WORLD NOMAD GAMES EXPEDITION 2026

1

Sep 1

Your adventure opens with a morning departure from Bishkek’s CBT office, where your guide will meet you and set the tone for what lies ahead. The drive north toward Lake Issyk-Kul is itself a curtain-raiser: sun-baked plains giving way to the first glimpse of the Tian Shan range. After a hearty lunch at a guesthouse in Tamchy, you’ll make the final transfer to Kyrchyn Jailoo — a sweeping highland valley that transforms, every four years, into the epicentre of nomadic civilisation. As the yurts rise against the mountains and the smell of open fires fills the air, the World Nomad Games are about to begin.

✦  Highlights: Scenic Bishkek–Issyk-Kul drive  •  Arrival at Kyrchyn Jailoo  •  First views of the nomadic camp

🚐  Drive: Approx. 6–7 hours total

🏠  Stay: Guesthouse & Yurt Camp, Kyrchyn   🍽  Meals: Lunch (Tamchy) • Dinner • Breakfast included

2

Sep 2

Today is one of the most spectacular days in Central Asian travel. The Opening Ceremony of the World Nomad Games transforms Kyrchyn valley into a canvas of colour, tradition, and pride. Thousands of performers in ancestral dress flood the grounds as nations from across the world parade beneath the Kyrgyz sky. Then the Games begin in earnest: watch in awe as eagle hunters command their birds of prey in Burkut Saluu, hold your breath during the breathtaking long-distance horse marathon, and absorb the ancient ritual of Ordo — a game of skill and strategy played with sheep knucklebones that predates chess. Your evening returns you to the warmth of a yurt, the day’s images still burning bright.

✦  Highlights: Grand Opening Ceremony  •  Burkut Saluu — Eagle Hunting  •  Ordo — Traditional Knucklebone Game  •  Horse Marathon

🏠  Stay: Yurt Camp, Kyrchyn   🍽  Meals: Breakfast • Lunch (at Games) • Dinner

3

Sep 3

A full day at Kyrchyn gives you the freedom to roam the Games at your own pace. Wander between disciplines, chat with athletes who have travelled from Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and beyond, and explore the craft market where artisans display centuries-old weaving, felt-work, and metalwork. Traditional archery competitions draw focused, respectful crowds — these are athletes of extraordinary skill. By evening, the valley campfires flicker to life and the sound of the komuz — Kyrgyzstan’s ancient three-stringed lute — drifts through the cool mountain air.

✦  Highlights: Full day at Kyrchyn Games  •  Traditional archery  •  Nomadic craft market  •  Evening cultural atmosphere

🏠  Stay: Yurt Camp, Kyrchyn   🍽  Meals: Breakfast • Lunch (at Games) • Dinner

4

Sep 4

A two-hour morning drive along the northern shore of Issyk-Kul — one of the world’s largest alpine lakes — brings you to Cholpon-Ata, the lakeside resort town that hosts the Games’ most dramatic competitions. The Hippodrome here is the stage for Kok-Boru: an ancient and ferocious team sport played on horseback, in which riders battle to carry a goat carcass across the opposing team’s goal. Raw, fast, and completely unlike anything you’ve seen before — it is the undisputed highlight of the Nomad Games. The day also features Kurosh, Kyrgyz-style belt wrestling that prizes technique as much as brute strength.

✦  Highlights: Scenic Issyk-Kul lakeshore drive  •  Kok-Boru at the Hippodrome  •  Kurosh wrestling  •  Sport & Recreation Centre events

🚐  Drive: Approx. 2 hours

🏠  Stay: Guesthouse, Cholpon-Ata   🍽  Meals: Breakfast • Lunch (at Games) • Dinner

5

Sep 5

Cholpon-Ata’s final day at the Games delivers equestrian spectacle at its finest. Horse racing here is not the genteel affair of European tracks — these are nomadic riders at full gallop, children among them, in a tradition that stretches back over a thousand years. Er-Enish, wrestling on horseback, requires riders to unseat their opponent while controlling their mount — a test of balance, power, and nerve in equal measure. Spend the afternoon exploring Cholpon-Ata’s famous petroglyphs, ancient rock carvings left by Bronze Age nomads who were drawn, just as you are, to this extraordinary landscape.

✦  Highlights: Horse racing  •  Er-Enish — wrestling on horseback  •  Cholpon-Ata petroglyphs

🏠  Stay: Guesthouse, Cholpon-Ata   🍽  Meals: Breakfast • Lunch (at Games) • Dinner

6

Sep 6

Leave the Games behind and ascend into an entirely different Kyrgyzstan. The morning drive via Kochkor village and over the Kalmak-Ashuu pass takes you above the treeline and into open alpine meadow — jailoo — where herder families have summered for generations. Song-Köl lake appears at 3,016 metres as if conjured from a dream: a vast mirror of blue-grey water ringed by rolling green hills, unmarked by development, lit by a sky that feels impossibly close. Horses graze freely at the water’s edge. The afternoon is entirely yours — walk the shoreline, photograph the herds, or simply sit with the silence. Your yurt camp dinner tonight, cooked over an open flame, will taste like the finest meal of your life.

✦  Highlights: Kalmak-Ashuu mountain pass  •  Song-Köl lake arrival  •  Free afternoon in pristine alpine landscape  •  Traditional yurt camp dinner

🚐  Drive: Approx. 5 hours

🏠  Stay: Yurt Camp, Song-Köl   🍽  Meals: Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner

7

Sep 7

Wake early to see Song-Köl at its most luminous — mist lifting off the water, horses silhouetted against the morning sky. After breakfast, the descent begins. Your route home takes you over the dramatic 33 Parrots pass, where a stop reveals a small waterfall tumbling through birch forest — a last gift from the mountains. Before re-entering Bishkek, the tour pauses at the Burana Tower, a solitary 11th-century minaret rising from the Chuy valley plain, all that remains of the ancient Silk Road city of Balasagun. It is a quietly moving reminder that these steppes have been at the crossroads of civilisations for over a thousand years. Your expedition concludes on arrival in Bishkek.

✦  Highlights: Morning at Song-Köl lake  •  33 Parrots mountain pass  •  Waterfall stop  •  Burana Tower (10th–11th century)

🚐  Drive: Approx. 5–6 hours

🏠  Stay: Tour ends in Bishkek   🍽  Meals: Breakfast included • Lunch at café (own expense)