This is a travel guide to a horse riding trip to Song Kul Lake (Сон Кул) in Kyrgyzstan. Learn where to start your trek, where to rent a horse, how much things cost, what to bring with you, what companies have the best prices and services and many other useful tips. You can also check the exact itinerary of our two days horse trek.
With so many beautiful lakes around Kyrgyzstan, deciding where you want to go takes a lot of work, especially if your time in the country is limited. We visited three lakes, and we made quite a good decision as all of them are different from each other. We did a four days challenging hike to the alpine lake Ala Kul over the mountain pass in 3900 m, which was one of the best things we did in Kyrgyzstan. We relaxed and swam in the second-largest saline lake of Issyk Kul. So it only made sense to us to do the horse trekking in the third lake, Song Kul.
Kyrgyzstan is known for its nomadic culture, where shepherds and horseman build their yurts in the mountains. You can visit them along the way, pay a few bucks, stay overnight, try their homemade food and see their daily activities, and it is no different on Song Kul Lake.
A horse trek to Song Kul Lake is one of the best things you can do in the country since it is very accessible, the terrain is great with easy ascents and the reward is the magical scenery around the lake.
WHERE TO ORGANISE THE HORSE TREK TO SONG KUL & PRICES
You can organise your horse trek either in Kochkor or Kyzart village. We came to Kochkor from Tosor in Issyk Kul. And immediately went to Kyzart by shared taxi for 350 – 400 KGS per person ($4 – 4.5), depending on your negotiation skills. Be prepared once you arrive in Kochkor, taxi drivers will fight for you to take you to Kyzart or organise the horse trek for you. The problem is, they ask for hefty amounts! Take your time negotiating, and don’t pay more than 400 som per person for a ride to Kyzart!
Another option, if you don’t take a shared taxi, is to take a marshrutka going to Chaek and ask the driver to drop you off at the beginning of Kyzart village. We didn’t know the timetable of this marshrutka, and since the sunset was soon, we couldn’t wait any longer to find out when is coming.
Organise your trek in Kyzart Village
This is the option we did. We took a shared taxi the same day from Kochkor to Kyzart, from where the two days horse treks start. Since we arrived late, we pitched the tent before the village and decided to find a horse and a guide the following day.
We went directly to the guesthouse Horseback Holiday at Kyzart village. The only person home was 17 years old Adin since the rest of the family was already by Song Kul Lake with other guests. We negotiated the price of 10 000 KGS ($114) for two people, but we stayed in our tent, cooking our own food that we brought with us. He originally asked 15 000 KGS ($170). It is still more than we expected, as we thought the price should be 8000 KGS (check the prices below).
Anyway, it was almost 11am, so we didn’t want to waste time searching for other options as the Kyzart village seemed to be very quiet, and there was a chance we won’t find a horse with a guide to go to Song Kul Lake that day, so we took it. Be prepared for that. Kyzart is a small village. And looking back into it, the safer option is organising your trek from Kochkor. As if Adin wasn’t home, finding other people who would go with us to Song Kul could be hard.
Organise your trek in Kochkor
You can stay the night in Kochkor and organise your horse trek starting from there. Basically, any guesthouse can book it for you. Or you can try a local travel agency. They charge 18 000 KGS ($205) for two people in Caravan Tourism Agency (WhatsApp: +996707259282) or Shepherd’s Life (WhatsApp +996777013747). The price includes the transport between Kochkor and Kyzart, horses, a guide and a stay in the yurt camp with dinner and breakfast. You can also organise it through CBT, but they overcharge even more ($250 for two people). The prices in Kochkor are usually a bit higher than if you arrange it yourself in Kyzart.
How to get to Kochkor
To get to Kochkor, take a marshrutka from Bishkek’s Western bus station for 300 KGS ($3.4). Or take a bus from villages around Issyk Kul to Balykchy. Then change for a shared taxi to Kochkor (250 KGS).
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE PRICE of the tour
We paid 10 000 KGS ($114), including two horses for me and Jakub. Guide with his horse (you shouldn’t pay for the guide’s horse, as it is guaranteed they already have their horse and don’t expect you to pay for it). And that’s it. Bear in mind that it was just me, Jakub and our guide. Some places might put you with another group of travellers, so ensure you know the details before booking. We met many groups who started their trip from Kochkor, and their group had 10-15 people.
