All you need to know about visiting Tash Rabat

If you are thinking about some interesting cultural trip with a great relaxation around nomads in nature, here it comes. Tash Rabat with a touch of history and its surroundings is just amazing. In this article, you can immerse yourself in the story of Tash Rabat and plan your own itinerary with us! 

Explore another amazing place in Kyrgyzstan just now!

So, what exactly is Tash Rabat? 

Tash Rabat means, as its translation from Kyrgyz language says, a fortress made of stones. It was built in the 15th century and it belongs to UNESCO world heritage. 

Tash Rabat itself is located in the valley at At Bashi district which is about two hours drive from the town Naryn. Don’t be fooled, even if Tash Rabat is exactly in a valley it lies almost 3000 meters above the sea level which could be a bit tricky if you aren’t used to the high altitude.

Historians are having disputes whether Tash Rabat is a Buddhist or a Christian monastery but the truth is that it is an extraordinary place full of mythic atmosphere with the setting of the breathtaking landscape. 

Moreover, Tash Rabat was probably an important part of the Silk Road similarly as Burana Tower in the Chüy Valley and served as a resting place for traders and travelers.  

Even if Tash Rabat faced many historical trials, it wasn’t demolished and survived a lot of dangerous turmoils. Maybe also by its impregnability it has become such an interesting place. 

Is Tash Rabat worth it? 

I would say yes, especially if you have your own car or a taxi. Then it can be a pleasant one day trip from Naryn or Kochkor. 

Anyway, you should count that you spend a lot of your time in the car only to visit Tash Rabat and make a “quick” stop here. We saw some people who did this. They arrived at Tash Rabat, did a quick visit after one hour they left. I totally understand that not everyone has more time for exploring but if you have, we believe that it is possible to do this trip in a better way. 

In case you would like to enjoy your trip to Tash Rabat more there is a possibility of one night stay in the yurt camp right next to Tash Rabat. I would like to highlight staying overnight there especially because of the magical atmosphere around which makes this trip totally worth it! 

If you decide to stay overnight in a yurt camp or guesthouse nearby, after a thorough visit of Tash Rabat, you can make a trip around the Valley or if you have more energy and physical abilities you can explore mountain Peak Patamushta or Chatyr Kul Lake. 

How to get to Tash Rabat? 

We arrived at Tash Rabat from Kochkor which normally takes around three hours by car. We were hitchhiking and using public transport so it took us a bit longer to get there. I think it was around five hours. 

In Kochkor, our host from our guesthouse told us that there weren’t any official marshrutkas in the direction to Tash Rabat and that we should have to take a taxi. You can hear it there from time to time but sometimes it’s just not the truth and we would like to recommend you to always check information in person. Sometimes even the local people just don’t know everything.

So we went to the parking lot which is directly before the supermarket in the center of Kochkor in the direction to Naryn and we found marshrutkas going to the Tash Rabat direction, mostly to Naryn and from here it is necessary to take a taxi or hitchhike. I am not sure if there are some marshrutkas going to Tash Rabat but we didn’t find any. 

When we were at the parking lot, one man told us that he went to Naryn with his marshrutka and we joined him. The price was 400 KGS/4,74 USD per person and he told us that he would wait for two other people who only went to the supermarket and then we could go.

After 15 minutes of waiting time, two other people came and we cheered. But unfortunately the man told us that we should wait for another two people about who to our “greatest surprise” didn’t say before. I hate this behavior so we simply left. This made us angry because we were running out of time and we just weren’t in the mood to refrain. 

We had no choice but to leave the parking lot and hitchhike in the direction to Tash Rabat. We stayed by the petrol station and started hitchhiking. 

After a few minutes we caught a car. It was a big shared taxi which drove three other people to Naryn and the driver wanted 300 KGS/3,56 USD per person. 

This price was even lower than before, the waiting time was about 5 minutes and the car was even better so we got better in the end. 

Please, don’t be scared to hitchhike in Kyrgyzstan, it works here more like carpooling and it is totally easy. 

When we got to Naryn the man told us that he continued to At Bashi for the price 300 KGS/3,56 USD per person. It was a bit more but we wanted to get to Tash Rabat as quickly as possible so we continued together. 

Once we got to At Bashi we had still one hour to reach Tash Rabat so we started hitchhiking again on the road. After a few minutes – it always took a short time but sometimes you had to pay, otherwise if you want to get to know more about hitchhiking in Kyrgyzstan, let’s stay with us. 

We caught one car which took us to the crossroad between the Chinese border’s direction and Tash Rabat. There were three guys from Kazakhstan in the car and they were so nice, we enjoyed the ride with them and shared impressions from Kyrgyzstan. One of them wanted to go with us to Tash Rabat but others didn’t. Shame, it could have been fun. 😀 

As we found ourselves at the crossroad we were sure that the worst part for hitchhiking is right directly in front of us because we were standing on the small sandy road and only tourist cars would probably go there and these are ones which often don’t stop to hitchhikers. From the start of the road to Tash Rabat, you can have a look here on the map: 

We started to walk. At first we were a bit scared because we didn’t see any cars going our direction but we told ourselves that we wouldn’t worry about that and enjoy the walk. We didn’t miss anything, the terrain was pretty good and we saw gorgeous eagles who were the biggest we have ever seen directly on the way. 

After a while, two cars drove by us. These cars were tourist ones and the drivers didn’t even slow down so we ended up with ash in our faces and the drivers found that very funny. 😀 I have to say we didn’t have good experience with Kyrgyzstani guides, sorry not sorry. 

However, we continued walking and enjoyed it pretty well, and suddenly one car stopped for us. It was an Italian couple and they took us to Tash Rabat for free. We got there around 2 pm and whereas they have until 5 pm we had plenty of time to explore it properly. 

