Travel deep dive
Naryn and Tash-Rabat, on the Mountain Road to China
The Naryn region fills the high centre and south of Kyrgyzstan, a land of wide valleys, bare ranges and summer pastures, with few towns and fewer travellers. The road through it follows a branch of the Silk Road towards the Torugart pass and China, and in a side valley near it stands Tash-Rabat, a stone caravanserai centuries old. Naryn town on its river is the base.
Updated 2026-10-08
Tash-Rabat
Tash-Rabat stands alone in a grassy side valley of the At-Bashy range, a low, solid building of dark stone set into the hillside. Inside, a domed central hall opens onto narrow passages and about thirty small vaulted rooms, where travellers and merchants of the caravan road once sheltered; the interior is dim, and a torch helps. Yurt camps in the valley below take in visitors in summer, for an evening and a morning in the silence of the mountains and rides on the ridges around.
Naryn and the At-Bashy valley
Naryn, the provincial town, stretches along the river of the same name in a narrow valley, a practical stop for supplies, guesthouses and drivers. To the south, the wide At-Bashy valley runs under the snowy At-Bashy range, with villages and herds, and the road on to Tash-Rabat and the Torugart pass crosses it.
Kol-Suu
Far to the south-east, close to the Chinese border, the long, narrow lake of Kol-Suu lies between steep mountain walls, reached by four-wheel drive on rough tracks and a final walk or ride. It lies in the border zone, for which a permit is arranged in advance through an agency, and trips there are made with a driver and guide.
Visiting and the season
Naryn and Tash-Rabat are reached by road from Bishkek or from Kochkor and Song-Kul, a long day's drive, and often joined to a stay at Song-Kul. The season for the yurt camps and the high tracks runs from about June to September; the valleys are cold at night even in summer and lie high enough for the altitude to be felt, and snow closes the high ground for much of the year.