Ski resorts in Kyrgyzstan, every base and how to choose

For a week of skiing, go to Karakol. For a day out of Bishkek, Chunkurchak, ZiL or Kashka-Suu are 30–35 km from the city. No base had announced 2026/27 prices by early November, so every price below comes with the season it applies to. According to the head of the Tourism Department, the country has about twenty ski bases, but only 10–12 of them ran in the 2025/26 season, with around 4,000 people a day on the slopes in early January. Nearly all of them sit in Chui region around Bishkek. The biggest and highest is the Karakol base on Issyk-Kul, and the first phase of the new Ala-Too Resort at Jyrgalan is due to open on 1 December 2026.

All the main bases in one table

Altitudes, lift counts and run lengths mostly come from the skiresort.com catalogue, and the rest from news reports and the bases' own websites. Prices are the latest we could find, checked on 3 November 2026. Karakol's figures are the most recent; for the bases near Bishkek, the last published prices are from the 2024/25 season.

Where a price is split, the first figure is for weekdays and the second for weekends; Karakol's third figure covers the New Year holidays. Sources disagree on Orlovka: the Tourism Department gives 1,840 m, skiresort.com a top of 1,650 m. Too-Ashuu is the same story, with 3,400 m from the ministry and 2,930 m in the catalogue.

Small bases on the official register

These bases appear on the government register, but there's very little recent information on them. Altitudes and run lengths come from skiresort.com and we have not checked them on the ground; the 2018 prices are only there as an old reference point. The ones near Bishkek are covered in more detail on our page about small ski bases near Bishkek.

How to choose a ski base

Beginners and families

Chunkurchak is the easiest choice: 30 km from Bishkek, five chairlifts, a 100-m conveyor for kids, cafés and a first-aid post, which is the only one we could confirm at any base. ZiL has run a children's ski school since 2018, and Kashka-Suu gives 10% off with a student or pensioner card. If your child is starting from zero, the Mounty school in Norus sold a four-day course with transfer and rental for 20,000 som in 2024/25. These are all small bases, so expect lift queues on weekend afternoons.

A week of skiing

For a full week, the Karakol ski base is really the only option: about 20 km of runs through spruce forest, four chairlifts and a vertical from 2,300 to 3,040 m. You can stay on the base itself or in Karakol town, a 15–25 minute taxi ride away. The town is about 400 km from Bishkek, and Asman Airlines flies in from Almaty on Fridays and Sundays. Around 200,000 people skied there in the 2023/24 season, so book New Year dates early.

The new resort at Jyrgalan

Ala-Too Resort is being built 60–65 km from Karakol. Its first phase, with six Doppelmayr lifts and more than 47 km of runs, is due to open on 1 December 2026. The resort hasn't said which lifts will run on day one, what a pass will cost or where you can stay, so for early December it's safer to base yourself in Karakol and go to Jyrgalan for a day.

A weekend with an overnight stay

Orlovka, an hour and a half from Bishkek, has a hotel, cottages, a sauna and an alpine coaster, plus evening skiing in January and February. Too-Ashuu opens only at weekends, but it is higher than any other base in Chui region and in 2024 it opened as early as late November. Toguz-Bulak, 40 km from the city, has a hotel for 40 guests and a new chairlift.

Backcountry and cat-skiing

There are no lifts at Suusamyr: Suus Lodge takes you up the Suusamyr-Too slopes by snowcat for €140 a day. Around Jyrgalan people ski with a guide between 2,250 and 3,500 m. Both, along with cat-skiing at Karakol, are covered on our freeride and cat-skiing page.

Since August 2026 Karakol airport can take the A320 and Boeing 737, and from there it's about 15 km by road to the Karakol ski base and 60–65 km to Jyrgalan. Which flights are actually on sale this winter is in our Karakol airport guide.

The official register of ski bases

The Tourism Department keeps a public register of ski bases with contact details. It has 20 entries, but it clearly hasn't been updated for a while. Ala-Too Resort, Kashkulak (open since December 2023) and the southern bases are missing, some phone numbers are old, and Kyzyl-Beles and Toguz-Beles share the same number. The independent skiresort.com catalogue counts 28 venues, 49 lifts and 107 km of runs in the country, though some of its entries are out of date too. Before driving to a small base, the safest bet is to call the number on the register or message the base on Instagram.

The south and the Ala-Archa gondola

Near Osh, in Kara-Suu district, there are two bases, Chyiyrchyk and Taldyk. Before the 2025/26 season the Emergencies Ministry found serious violations there, and we couldn't find lift or price information anywhere public; what is known is on our page about skiing in southern Kyrgyzstan. The new gondola at Ala-Archa runs from 2,166 to 2,494 m and costs 600 som return (400 for children, cards only), but there's no skiing there.

Safety and avalanches

No base in the country patrols off-piste terrain, and none of them publicly reports having an avalanche service. On 28 February 2018 an avalanche caught a family who had left the marked runs at the Karakol base, and a nine-year-old child died. Before each season the Tourism Department and the Emergencies Ministry inspect the Chui region bases, but that covers lifts and facilities, not the slopes around them. Only go off-piste with a local guide, transceiver, probe and shovel, and read our avalanche safety guide first. The emergency number is 112.

What's being built next

In August 2026 an agreement was signed for Baytik Mountain Resort in Kashka-Suu village, worth $127.9 million, with the first phase promised in 4–5 years. There is also a plan for Chatkal Resort in Jalal-Abad region with 30 km of runs, but so far only on paper. Neither will affect the 2026/27 season.

For the bigger picture on winter skiing, getting there from Bishkek and Almaty, and how Karakol compares with Shymbulak, see Skiing in Kyrgyzstan. If you'd like help with lodging and transfers to a base, send us a request.