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Osh Bazaar in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

© Creative Commons / neiljs

Travel to Kyrgyzstan

Flying to Kyrgyzstan

The national airline is Kyrgyzstan Air Company (www.air.kg), which has international flights to India, Pakistan and Turkey. BMI (www.bmi.com) has daily flights to Kyrgyzstan from London Heathrow; Turkish Airlines (www.turkishairlines.com) also flies daily between Bishkek and Istanbul.

Flight times:

From London to Bishkek takes 9 - 10 hours. Flights from the US stopover in Europe (London, Moscow or Istanbul) making a total flying time of around 14-16 hours from New York to Bishkek.

Departure tax:

US$10. Infants and transit passengers are exempt.

Travel by rail

There are rail connections with the Russian Federation (journey time to Moscow - 3 days) and with other Central Asian Republics. The Russian Railways website (http://rzd.ru) has details (in Russian) of services between Moscow and Bishkek.

Note: Tourists are advised that robberies on trains have been reported.

Driving to Kyrgyzstan

The main international road links are with Kazakhstan. There are several crossings with Uzbekistan but these can close without notice from time to time. Although there are several road links with Tajikistan not all are open to foreign nationals. Of the two road links with China, only the one via Irkeshtam is technically open to foreigners. The other route over the Torugart Pass requires special permission that is only granted if pre-arranged transport is organised to meet travellers on the other side of the border.

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