Ak-Sai Travel Son-Kul Yurt Camp

About Ak-Sai Travel Son-Kul Yurt Camp

This is the largest and most organised camp on Song-Köl, and the obvious pick if you want the lake without roughing it. Forty-four yurts — thirty-seven standard, two triples and a quad — taking up to ninety guests, with beds, linen, pillows and blankets provided, power sockets in every yurt, bottled water and a thermos, and hairdryers and towels available. Shared hot showers and flush toilets, Starlink wi-fi and Megacom coverage make it the best-connected camp on the lake by a wide margin. Meals are buffet, Kyrgyz and European, in a dining yurt with panoramic windows onto the water, and there is a bar, a fire pit, a beach zone and a volleyball court. Horse riding runs at $15 an hour and bikes from $5; there are marked trekking routes and petroglyphs within reach. Booking is by online form or email only — Ak-Sai does not take phone bookings — and cancellation is free with three days' notice, half-price inside that. Two caveats. The camp's own website says forty-four yurts while its platform listing says forty-two, so confirm if you are booking a group. And at 3,016 m the nights are cold whatever the calendar says; the stoves are lit twice a day rather than kept burning. Season is June to September only.

Highlights

• Largest camp on Song-Köl — 44 yurts, up to 90 guests
• Hot showers and flush toilets
• Starlink and mobile coverage
• Buffet dining yurt with lake views
• Bikes as well as horses

Getting there

On the shore of Song-Köl at Kaindy, Naryn region, roughly 130 km from Manas International. Airport transfers arranged by the operator.