Customer Reviews

Kyrgyz Republic

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Just like the guide to Uzbekistan by the same publisher, this guide to Kyrgyzstan is almost perfect. It contains a lot of detail on places to visit throughout the country, accompanied by lots of interesting background info, beautiful, inspiring photographs while at the same time providing the important practical details like accommodation (with contact details and actual prices) and transport as well as permits. Outlines trekking possibilities, too.
It far more detailed than the much slimmer Kyrgyzstan chapter in Lonely Planet's Central Asia guide, though you must bear in mind that it was published in 2008 so of course some practical details, notably prices, will have changed by the time you get there. If that worries you, buy the PDF version of the Kyrgyzstan chapter from LP too, but overall, I think this book is the one to get!

The authors clearly love Kyrgyzstan, and their anecdotes will make you eager to go and find out why. However the persistent lack of accurate, detailed directions will frustrate the hell out of you when you do. The maps in the book are highly inadequate and the text directions are generally vague and often wildly inaccurate. Luckily as a fluent Russian speaker, when I was lost (which happened several times a day) I was able to ask locals for directions -- forget about using this book to get anywhere outside the capital if you don't speak Russian. But the country is very sparsely populated and when I did on occasion find someone of whom to ask directions, they were often as vague and inaccurate as the authors of this book.

If you have a year to wander every inch of the country as the authors did, then you are likely to find these diversions as charming as they did. But if you only have a few weeks, it's really quite annoying. Use this book as a travelogue, but seek elsewhere for a useful travel guide.