Naryn
Naryn is a city in southeastern Kyrgyzstan, high in the Tian Shan Mountains with a population of 52,300 residents.
Understand
Get in
By bus
- 🌍 Bus Station. If you go anywhere far from Naryn, leave early in the morning. After 12:00 shared taxis will likely be your only option. How to get transport: 1) Say to any driver (marshrutka or taxi depending on your preference) your destination. 2) Let them quote a price on a piece on a piece of paper or dusty windshield. 3) Wait for other passengers to arrive, and enjoy the ride.
There are marshrutkas available from Bishkek for about 200 som, leaving 08:00-10:00. Also, they leave from Kazarman and At-Bashy.
By taxi
A shared taxi from Balykchy costs 500 soms (2015). The journey takes roughly 4.5 hr.
Get around
Shared taxis are a convenient way to get around. On the main road, taxis are treated like marshrutkas, meaning people get on and off. As of August 2015, the fare for a ride is a mere 10 som, but can be 20 som if you want to go all the way back to the bridge. Do not pay more!
See
- Unique from other cities with its red mountains, you can get a great view of the city if you climbs its hills.
- A few statues are visible from the main road, including a Lenin statue.
Do
- Koshoi Korgon - ruins of a castle/fortress from the 10th to 12th centuries. All that remains are the walls. Supposedly a friend of the legendary Manas was buried here. Roughly an hour's drive from Naryn, it's on the same road to Tash Rabat and easily visited. A small museum is located nearby. Make sure your driver stops here on the way to or from Tash Rabat.
- National Park Salkyn-Tor occupies 10,448 acres. Locals love this place for picnic areas. Nice hicking to the alpine lake, a pretty moderate hike with a gentle incline and incredible views throughout. Bargain with a taxi, road is fine to the entrance of the park (20 soms per person)
- 🌍 Forest swastika (Tash-Bashat). The mirror-image fir tree swastika is about 600 feet (200 m) across. Myths and legends abound about how and when the swastika came to be planted in Soviet territory. The entrance of the road leads to the forest 500 meters farther. Taxi drivers pretend that this is a bad road in order to charge extra fees, but the gravel road is flat and nice.
Buy
Eat
Restaurants are north of the street where the guesthouses are located. Just walk up the street and follow the music.
- 🌍 Shashlik Place, Lenin Street. An interesting eatery, being a collection of tents with tables in them. Popular with locals, they have a menu which lists every single Kyrgyz dish. Just don't expect they have even half of it. Whatever they do have that day is quite tasty, and of course affordable.
Drink
Sleep
The CBT (Community Based Tourism) office is located 200 meters from the marshrutka/taxi station. A board in English tells you where it is. The office is essential to helping set you up with a guesthouse, as there are no signs for guesthouses. Arrive in Naryn before the CBT office closes at 5PM or 6PM so you can have a place to stay for the night. CBT's official price list quotes 600 som per person per night for any B&B.
Cope
- Community Based Tourism office (CBT), Lenin St. 8/33, ☎ +996 352250865, +996 779567685, e-mail: naryn_tourism@rambler.ru. The CBT office is essential in staying at a guesthouse or helping travelers share a taxi to a common destination, i.e. Tash Rabat.
Go next
- Tash Rabat – Naryn is the gateway to visiting this 500 year old pitstop on the Silk Road, one of the highlights of Kyrgyzstan.
- Jalal-Abad – Instead of heading back to Bishkek and from there to Osh, you might choose to go directly to Jalal-Abad, a convenient transport hub. This can be much faster but certainly not cheaper.