Where to stay around Tash Rabat?

Tash Rabat is a nice place to spend some time so if you have a place in your itinerary we can highly recommend staying overnight there. 

There are some accommodations which you can choose. We stayed in the first yurt camp on the way right next to Tash Rabat and we were happy to make this decision. The price was 1500 KGS/18 USD per person with breakfast and there was the right local atmosphere. Unlike in camps around Ala Kul by the way. 😀There were beds and a fireplace in the yurts so we weren’t cold at night. I was soo happy 😀 It’s funny how little sometimes a person needs to be happy. 

There wasn’t a possibility to book the yurt in advance but don’t worry they have a lot of space so you don’t have to worry about it. In case you really want to book this camp you can ask in some travel agencies in Kochkor for booking accommodation in advance but we don’t have any experiences with this solution. 

The second possible accommodation was around 300 meters behind this one. There were yurts similar to ours and next to the yurts there was also a guesthouse where the couple who took us to Tash Rabat stayed. If you are interested you can have a look here.

Where to go from Tash Rabat? 

Tash Rabat is settled in an ideal location – a stunning valley surrounded by mountain views. If you have time for more trips, this area serves as another perfect destination to explore the natural beauty of Kyrgyzstan.

We made a trip around the valley and back, you can have a look here:

We unfortunately had to pass crossing the mountains including Peak Patamushta and also Chatyr Kul Lake due to not having the permission. We didn’t have time to make it and we were a bit scared of crossing the mountains without permission. 

However, we enjoyed our trip anyway and it was super easy. The whole way is around the beautiful valley directly next to the river. We also met some wild animals on the way and we had a great time so yes, we recommend having the permission but if it is not possible don’t worry, it is worth it anyway. 

The most famous trip around Tash Rabat is lake Chatyr Kul you can get there from more directions but if you want to go directly from Tash Rabat you can try this way.

That is basically the same way we went but longer, of course. 

If you want to stay by Chatyr Kul there should be some yurt camps but please check out with some locals and be 100 % sure that the yurts are there because we aren’t pretty sure but it would make sense because yurts are almost everywhere. 

Another possibility is that you can go only to Peak Patamushta, enjoy a great view there and come back if you don’t have time for the lake. 

If you don’t feel like walking on your own there is the possibility of horseback riding but I don’t know if it is worth it because we met a couple of people who were horseback riding, it was expensive and the horses weren’t trained much but I don’t have personal experience. 

However, if you want to try horseback riding, check our review of a 3 days Song-Kul Lake horseback tour.

Do I need permission to go to Tash Rabat? 

No, if you want to go only to Tash Rabat and its surroundings (it basically means that you can’t go across the mountain pass in the direction to the lake) you don’t need any permission and no one would want anything. 

However, if you go to Chatyr Kul Lake then you need permission. I don’t know if someone really controls that or not but people who we met and went to Chatyr Kul and near Chinese borders had it. 

Our experience with Tash Rabat 

When we finally got to Tash Rabat (our way there is described above the article) the tickets cost 150 KGS/1,77 USD per person and we were surprised how small Tash Rabat is in real :D.

That’s why I mentioned it’s worth taking some trips around the area as well but the interior itself is also fascinating.

When we finished the visit we went to the yurts and then we had time for ourselves so we were going around, admiring the natural beauty, horses, mountains and the surroundings.  We liked our camp. I think that it was the best yurt camp in all of Kyrgyzstan. We really liked the atmosphere here. They have animals around the camp and we really liked one big black dog which was nice and playful and a donkey which played with the dog and it was so sweet. 

After finishing our visit, we headed back to the yurts and had some free time to explore. We wandered around, admiring the breathtaking landscapes, the horses, the mountains, and the incredible surroundings. We truly enjoyed our camp, it felt like the best yurt camp in all of Kyrgyzstan. The atmosphere was fantastic, with animals roaming around. One big, playful black dog captured our hearts, along with a donkey. They were playing together and “arguing” to each other, it was such a sweet and funny moment. 

In the evening we met with a tourist group of people from Italy who were also accommodated in our yurt camp. We were talking together and sharing our travel experiences. They wanted to hear some of our traveling stories and they were very interested about our “backpacker” style of traveling. 

One guy from the group was from Slovakia. As we are from Czechia we were able to speak in our language which made us happy. He mentioned they planned to take a trip around the area the next day so we decided to go as well. We spent a few minutes stargazing before heading to bed. The night was perfect because we had a lighted fireplace and beds so we slept in the warmth. 

In the morning we got up and had breakfast. It was a bit weird because we were given some food which looked a bit like leftovers but it was redeemed by a good sleep so we didn’t care much.

Once we were ready, we joined the group and went for a walk. The walk was nice and the weather was amazing. We were talking with Italians and had a good time. They were quite slow so my boyfriend was happy that he didn’t have to hurry up anywhere. It was quite funny actually. 

After a few hours, we reached the final stop of our trip, where we met a Slovak traveler who had arrived on horseback. He told us that his horse had spooked and caused him to fall off, but he was fine and found the experience enjoyable. I am not sure if I would have been so calm if I were him. 

On the way back our friends told us that they could take us to Naryn. That was perfect because we wanted to go back to Kochkor and getting quickly to Naryn could help us a lot. 

Once we got to the car, everything looked perfect. We were happy because back to the main road from Tash Rabat there wasn’t anyone. We went with them to the main road and then the drivers stopped and told us that we couldn’t go with them due to not belonging to the group. I could understand that and I am very happy from the kindness of our new friends but my opinion is that the drivers shouldn’t have to be rude to us and could communicate normally. 

Finally, we were happy even though we couldn’t go to the Naryn with them. We got to the main road pretty easy and then it was better to get to Kochkor from the big road.