If you want to stay in the yurt camp with dinner and breakfast included, expect to pay 13 000 KGS ($150) for two people.
Note: we opted for a 2 days/1 night horse trek from Kyzart village to Song Kul Lake and back. We also decided to take our camping gear with us and sleep in our own tent and cook our food.
Price examples
Following prices as they should be in August 2022. We found people in Kyrgyzstan often overcharging, so to get these prices; you must have good negotiation skills or try to organise everything in advance through WhatsApp. This way, you have space to contact more providers and negotiate the price.
- Renting horse: 1000 KGS per day
- Services of the guide: 1500 KGS per day (Don’t pay for their horse, it should be included)
- Night in the yurt with breakfast: 2000 KGS
- There is no entry fee to Song Kul Lake.
This way, the price for two people should be 7000 KGS sleeping in their own tent or 11 000 KGS with B&B. Good luck with the negotiation, and let us know in the comments if you can get the right price.
Camping or sleeping in the yurt?
If you have your camping gear, you can enjoy being alone by the Song Kul lake shore, as we did. It was an incredible experience, and we would do it anytime again this way. You stay 400 m from the yurt camp anyway, so you can go there to look, ask for food or coffee & tea and use all the facilities if you feel like it.
Or, if you want to experience staying with a local family in a yurt, try their traditional food and see how the lives go in the yurt camp, you can do so too! The guide will arrange everything for you in advance. Usually, if the family rents out horses & guide services in Kyzart, they also own the yurt camp by the lake. So you have everything easily arranged for you.
FOOD
If you are vegetarian, like us, there is no point in paying for food in yurts unless you let them know in advance and they have time to prepare something more special for you. As most of the food consists of meat. If you want a vegetarian dish, you usually get plain potatoes, eggs and, if lucky, some vegetables. We found it much easier to bring our food.
If you don’t mind this, go for it. If you eat meat, congratulations! You found paradise.
TRAVEL INSURANCE
Make sure you have proper travel insurance for riding a horse in Kyrgyzstan. Be aware that not every travel insurance covers horse riding in their basic packages or higher altitude trekking. Song Kul Lake is more than 3000 m above sea level. IATI Insurance covers all that and also any expenses regarding Covid 19.
You can also arrange it when you are already travelling so you don’t need to be in your country of residence. The prices are fair, and customer service is excellent. In addition, as a reader of Broken Navigation, you get an exclusive 5% discount for any insurance plan with IATI Insurance.
Get your 5% discount with IATI Insurance here.
THE HORSE TREK: OUR EXPERIENCE – 2 DAYS ITINERARY
DAY 1: From Kyzart village to Song Kul
- Distance: 19 km
- Lake elevation: 3016 m
- Max elevation: 3310 m, Tuz Ashu pass
- Starting point: Kyzart village, guesthouse Horseback Holiday at Kyzart village
- End point: Song Kul Lake, yurt camp
- Total time: 5.5 hours with one short break along the way
Once you arrange your tour in the morning, the guide will briefly explain how to control a horse. How to turn left, right and stop. Luckily, horses are pretty intelligent animals, so they usually know where to go.
We put our backpacks with all the camping gear into a huge handmade pocket, and our guide was carrying that on his horse. Let’s go. First, we had to cross the main road, which was quite a challenging task for someone sitting on the horse for the second time.
Luckily, Kyzart is a tiny village with barely any traffic. After a couple of minutes, we got to the beginning of the Song Kul Lake trail. At this point, I already knew riding a horse would be a painful experience. Oh Lord, how right was I? It is not just sitting on the horse; it feels like good exercise as you need to balance and control him, which takes a certain fitness level.
Today plan is to get to the yurt camp by the Song Kul Lakeshore, and the distance is roughly 19 km. The first 2-3 hours of the trail are relatively easy, as the terrain is mostly flat or slightly uphill. You get a wonderful view of the Kyzart mountains and mountainous steppes. Jakub’s horse was not impressed and didn’t want to move any faster than a human could. He was constantly hundreds of meters behind us. Chuuu! Chuuu! Our guide yelled and gave Jakub’s horse a good whip, which only made the horse start running. Well, did I already mention that this is a painful experience? Haha. I can’t say the same about my horse, as he was super active and always started running, so I had to stop him quite often.
