Kyrgyzstan: Suluutor Lakes
The short walk to Suluutor Lakes – it’s hard to really even call it a hike – a few hours from Bishkek has become one of the most popular day trips from Kyrgyzstan’s capital city.
Total km: 5.8km (round-trip)
Total days: 1
Elevation gain/loss: 196m+/196m-
Start point: Too Ashuu Parking Lot
Endpoint: Too Ashuu Parking Lot
GPS Files
An easy round-trip of less than 6km and minimal elevation gain, most fit hikers could visit Suluutor Lakes in a couple of hours with a quick stop at each lake. This typically means that you’ll spend more time driving up from Bishkek than actually walking around the lakes, but as this is also one of the least physically demanding hikes around the capital it has become quite popular for dayhikes in recent years, perhaps the most popular after Ala-Archa.
Most tour operators will park at a small parking area just before the Too Ashuu Tunnel, though the track up does follow a jeep road (the former road up to Too Ashuu Pass, used before the tunnel was built) and so a 4×4 can go just about to the lakes themselves.
If walking, head up the road as it climbs for 1.3km to a hairpin turn with nice views down to the modern highway and the mountains beyond, turning up to follow about the same distance to arrive juat above the higher of the two Suluutor Lakes.
Descend down the obvious gravel path there, and you’ll reach the shore of the upper lake in just a few minutes – about 300m further on.
While many visitors appear to stick to the upper lake, returning back to the road and descending to the parking from there, it’s really worth the minor extra effort to loop around the west side of the valley for nice views down to the lower lake and, if you’re lucky, some pleasant interactions with the bands of horses that are often pastured up here during the summer.
Regardless of the equine situation, loop from the lower lake back up to the road to descend when you’re ready. There’s an obvious short cut that descends directly, skipping the hairpin, but the final few meters are a little bit of a dodgy rock slide and it’s possible less-confident hikers could slide and fall a bit. If you’re not prepared for that eventuality, just use the road to return back to the starting point.
Good To Know
These lakes are also known (perhaps more properly) as the Kyz-Jigyt Lakes, though the jailoo is Suluutor and as in much of Kyrgyzstan everything about the area often gets lumped into that name. If you’re talking with a tour operator or booking a daytrip, though, use Suluutor.
While one could conceivably camp up here, I’m not sure why you’d want to – the pretty villages of the Suusamyr valley are just beyond the Too Ashuu pass while Bishkek is a couple hours’ drive away.
Getting to the Suluutor Lakes
It’s a long drive up from Bishkek to here – around three hours if there’s any real traffic along the way, so it’s a big commitment to make a day trip up. Better is if you have a driver already taking you between Bishkek and somewhere south, in which case you can just have them stop for an hour and wait for you, but if you want to see it from Bishkek and back the best option is local daytrip operators like Kettik and TUK, which will be by far the most cost-effective options.
