Your guide will explain to you the legend of Seven Bulls when you arrive.

Canyon Skazka

Continue driving along the southern shore of the lake for one and a half hours. Your guide will share more stories about Soviet daily life. In the early afternoon, you will visit the Skazka (Fairy Tale) Canyon, where you will have about an hour to enjoy the natural beauty and the lake views. Skazka canyon is not too big but it is packed with rock formations of different shapes and colors, you are going to have fun finding shapes resembling different animals and body parts.

Continue driving along the southern shore for another hour and arrive in the beautiful Tuura-Suu Valley. There, an eagle hunter will demonstrate how he trains his eagles for hunting. Eagle hunting is an ancient Central Asian tradition. Hunters train their eagles from baby ages and release back to nature by 15. Eagles live up to 60 years and by 15 they are ready to mate. Your guide and eagle hunter will tell you everything about the eagle in detail when you watch the demonstration.

Kara Talaa

After breakfast, begin your return journey to Bishkek. On the way, you will visit an old cemetery, where you will learn about traditional burial customs and their meanings. In the past, tombs were the only permanent structures built by nomads, as our ancestors believed that living beings should stay in motion while alive and only remain in one place after death. You will also see an archaeological excavation site showing how the Saka people buried their dead.

Konorchek Canyons

Continue driving toward Bishkek with a three-hour walk through the Konorchek Canyons. Don’t forget to take your walking shoes because this walk is longer (1.5 kilometers) and more fun than in previous hikes on this tour. At the end you will be awarded with stunning views of the valley. You arrive in Bishkek by evening.