Introduction
This is the first article that I wrote about the trips that I make as a tour guide and organizer of the trips. Quite often you find articles and blog posts about trips written by travelers. For some time, I was having this idea of writing texts of how the trips look like from the other perspective – from the view of a tour company or a tour guide. This post will begin the series of articles about my experience.

Planning
In February 2025 I got contacted by a client, who wanted to arrange a family trip in Kyrgyzstan. He lives and works in Dubai; his idea was to spend 4 days in Kyrgyzstan in the end of the week – from Thursday till Sunday.
He already did his research and had an idea in mind: which places to see and visit, where to stay, and activities that he and his family would like to participate in. From my side I needed to give a calculation of the tour cost and give suggestions to make the itinerary better. We discussed the details, changed some things in the plan, agreed on price and set the dates. He already booked his flight, the tour was confirmed, so the planning is done.

Tour - Day 1
On the set date, on 13^th March, I did a tablet with his name, so he can recognize me when he sees me, and drove to the airport to meet him. The flight from Abu-Dhabi to Bishkek landed in the afternoon. People meeting the passengers at the hall already gathered at the exit. I chose a place where I would be visible, the taxi drivers were present already and trying to find their clients from the passengers. I waited for some time and then met the client and his family – his wife and their 3 girls.
After loading the luggage to my car, we went off straight to Issyk Kul lake, without entering the city. It was already past lunch time, and when travelling with family, it is important to have meals properly. So, we decided to stop somewhere on the road – we stopped at the first restaurant that showed up, ordered meals and had a nice lunch.
We were travelling during Ramadan. Kyrgyzstan is a secular country with the majority of population being muslim, so the cafés and restaurants work, but don’t have a lot of people until evenings, which allowed us to be the only visitors at that time to enjoy the meals. Meals were good. Generally, the cuisine is really good in Kyrgyzstan, I got told this many times by numerous clients from different countries.

It was past 5 PM, we were leaving the city and heading to Issyk Kul region, where most of our tour would be having place. Our destination was Bokonbaevo village, situated at the south shore of Issyk Kul lake. Normally it takes around 4 hours, but with road construction and stops along the way (sunset was beautiful at that day), it took us a bit more, and we arrived there closer to 10 PM. I warned the host of the camp where we were going to stay that we would arrive late, so they would prepare for us a late dinner.
We stayed at one of the yurt camps at the shore of the lake. Yurt is a traditional nomad house used by Kyrgyz people for generations, a round-shaped wooden construction covered with felt. It is a unique experience that you can have in Kyrgyzstan, so if you are here or plan to visit our country – it is a must to spend at least 1 night in a yurt!
Most of the yurt camps work in summer, but the one that we chose works off-season too.

After a nice dinner, a well-deserved rest.

Day 2
Great breakfast in the morning, and we head to Skazka (Fairytale) canyon, a picturesque place where you can see various shapes and colors, the rocks can be similar to different objects and animals, hence the name – Fairytale. Aside from amazing views that we got there, we also could enjoy the silence and ambiance of that place. In summer it gets crowded, but at the time of our travel (mid-March), there was only one group that came before us, and they quickly left, so we were alone at the valley.

Trails are for various fitness levels; I chose a path that is not that steep and will be accessible for kids. We went to a higher deck where a nice view opens up. People who visited the canyon long before us (not that group that left before us) built some rock structures, so I thought that for kids it might a good idea – to let them build their own, that they should try to build the tallest structure as possible. It turned out that this idea was great, children loved that experience. Parents too. At once certain moment, before the game became a conflict of interest of 3 kids, we decided to leave.

Back to the car, and road along south shore to Barskoon valley.

We are here. Off-season - a great reason to come to Kyrgyzstan before May. There are 3 waterfalls accessible by foot, but it takes a long time to see all 3 of them. So we decided to hike only to the first one.
Trail got muddy and slippery, and with the incline, it got difficult for kids to reach the final destination. We did a shorter hike to the waterfall, got some nice pictures, and came back.

It is already lunch time. I was thinking to have a lunch somewhere on the road, but kids got hungry. There is a nice restaurant just in a couple of minutes from the parking, in the shape of a big yurt, but unfortunately it wasn’t open at that time, so we decided to have lunch in one of the local cafes in the nearest village. That we did. The menu was limited, but still tasty – we ate samsy (baked bread with meat, a.k.a samosa), and kuurdak – mix of potatoes and meat. Meals in Kyrgyzstan contain a lot of meat, meals are generally oily, so it is important to drink tea, a hot tea. Drinking cold water might be not so good for the stomach and digestion, that’s why you will see that locals quite often drink tea only. We drank black tea, finished our meals and got back to the road.

Return drive to Bokonbaevo, and a visit to the eagle hunter – a man who devoted his life to the ancient nomadic tradition – hunting with golden eagles. It is a great experience, so don’t miss it once you are in Kyrgyzstan!

Tomorrow would be a busy day, because we planned several activities during the day – felt carpet making, yurt building, and a long road to Bishkek. We had planned to visit Ak Sai canyon, situated close to Bokonbaevo for Day 3, but I suggested to go there now, to have more time for tomorrow’s activities and road. I knew that he likes to catch beautiful moments (especially sunsets) with his camera, so this offer was accepted almost immediately :)

I drove a bit faster to reach the canyon before the sunset, rough terrain and bumps were not felt much because of the right type of vehicle that we used for this trip – a full-fledged SUV on a frame, which grants comfort during the travel on different roads of Kyrgyzstan.

Almost there – we are close to the shore of the lake, in a beautiful canyon called Ak Sai. The view is amazing, but the best view is on top of the hill – you need to go there by foot in order to see it.

I talked a bit with my guests about how to attract more customers and how to apply different strategies, and later, when we were returning to the camp, I told them this idea – to write an article about our trip. So here is the result :)

We are back at the camp. It is late, we had our nice dinner. Great day.

Day 3
Guests packed their luggage before breakfast. After the meal, we went to the family that makes a demonstration on how to make a traditional felt carpet. It is an ancient art, which is preserved by our generation and is highly appreciated among all world communities, these carpets are all hand-made and are a piece of art. For the demonstration, the master makes a smaller carpet, and lets the guests to participate in the process. Even though it is a unique experience, kids liked playing with toys more – which is totally understandable :)

We then headed to Kyzyl Tuu village, on the way to Bishkek, which is famous by the production of yurts. After living for 2 days in a yurt, it is great to see and know how the yurt is made. A local family showed us how they produce the wood for the inner structure, the tools that they use, and later built a middle-sized yurt with all decoration. Another highlight for kids – a master of yurts made a swing tied to the top of the yurt, and other local kids came to play together. Later the kids invented together a game, all agreed on rules without any language barrier and had a great time.

Lunch with the same family, and road back to Bishkek.

On the way we stopped for a quick visit to Burana tower. It was a bit late, the museum got closed, but the area was still open and we could enjoy the views.

We arrived in the capital closer to evening and checked-in to the hotel in the city center.
That was another great day. Next day I needed to drive them to the airport.


Day 4
We agreed that I will come to pick them up at 12:30 PM. I met them at the lobby of the hotel, helped with the luggage and drove to the airport. It was Sunday, the traffic was not heavy, so we drove without rushing and reached the airport at the right time. That was the end of a nice journey with my guests!


In the coming weeks I will write more about other tours that I did this year and before, and some interesting stories about organizing various trips in Kyrgyzstan, from the viewpoint of a local tour operator. Thank you for reading!