Then you cross the Tuz Ashu pass in 3310 m. From there, the scenery starts to unfold rapidly. When you turn back, you see all the mountain ranges of Kyzart; in front of you, in a far distance, you see the first glimpse of Song Kul Lake. Sheep, goats and cows are running all around you. This is Kyrgyz wilderness at its best.
Note: There were no yurts along the way. The first yurts you can stay in are once you reach the shore of Song Kul!
You follow the trail for another hour or two, depending on where you stay tonight, and here, you already go past the nomadic yurts. Some of them are for tourists, and some of them belong to local shepherds. We are here! Our guide yelled. We could choose whether to pitch a tent on the lake shore or go 400 m further to the valley, where his yurt camp is. We couldn’t resist and decided to stay camping alone by the lake. Our guide took horses and left us alone; we agreed he would pick us up the next morning around 10 am.
Camping by the lake is an absolutely amazing experience, as you get to watch the breathtaking sunset, horses are running freely around you, and occasionally, they come to drink water from the lake.
Song Kul Lake is different from the other cute, turquoise alpine lakes. In reality, it is the second-largest lake in Kyrgyzstan, with lengths of 29 km! So even though everyone is talking about it as one of the most popular hikes in Kyrgyzstan, you barely meet other tourists since the yurt camps are kilometres from each other. The scenery is wast, reminding us of our second home, Iceland. Except, the temperatures were much warmer in Song Kul.
DAY 2. From Song Kul to Kyzart
- Distance: 19 km
- Lake elevation: 3016 m
- Max elevation: Max elevation: 3310 m, Tuz Ashu pass
- Starting point: Song Kul Lake, yurt camp
- End point: Kyzart village, Horseback Holiday at Kyzart village guesthouse
- Total time: 4.5 hours
After we cooked breakfast, had coffee and chilled by the grassy lake shore, our guide picked us up at 10am. We loaded our stuff on his horse and started the hike back to Kyzart village.
Today, you go back exactly the same way you came yesterday. The only difference is you are faster as most of the trail goes downhill. It took us roughly 4,5 hours to get back to Kyzart. But only because we were caught in an unexpected, quick storm after reaching the highest point of the trail. The wind got so strong that our horses didn’t listen to our commands, and we couldn’t hold ourselves on the horse and descend the mountain on him at the same time as the horses were constantly trying to run. We ended up jumping down and going this part on foot, as it was too dangerous to ride the horse. After 30 minutes of rain and strong wind, we safely descended the valley. Sun started to shine, and we could continue our trek on the horse again.
Make sure you have gloves and a hat because the temperature up there was almost freezing when the storm came. And it was the middle of the summer!
The last part of the trek is easy, through the grasslands and slight descents, with the last km on a flat gravel road. We enjoyed the final moments of our two days horse trek until we reached the Horseback Holiday at Kyzart village guesthouse, where our tour officially ended.
WEATHER IN SONG KUL
We went to Song Kul Lake in early August 2022 and were surprised it was quite warm, even at night. The temperatures at night were around 15°C. During the day, it was around 22°C. This was on a sunny day. The next day we woke up to a cloudy and rainy morning, wearing a down jacket as it was around 10°C. We were met by a storm while crossing the highest point of the Tuz Ashu pass, where the strong wind made it feel freezing, and we couldn’t continue without our gloves and hat. So as you see, the weather in Song Kul is changeable; you are at an altitude of more than 3000 m, so make sure you have warm clothes and a rain jacket with you.
It is also a good idea to bring good rain protection for your backpack as there is not much you can do while riding the horse if it starts raining. We just bought the regular garbage plastic bags and put our things in them inside the backpack. But also we had a rain cover for our bags.
Tip: Bring a swimsuit! You can have a refreshing dip in Song Kul Lake!
WHERE TO STAY BEFORE AND AFTER THE HORSE TREK
After returning from the trek, we didn’t plan anything ahead as we weren’t sure when exactly we would return. Since we returned quite early, around 3 or 4 pm, we decided to return to Kochkor for a better starting point the next day. Our guide called a shared taxi for us, which costs 400 KGS ($4.5) per person, and it came to pick us up directly to the guesthouse within 45 minutes since the phone call.
