A Brief Recap About Kyrgyzstan

Two years ago, Helen and I visited Central Asia for the first time including Uzbekistan and Almaty, Kazakhstan; plus a few days in Istanbul. We enjoyed Uzbekistan’s rich history and cuisine including plov – their national dish of rice, meat, and vegetables – and shashlik meat skewers; while Shymbulak Peak in Almaty was a decent day hike. Since we wanted to further explore that part of the world and get some serious hiking in, we visited Kyrgyzstan this year including an eight-day trek in the Alay Mountains. I will do a separate post about that trek and will use this post to briefly recap Kyrgyzstan.

Getting to Bishkek

This trip marked the first time we used Air Transat and Turkish Airlines. As much as we Canadians love to ridicule Air Canada, our Air Transat experience from Toronto to Istanbul (and back) made Air Canada look good. The seats on Air Transat’s Airbus A330’s were narrow given the nine-abreast configuration instead of the typical eight-abreast, while their in-flight meal service was inferior. Even in 2026, they don’t send you an online check in link 24 hours before the flight, while the secondary gate security check at Istanbul Airport was a turn off (though that may be beyond their control). In any case, I definitely would not recommend Air Transat for transatlantic travel!

Turkish Airlines, however, lived up to their reputation with very good meal service for a 4.5-hour flight from Istanbul to Bishkek – including warm bread and reusable cutlery – as well as a small amenity kit and hot towel given at the beginning. I used low-cost carrier Pegasus from Bishkek to Istanbul which felt more comfortable than Air Transat.

Exploring Bishkek

Upon arriving at Bishkek, I unfortunately lost my Canadian SIM card at the airport, followed by losing my phone shortly after returning to Toronto two weeks later! ☹ The first couple of days in Bishkek were really hot at 42’C, though it was dry unlike Toronto summers. This city could be explored within one to two days while you can do various day trips from there. The city’s focal point is Ala-Too Square which has several museums and parks nearby.

While I didn’t explore Bishkek’s museums this time around, I noticed a couple of statues of Vladimir Putin as well as of the Communist Manifesto authors Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Panfilov Park has some amusement park rides including this Ferris wheel.

One popular day trip from Bishkek is Ala Archa Park which you can get to by Bus #1 near the Marx and Engels statue and costs 40 Som. We went there on Day 2 given a Kol Tor Lake tour by Kettik Tours was cancelled at the last minute. While we tapped our credit cards, many locals paid for their bus fare (and other purchases) by scanning a QR code. After paying the 340 Som park admission, we boarded free shuttle buses to the trailhead for a seamless experience.

Ala Archa was unfortunately a letdown. Not only did you have a paved trail for a good part of the way, but the trail leading to the Broken Heart Rock saw heavy construction trucks going past us with ruined the experience. We chose not to continue further south towards the Aksay Waterfall.

There was another trail called the Survivors Path which was better, but would have been too far to go all the way to Top-Karagay Gorge. For us, feeding the red squirrels and bids seeds was a highlight.

The Osh Bazaar didn’t have as much to offer as the bazaars in Uzbekistan and Almaty, though we did get some cheap apricots and honey.

Navat is a safe restaurant bet in Bishkek with decent plov and beshbarmak pictured below, but we were most impressed with Chinatown Restaurant. It offers an upscale feel, some of the best Chinese food we ever had, high quality tea, and a decent price. I recommend the veal with pepper and lamb and noodle dishes, while their egg drop soup is also good. Sierra Coffee on Manas Avenue was also excellent with affordably priced and delicious waffles and omelettes.

As far as accommodations go, I found both the Kaganat Hostel and the Compass Hostel to be decent with twin rooms at both places going for roughly 3500 Som (or 40 USD) per night. Both are tastefully decorated with Compass being more modern, though Compass gets a slight edge for complimentary breakfast (which I unfortunately didn’t get to have).

Onward to Osh

Not long before leaving for Kyrgyzstan, we found out TezJet – which we initially booked for our flights between Bishkek and Osh – had a non-fatal incident which led to the state civil aviation authority revoking their license! Instead, we used Asman Airlines between the two cities which was decent.

The main attraction in Osh is the Sulaiman-Too Mountain and museum. While the museum itself was kind of cheesy, the mountain offers nice city views. The temperature at the time was slightly cooler at 39’C and a bit more humid.

However, Google Maps gave some weird directions within Osh which involved crossing a river without using a bridge to get to the Sulaiman Too Mountain and other destinations on the west bank. Here is a photo of that crossing in question.

Instead, Abdykadyrova is a more pleasant way to cross the river with its numerous statues reflective of the country.

Osh was where we tasted a couple of beverages unique to Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia, but can be found on almost every street corner including in Bishkek. Kvas (квас) is a fermented low alcohol wheat beer while maksym (максым) has a fermented sesame taste. You can also get chalap (чалап) which is a fermented milk and similar to ayran. Among the three, I prefer kvas.

We stayed at Lovely Home for You for the night before and the night after our trek. Even though the rooms were on the older side, the woman who ran the guesthouse was very kind and gave us a boiled apricot drink upon our arrival which is similar to kompot. Since we had to be at the Visit Alay office at 8 AM to start the trek, she was able to prepare breakfast to go. Well worth the approximately 2600 Som (or $30 USD) per night.

As far as restaurants recommendations in Osh, you can’t go wrong with Brio. Their shakshuka was excellent, while the Russian pancakes with sour cream I shared with Helen were very good. The “chubby chicken” dish of chicken breast, fried vegetables, and sauerkraut also looked decent. If you’re looking for shashlik, Tsarskii Dvor is another good spot.

While there weren’t as many attractions in Osh, we did stumble upon Chakchuk Market on Amir Temur Street on the way to Nomad House. Chakchuk Market had lots of chocolate, other foods, and beverages which I recommend stopping by if you’re in the area. Meanwhile, the prices of souvenirs at Nomad House were high compared to other places we checked.

Back in Bishkek

After returning to Bishkek, I did a day trip to Sulutor Lakes since Kettik Tours didn’t have the Kol Tor Lake tour available before I had to return to Toronto. While it was nice to get out of the city and the lakes were OK, the experience felt underwhelming compared to what I saw on the trek. While the tour guide (Dina) was able to speak decent English for half of our group, I was turned off with how Kettik didn’t disclose the additional 100 Som eco management fee before the trip began.

Last, but not least, there’s the question of souvenirs. Honey is a popular souvenir along with cognac – which cost a fraction of the stuff back home – and various felt products. Felt slippers in particular are popular there, but we didn’t bring any home.

Overall, I found Kyrgyzstan to be a very good destination for those wanting a more active kind of vacation including hiking and horse riding (which Helen did after I returned to Toronto). I even saw several bikepackers around – and a few bike lanes within Osh and Bishkek – but find that country is too mountainous for my liking to try bikepacking. If you prefer museums and history, you may be better off visiting Uzbekistan instead.