How to get to Sary Chelek National Park in Kyrgyzstan
We made a lot of mistakes when visiting as there isn’t much info online about visiting this park for foreigners, which is why we’ve made this guide!
Sary Chelek is best visited with camping equipment, as you can see much more of the park and spend longer enjoying the lakes without being constrained to the parks opening hours.
Sary Chelek Nature Reserve in Kyrgyzstan’s northwest is one of its most popular domestic tourist destinations for very good reason. This national park centres on seven beautiful lakes nestled amongst iconic mountain peaks. It’s well established, provides plenty of hiking and camping opportunity and rewards visitors with amazing views, and another chance for a refreshing lake swim!
But for foreign travellers, that domestic popularity does not translate to ease-of-access or mean that Sary Chelek is a simple addition to your trip. It took us an additional three nights to get to and visit the national park simply because we did not have the information of gear to do it simpler, and more enjoyably.
So here’s how to get to Sary Chelek, the easy way.
If you’re still planning, check out the perfect Kyrgyzstan itinerary here and the essential packing list here.
Honestly, we have way too much info to share from spending over a month in Kyrgyzstan for just a few blog posts, so be the first to know about the release of our upcoming Kyrgyzstan Travel Guide. The first 50 on the waitlist will receive our entire Google Maps pin list for free with their copy.
Contents
Option A - self-driving
The easiest and quickest way to explore Sary Chelek.
Locals from Kyrgyzstan and even Uzbekistan love visiting Sary Chelek, the road from Kyrgyzstan’s southern city of Osh and other settlements in the Fergana valley like Jalal-Abad and Andijon is relatively straightforward and low altitude, making it an easy overnight or weekend trip.
For foreigners with their own car, visiting Sary Chelek is an easy stop on the way down to Osh, Uzgen, Jalal-Abad and Arslanbob. You can simply follow Google Maps (with online maps downloaded) or a physical map to Tash-Komur, and then take the northern road along the west side of the Naryn river to Arkit, the easiest town to reach the lakes from. Note that Arkit is NOT where the Sary Chelek CBT branch is, as this is located in another valley. We don’t recommend going there.
From Arkit, you can either enter the park by driving straight through the village to the park gate if you’ve arrived before the 4pm closing time, or spend one night in Arkit before entering in the morning.
Once through the gate, it is approximately 14km to the main carpark at the big Sary Chelek lake from where you can begin your hiking, or enjoy a dip in the lake.
Option B - public transport / hitch-hiking from Bishkek
This is how we travelled to Sary Chelek in summer 2025, and while it can be a bit of a long trip, the park is worth it and it can be done more efficiently than we did.
From Bishkek city, head to the ‘temporary avtovokzal’ in the city’s west as early as possible and find a marshrutka or shared taxi going to Jalal-abad. Tell them you’ll be getting out at Tash-Komur, the price should be around KGS 1,000 per person. The journey will take around eight hours. It’s a 500km, windy route along the Bishkek-Osh highway over tall mountain passes, across alpine plateaus and through some high-altitude tunnels, quite the journey!
You’ll arrive to Tash-Komur in the evening regardless of when you set off from Bishkek, so a night in town is practically unavoidable unless you choose to begin hitchhiking towards Arkit and wild camp along the way.
If you stay in Tash-Komur, the first and only marshrutka travelling to Arkit stops at the Tash-Komur bus station at 12:20pm, and doesn’t hang around for long so ensure you’re there early.
This will get you to Arkit at around 3pm, when you can begin your trek into the park along the road past the entry gate. If you’re lucky you can hitch a ride to the lake if anyone or any park staff are heading up at this time.
Where to go in the park
The treks to the different lakes all set off from the big lake where the large public carpark is. Here you’ll also find vendors with horses to take on some shorter horse treks in the park including to the other lakes.
With any GPS trekking map you can find the routes to the other lake, as well as the Sary Chelek panorama point approximately 12km southeast of the starting point. It will take around eight hours to make it to the panorama point, and there are places to camp within the valleys.
For those looking for a larger multi-day adventure you can continue onwards to Kara-Suu lake.
That’s It!
If you’ve made it down here, thank you so much for reading!
Now you’re ready for the trekking trip of a lifetime in Kyrgyzstan!