Optionally, marshrutkas run between Kochkor and Chaek. You just go on the main road to make sure you can stop it.
Where to stay in Kyzart
Budget I Horseback Holiday at Kyzart village – we organised horses and guide through this guesthouse. They also stored our things we didn’t need during the horse trek. The guesthouse is nice, providing better comfort than we saw in other remote places. They will cook you lunch and dinner if you want. Breakfast is included.
Budget I Kyzart Guesthouse – another place in Kyzart where they can organise a horse trek for you. Run by a lovely family, a basic room and breakfast are included.
Where to stay in Kochkor
In Kochkor, the accommodation scene is much bigger than in Kyzart.
The budget I Center Guesthouse – the top option amongst travellers is the Center Guesthouse. As the name suggests, it is located in the city centre. You can book basic rooms with breakfast and wifi, and they can organise the horse trek for you. You will likely meet fellow travellers here.
Budget I Guest House Nur – another family stay in Kochkor. Rooms are spacious, with breakfast and wifi included. You can store your bags before you return from the trek. The location is central.
Mid-rage I Olive Hotel – if you need more privacy and, after a couple of weeks in Central Asia, you want to treat yourself to a proper hotel room, Olive Hotel is a place to be. It is close to the city centre, with breakfast and wifi included.
We liked Kochkor as it is more traditional than other villages, and it also seems that people here are more religious. There is a market, stores, and restaurants, and overall, staying here is quite pleasant after the horse trek. Marshrutkas and shared taxis run between Kochkor and Bishkek, Naryn, Balykchy & others multiple times daily.
TIPS FOR HORSE RIDING IN KYRGYZSTAN
Wear long sleeves – on sunny days, it gets extremely hot, and remember, you are sitting on the horse with no chance to hide from the sweltering heat. A hat, sunglasses, and long sleeves are a must. Even long trousers are a good idea since your leg can get itchy.
Travel insurance – check if your travel insurance cover is trekking at a higher altitude (more than 3000 m) and if they also cover you while horse riding! Some policies even differentiate if you go for a leisure 1-hour ride or do proper overnight trekking, like the one to Song Kul. We recommend IATI Insurance. You can use our 5% discount if you purchase your travel insurance through this link.
Have a small backpack – fill it with everything you might find necessary and easily accessible while sitting on the horse. Water, quick snacks, gloves, hat, rain cover, toilet paper, warm clothes and whatever else you might need.
Warm clothes – this is obvious as you will spend a night at an altitude higher than 3000 m above sea level. But once you ride to the top of the Tuz Ashu pass, the weather gets immediately colder and windier. Have your jacket ready.
Never let go of the reins – even when your horse drinks from the stream. Sometimes they suddenly start running, so you must always be in control.
Don’t put your feet fully in the stirrups – if you lose balance or fall, your leg will be stuck, which might get pretty dangerous.
Water filter – bring a water filter so you don’t have to carry water for two days. You can filter water directly from the lake, but we don’t recommend this option as the water was mixed with sand, and it almost blocked our Sawyer water filter. Instead, filter the water from the stream in the yurt camp. The water there is much cleaner, and people from yurts use it too.
First time on the horse? – yes, you can. Yes, you should. Don’t worry; it might sound scary at first, but you will get used to it after a few minutes. The horses are used to going to Song Kul with tourists often.
Next time – the only thing we would change for the next time is to ask our guide to have a break more often. To take more photos or have snacks. As we stopped just one time for maybe 10 minutes.
MORE FROM KYRGYZSTAN
Four day hike over Ala Kul Lake pass: Epic hike in Kyrgyzstan
Top things to do in Karakol & The Best Day Trips
Korday Border Crossing: Almaty to Bishkek (Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan)
Visit Osh: Our favourite city in Kyrgyzstan
A quick guide to visiting Fairytale Canyon, Kyrgyzstan
More from central asia
Kazakhstan
Natural reserve in Kazakhstan: Aksu Zhabagly
Best day and multi-day trips from Almaty
uzbekistan
Uzbek ghost town Moynaq and Aral Sea: Visit the ship cemetery
How to travel by train in Uzbekistan: Epic train rides
2 weeks itinerary & Uzbekistan ultimate guide
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