In 2027 you can ship your riding gear and all your camping equipment together with the motorcycle. Together with the contract, you’ll receive a list of items you can ship.

European citizens don’t need a visa for Kyrgyzstan. No customs carnets etc. are required, and there are no mandatory vaccinations. European driving licences are recognised, but in theory you should also have an International Driving Permit.

You can also visit Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan without a visa. However, if you want to ride the Pamirs, you need a GBAO permit. It’s very easy to get – we’ll help.

We don’t book hotels in Bishkek for you – everyone has a different budget and different preferences. We do, however, recommend “our” hotel in Bishkek at 1 Gogol Street. The Salut Hotel is where your motorcycles will be waiting for you. Prices start at 30–35 USD per night with breakfast.

Flights to Bishkek usually go via Istanbul, Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Pegasus tends to be the cheapest. A very good price to Bishkek is around 2,000 PLN, a normal one is 2,500 PLN, and anything above 3,500 PLN is expensive… An alternative is Almaty, which you can reach on a direct flight from Warsaw for as little as 2,000 PLN. A taxi from there to Bishkek costs 70–80 USD.

Definitely US dollars printed after 2000. Bring only 50 and 100 USD notes – smaller ones are accepted reluctantly and at a worse rate. Banknotes must not be torn, marked, stamped etc… Cards are increasingly accepted, but in the provinces it’s cash only!

As you leave the airport, there will be girls handing out SIM cards from one of the telecom companies to tourists. Take them (the cards, not the girls).

You can top up such a card in any shop, either at a machine or with cash at the counter… There are several providers, each with better coverage in some places and worse in others. We use Megacom. Mobile internet on these cards is pretty good.

A taxi from the airport to the city costs 10–12 USD (or the equivalent). The ride takes about 30 minutes. You can ask the driver to stop at an exchange office to change money – there are 24-hour exchange offices in the city.

For paper maps we recommend Freytag & Berndt; the Gizi Map ones are also decent, ITMB are worse. As for GPS, the free OSM maps for Garmin are enough. You can also use tracks from Wikiloc – there are plenty of them… The maps.me app works very well, and mapy.com even better.

If you want to travel on your own, keep in mind that Kyrgyzstan alone is two-thirds the size of Poland – and if you laid it flat on a table and ironed it out, it would definitely be bigger. There are mountains everywhere and the roads are demanding; even 250 km can be a challenge. The exception is the M41 between Sary-Tash and Bishkek, where you can plan quite long stages. The road from Bishkek to Naryn and on to China is also in excellent condition. Some passes stay closed because of snow until mid-July. All the main roads are passable.

You can pay by card in many places, and you can also use ATMs. Cards work for fuel at almost all stations.

Fuel: we recommend filling up at Gazprom stations (blue logo). Partnernieft has the same fuel. It’s a bit more expensive, but the locals queue there patiently. Cheaper stations are usually empty. Fuel is cheaper than in Poland – around 0.8 USD per litre.

Generally it’s safe. The exception can be Bishkek, where you may meet fake police officers who flash an ID in front of your nose and want to search you or check your wallet for drugs or whatever else. Don’t fall for it – just ignore them, take a photo of them with your phone, or pull out your phone and say you’re calling the embassy… It helps. Real police will sometimes stop you too; they’re harmless. At most you’ll pay 10 USD for a more serious offence. Anything more is a rip-off – don’t pay. Drink-driving is a real problem. We advise against it and won’t go into details.

We recommend medical insurance – a modest sum is enough, as Central Asian countries are cheap. Most importantly, the policy must not exclude motorcycle riding and must cover repatriation in case of an accident. Third-party liability insurance for the vehicle is also mandatory. Don’t forget it!

• Kyrgyzstan country code: +996
• Ambulance: 103
• Police: 102
• Fire brigade: 101
• Mountain rescue: 161
• Salut Hotel: +996 553 807 172