{"id":12718,"date":"2026-08-16T16:53:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T07:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ashu-travel.com\/news\/a-tour-we-wont-sell-why-were-not-currently-offering-altyn-arashan\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T21:06:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T12:06:47","slug":"altyn-arashan-suspended","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/ashu-travel.com\/en\/news\/altyn-arashan-suspended\/","title":{"rendered":"A tour we won’t sell | Why we’re not currently offering Altyn-Arashan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Salaam! This is Sugi from ASHU TRAVEL, scenic horseback journeys across Central Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I want to talk about Altyn-Arashan, a spot that’s popular in Kyrgyzstan tour inquiries from Japan and Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I’m sorry to say this isn’t a recommendation article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASHU TRAVEL is currently not offering trips to Altyn-Arashan. People sometimes ask us why we don’t offer it when it’s so popular, so I’d like to explain our reasons here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Altyn-Arashan like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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It’s a popular spot that comes up often when you search for Kyrgyzstan on Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 2,600 m, with a name meaning “golden hot spring”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It’s a valley in the mountains east of Issyk-Kul, reached from the town of Karakol. It sits at an altitude of 2,600 m. The name means “golden hot spring” in Kyrgyz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A valley of old-growth Tian Shan spruce forest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Both sides of the valley are densely covered in old-growth Tian Shan spruce forest. Even in Kyrgyzstan, there aren’t many valleys where this much old-growth forest remains intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also home to snow leopards and bears. Towering to the south of the valley is Palatka Peak, at roughly 5,000 m. Its name apparently comes from its tent-like shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two kinds of hot springs on the valley floor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And on the valley floor, hot springs bubble up: a radon spring of about 35\u00b0C and a hydrogen sulfide spring of about 41\u00b0C. There are indoor baths as well as open-air stone baths carved out of the rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are still untouched pools where hot water simply collects in hollows in the rock. The temperature varies from pool to pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A base for the Ala-Kul Lake trek<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From Karakol over the mountains to Ala-Kul, an alpine lake at 3,532 m, and from there down to Altyn-Arashan: it’s one of the most popular trekking routes in Kyrgyzstan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiking in the mountains, sinking your chilled body into hot water, and spending the night gazing at snow-capped peaks… You can see why people flock here from all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Past a certain point, only local vehicles can get in<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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It’s not that far from the town of Karakol. Even so, it takes about an hour and a half by 4WD. The issue isn’t the distance but the road itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pavement ends at the valley entrance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For a while after leaving town, it’s an ordinary road. The pavement ends at the entrance to the valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The road climbs the spruce-covered slopes in hairpin turns, over rocks and ruts. There are muddy stretches and signs of rockfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there’s the river crossing. There’s no bridge. You drive straight through the water. Even local tour companies describe it as closer to a riverbed than a road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only local off-road vehicles can make it<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On ASHU TRAVEL tours, we generally take guests in our own dedicated vehicles. The drivers and guides are all people we know well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at Altyn-Arashan, our vehicles can’t go beyond a certain point. You’d have to get out at the valley entrance and transfer to a local vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, many people also hike up this road. It’s the route that leads into the valley as part of the trek to Ala-Kul. But on foot it takes 4\u20135 hours one way, which uses up half a day on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even local tour descriptions go out of their way to warn that it’s rough going for anyone prone to motion sickness. It feels less like an access road to a tourist site and more like forcing a vehicle up a mountain trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the only way to reach Altyn-Arashan is to have our guests change vehicles partway. That means there’s a section where we can’t take you all the way ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How hard the river crossing is depends on the day’s water level<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And the difficulty of the river crossing changes with the water level that day. The same spot is a different crossing in the morning and in the evening, and different again after snowmelt or rain. Whether to cross is decided by the driver behind the wheel that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what happened on the ground<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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We’ve had our Altyn-Arashan tour on hold for some time. There’s one video that sums up why we can’t change that decision. It was filmed in the valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video filmed in the Altyn-Arashan valley (Instagram)<\/a><\/div><\/blockquote>