Yurt stays and CBT homestays in Kyrgyzstan: how to book

01

What is CBT in Kyrgyzstan, and who runs it?

CBT is a network of local groups whose members host travellers in their own houses and yurts and provide guides, horses and cars. The umbrella body is the Kyrgyz Community Based Tourism Association “Hospitality Kyrgyzstan” (KCBTA) in Bishkek. Its About page says it was registered on 3 January 2003 with support from the Swiss organisation Helvetas; CBT Kochkor says the first CBT project started in Kochkor village in May 2000.

The association's list of groups had 18 entries on 24 September 2026, from Karakol, Tamchy and Bokonbaevo around Issyk-Kul to Kochkor and Naryn in the centre, Arstanbap in the west and Osh, Alay and Sary-Mogol in the south. Each group has its own office and phone. The association says its head office and the groups agree service and price policies together, but it publishes no rate card.

The model is meant to keep the money in the village. An older page of the association's site says 75–90% of revenue usually goes to the host families or proprietors, and the rest supports the local office and the association.

CBT is not the only network. At Song-Kul, Caravanistan names Shepherd's Life, Eco CBT and Jailoo Tourism as similar umbrella groups with similar standards. In Jyrgalan the guesthouses are members of Destination Jyrgalan, a local destination office, and pay part of their revenue into it.

02

Where can you sleep in a yurt in Kyrgyzstan?

On summer pastures and lake shores: Song-Kul, the south shore of Issyk-Kul, the valleys above Karakol, Jyrgalan, Tash-Rabat, and the high camps near the Chinese and Tajik borders. Village homestays cover the rest of the country: CBT's accommodation list shows family guesthouses in Kochkor, Kyzyl-Oi, Naryn, Kazarman, Tamchy, Talas, Osh, Alay and Sary-Mogol, and ten in Arstanbap.

An official starting point is the yurt-camp registry of the Tourism Department, which lists 14 camps with phone numbers and no prices, in entries dated 4 April 2025. It is far from complete: it has four camps at Song-Kul, where CBT alone lists six family camps and Caravanistan counts about 15. The list is not a quality rating, so inclusion or omission does not tell you how good a camp is.

03

A shepherd family's yurt or a tourist camp: which should you choose?

A family yurt puts you with a herding family on its summer pasture, sleeping on floor mattresses and often sharing with other travellers. An operator camp is a small hotel built of yurts, with beds, linen and sometimes a private bathroom. Price follows the same line, as the next section shows.

We would choose a family yurt to see the working day of a herding family: CBT's two-day Song-Kul trip describes looking after horses and sheep, milking mares, making bread and kymyz, and fetching water. We would choose an operator camp for a bed, a door that closes and a toilet close by. Outside the few deluxe camps, Caravanistan calls the stay a bit of a gamble: the host may be a fine cook or not, warm or a bit grumpy.

04

What does a yurt night or a homestay cost?

CBT publishes no per-night prices for its homestays or yurts: each host page on its site gives a phone number and an email and nothing about rates. What is published: CBT's own package prices, some hosts' and operators' rates, and dated traveller figures. None of them is an OxusRoad price.

At Song-Kul the spread runs from about $15 a night with meals at a basic camp (Caravanistan, September 2025) to $60–110 per person at Ak-Sai's operator camp (2026). The full Song-Kul table, camp by camp type, is on our Song-Kul lake guide; the table below covers the rest of the country and CBT's packages.

05

How do you book a homestay or yurt through CBT?

Message CBT's Bishkek office or the local group on WhatsApp or by email with your dates, group size and the kind of bed you want; get the price and inclusions in writing; pay in som on the spot unless you bought a package. CBT's sites state no payment terms for homestays.

In July and August you can usually find a floor mattress at Song-Kul without booking, but beds and private yurts sell out (Caravanistan). In June and September ask ahead: camps go up and come down with the weather and the bookings.

1. 1

   Choose the area and the kind of stay

   A family yurt or an operator camp, a village homestay, or a CBT package that includes transport. The tables above show what each area has.

2. 2

   Contact CBT in Bishkek

   58 Gorky St at Matrosov St; +996 312 443331; mobile and WhatsApp +996 770 443331; cbtnetworks@gmail.com. The contacts page gave summer hours (1 June – 30 August 2026) of Monday–Friday 10:00–17:00 and Saturday 10:00–14:00, closed Sunday; no hours for the rest of the year were posted on 24 September, so message before you walk over. Packages: info@cbtkyrgyzstan.com, +996 770 443 021.

3. 3

   Or go straight to the local group or host

   CBT Kochkor: +996 776 467 565 (WhatsApp), Telegram +996 705 467 565, 1cbtinfokochkor@gmail.com. CBT Bokonbaevo: +996 779 455045, also on WhatsApp, cbtbokonbaevo@gmail.com. Each host page on CBT's site gives the family's own number and the booking address cbtkgreservation@gmail.com. Jyrgalan guesthouses list their phones on Destination Jyrgalan's page.

4. 4

   Get the details in writing

   Price per person or per yurt, meals, bedding, whether you share the yurt, toilet and washing, charging, the pickup point, and that the camp is open on your dates.

5. 5

   Pay

   Carry som in small notes: Caravanistan says Song-Kul has no ATM and no shop. Operator camps work differently: Ak-Sai takes bookings only by form or email, wants payment before arrival (transfer to a Visa card, a FreedomPay link, or at its Bishkek office) and keeps 50% if you cancel less than 3 days before arrival.

