Song-Kul Lake
A high mountain lake ringed by wide summer pastures at about 3,000 metres. Herders set up yurts beside it, and visitors come to ride horses, stay in a yurt camp and enjoy the open landscape.
Song-Kul Lake
Horse rides across summer pastures and nights in yurts with herders are what visitors do at this high alpine lake.
Attractive locations
Songköl Too
Mountain range in central Kyrgyzstan that holds Song-Kul, a high alpine lake and summer pasture. Herders live in yurts here in summer, and visitors come for horse rides, walking and quiet star-filled nights.
Kyzart Pass
High mountain pass on the route used by many travellers heading to Song-Kul from the Kochkor valley. The road climbs through open highland, with wide views over rolling pastures and distant ridges.
Dolon Pass
Mountain pass on the main road between Bishkek and Naryn, crossing a high ridge of the Tian Shan. Drivers stop for the views over bare slopes and the valleys on either side.
Tash Rabat
A well-preserved stone caravanserai of the Silk Road era, set in a remote mountain valley in Naryn Region. Visitors walk through its domed rooms and courtyard and stay in nearby yurt camps.
Airports
Manas International Airport BSZ
It is about 146 km in a straight line from Song-Kul Lake.
Scams and safe taxis
Taxi and scam advice for this country is on the Kyrgyzstan page
Weather by month
Each month shows its average temperature in °C and its mm of rain per month.
- Jan-14.7 °C17 mm
- Feb-12.3 °C24 mm
- Mar-5.0 °C36 mm
- Apr1.6 °C53 mm
- May5.8 °C48 mm
- Jun9.6 °C38 mm
- Jul12.5 °C25 mm
- Aug12.2 °C17 mm
- Sep7.4 °C15 mm
- Oct0.8 °C29 mm
- Nov-6.2 °C29 mm
- Dec-12.8 °C24 mm
Driest months: Jan, Aug, Sep. Wettest months: Apr, May, Jun.
Costs
Prices here are about 33% of US prices (World Bank, 2025). This compares a country's overall prices, not the cost of a trip.
Who can help
Emergency
112. Police 102. Ambulance 103. Fire 101.
local government
Ministry of Emergency Situations (unified dispatch service 112)
Helps with: Kyrgyzstan's emergency ministry. Its website lists 112 as the unified dispatch service and gives contact phones, an address in Bishkek and an email.
Who qualifies: Anyone in Kyrgyzstan who needs emergency help or wants to report an emergency.
Phone: 112
Email: mchs@mail.gov.kg
Address: Manas Avenue 101/1, Bishkek
local government
Department of Tourism (Kyrgyz Republic)
Helps with: Kyrgyzstan's state body for developing and supporting the tourism industry. Its contact page lists a reception phone, an email and an office address in Bishkek.
Who qualifies: Anyone with a tourism enquiry about Kyrgyzstan.
Phone: +996312621861
Email: tourism.department@mail.ru
Address: 96a Kievskaya Street, Bishkek
ngo
Red Crescent Society of Kyrgyzstan
Helps with: Kyrgyzstan's national Red Crescent society. Its website lists disaster risk reduction, first aid, restoring family links, blood donation and support for vulnerable people.
Who qualifies: People in Kyrgyzstan who need its first aid, disaster, family links or social support services.
Phone: +996312300190
Email: info@redcrescent.kg
Address: 10 Erkindik Boulevard, Bishkek
un agency
International Organization for Migration (IOM) Kyrgyzstan
Helps with: The UN migration agency, present in Kyrgyzstan since 1997. Its work covers migration management, crisis response, and humanitarian help for migrants, returnees and host communities.
Who qualifies: Migrants, returnees and host communities. It is not a help service for ordinary tourists.
Phone: +996 312 988011
Email: iomkyrgyzstan@iom.int
Address: 103 Ibraimov Street, Business Center Victory, left wing, 6th floor, Bishkek 720021