Kyrgyzstan Motorcycle Tour

Seven nights round Kyrgyzstan from Bishkek, guided, six days of mostly off-road riding on a 250cc enduro bike.

Kyrgyzstan gets called the Switzerland of Asia and the comparison undersells it. Snow-capped ranges, narrow canyons, turquoise lakes, grasslands and semi-desert all sit within a week’s loop, and almost none of it sees other visitors.

Bishkek opens it with two nights, and the capital’s restaurants and bars are worth the time before six demanding days. The riding then leaves tarmac quickly, climbing to three and a half thousand metres on routes planned by local guides, with Japanese 250cc enduro bikes chosen for exactly this sort of playful terrain rather than for distance. The Tien Shan ranges supply passes, canyons and high mountain lakes, and the culture comes with them: much of the population still lives in yurts for part of the year and keeps a semi-nomadic life, which the group experiences directly during two nights at a yurt camp. Herdsmen, yak and wild horses pass the route on the way back to Bishkek, where a final evening closes it.

Two nights in a four-star Bishkek hotel, two in rural three and four-star hotels, one guesthouse night and two in a comfortable yurt camp, six days of Honda CRF 250L or similar rental, operator and local guides, a mechanic and a back-up van are all included. Mid-July is the departure, which is the only sensible window at that altitude. Eight days with six of them off-road is a genuinely demanding trip and the cheapest thing the operator runs, which is a reflection of where it goes rather than how hard it is. The operator’s page gives seven nights against the six recorded here.