6. 6

   Arrange the ride back

   Remote camps have no public transport. Caravanistan advises agreeing the return trip with your driver before you are dropped off, because there is no signal at Song-Kul to call one.

06

What is a night in a yurt actually like?

Warm in the evening, cold by dawn, and usually shared. In a standard camp yurt Caravanistan counts 5 to 9 mattresses around a stove in the middle. The stove is refuelled in the night, but the fire goes out towards morning and the yurt cools quickly.

CBT's host pages describe the same thing. At Asel's camp on Song-Kul there are mattresses on the floor, big blankets and a stove, a separate room for eating and a toilet a short walk away. At Omurbek's camp at Tash-Rabat there are beds, a stove, a dining yurt and a toilet some distance off. Both families spend the summer on the pasture with their animals.

Meals are eaten in the dining yurt, often seated cross-legged around a cloth on the floor. CBT's Song-Kul horse trip lists homemade jam, fresh cream, bread warm from the oven and kymyz, fermented mare's milk. Caravanistan says the children usually speak some English.

At Song-Kul rain and snow are possible in any month, and mornings and evenings are always chilly (Caravanistan). The lake itself, its roads and its weather are covered in our Song-Kul lake guide.

07

What to bring, and what to ask before you book

Bring a sleeping bag unless the host confirms bedding, a torch, warm layers and rain gear, and cash in small som notes. The questions to ask before you pay are in the booking steps above.

• Sleeping bag and mat: CBT Kochkor's kit list for its Song-Kul horse route includes both. Operator camps list bedding; CBT host pages mention mattresses and blankets.
• Clothes and small kit: CBT Kochkor's advice is warm clothes and a raincoat, because pastures can be rainy and cold in summer, plus a torch, sunscreen and insect repellent.
• Cash: som in small notes, so the host can give change. Caravanistan says Song-Kul has no ATM and no shop. Som, cards and cash across the country: Kyrgyzstan trip cost and money.
• Food needs: tell the host in advance. Destination Jyrgalan says its guesthouses can handle most diets if told ahead; Ak-Sai asks for requests such as vegetarian meals when you book.

08

How to behave as a guest

Take your shoes off indoors, ask before photographing people, and carry your rubbish out. The list below is CBT Kochkor's own advice to guests, in its words where we could keep them.

• Take your shoes off when you enter a home, and do not smoke inside.
• Tell your host about your meal preferences.
• Ask before photographing people, and try to make friendly contact first.
• Do not drink alcohol while hiking.
• Carry a bag for litter and pack out everything that does not rot; no cigarette butts or sweet wrappers on the ground.
• Do not trample or pick high-mountain plants and flowers: “leave only footprints, take only photos”.

09

Is CBT still the best way to book?

For village homestays and family yurts in the regions it covers, CBT is the most direct route we found: it is the only network with groups across the country, an office in Bishkek, host pages with the family's own phone number, and a border-permit service. That is our assessment, not a rating.

Its weak points are practical. The sites are not kept current: page footers show 2022–2024, the tour site lists 2025 departures next to 2026 ones, office hours were posted only for summer 2026, and there are no per-night rates. Confirm by message before you rely on anything printed there.

The same beds can be reached other ways: Jyrgalan guesthouses by phone or Booking.com, operator camps such as Ak-Sai's through their online forms, some south-shore camps on Booking.com (Journal of Nomads names Bel Tam and Almaluu), and at Song-Kul in July and August by turning up. A yurt night in Uzbekistan is a different stay: a desert camp near Aydarkul, reached by car, in our Samarkand–Bukhara yurt route.

10

What goes wrong

Most problems come from remoteness and thin information: seasonal office hours, no published nightly prices and camps that close with the weather. Plan around these.

• A closed office or no reply. CBT published Bishkek hours only for summer 2026, and several of its pages date from 2022–2024. Message ahead rather than turning up.
• Camps packed away. Journal of Nomads says most yurt camps open only from June to September, and Caravanistan says Song-Kul camps go up and come down with the weather. Outside July and August, get the camp's confirmation for your exact date.
• A cold, shared night. Standard yurts sleep 5–9 on floor mattresses and the stove goes out before morning; ask for a private yurt or bring a warm sleeping bag.
• Prices that do not compare. CBT sells packages in dollars, village hosts charge in som, and operator camps price per person by meal plan. Get every quote per person with the meals listed.
• Uneven hosts. Neither CBT nor the official registry grades its hosts, and the new tunduk grade is voluntary. Caravanistan calls the family stay a gamble.
• No cash machine. Song-Kul has no ATM (Caravanistan): take enough som, and settle the ride back, before you leave town.

11

How OxusRoad can help with a yurt stay

We arrange the Kyrgyzstan part together with your Uzbekistan trip, including yurt nights, village homestays and the transfers to reach them. Send your dates, group size, the kind of stay you want (family yurt or camp) and any dietary needs through the trip inquiry page; we confirm the host, dates and price with you before anything is booked.

Most trips reach Kyrgyzstan by flying from Tashkent to Bishkek, and Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in 12 days shows how the days fit together. The Kyrgyzstan overview has the other guides. Before you go, read the entry and registration rules and safety advice.

Common questions