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PRE-MTP CHENGDU: Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan Overland Group Trip

As a GrandMaster myself, a friend of Charle’s and Luis and a sponsor of the Chengdu MTP conference (October 21-24, 2027), I’m running a series of WILD, EPIC group tours before and after the conference itself. We have to jaw-dropping journeys BEFORE the MTP conference kicks off. Overland from Pakistan into China, via the Karakoram Highway (insane, check that out HERE), and this beauty in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Make your choice folks! I know, it’s a hard one!

Central Asia is one of those places that still feels like proper travel. Huge mountains, ridiculous lakes, endless roads, old Silk Road routes, weird Soviet cities, remote borders and entire landscapes that most people have never even heard of. And even better, it finishes in Bishkek where there are DIRECT (and cheap!) flights to Chengdu, so you can arrive in comfort ready for the MTP Summit October 21-24.

So before MTP Chengdu 2027, we’re running an 8-day comfortable overland adventure through Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. We start in Almaty, road trip through Charyn Canyon and the mountain lakes of eastern Kazakhstan, cross the remote land border into Kyrgyzstan, then continue through Karakol, Issyk-Kul and Bishkek before everyone can fly onwards to Chengdu.

This isn’t a tour where we fly into a capital city, do a walking tour and call it a day. We’re travelling properly overland, albeit it in comfortable vehicles with decent hotels, through one of my favourite regions in the world, and every few hours the landscape changes completely.

TLDR? Just Wanna Join?

The trip runs from 12–19 October 2027, starting in Almaty, Kazakhstan and finishing in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. From Bishkek, anyone attending MTP Chengdu can fly onwards to Chengdu, have a full day to recover, and then join the conference.

Who Am I?

My name is Johnny Ward, the first Irish person to visit every country. And recently the first person to complete the Ultimate Explorer’s Grand Slam (every country, 7 summits, both poles). I’ve down a few other things like rowed unsupported across the Atlantic, I created a yearly ultra marathon in the Eye of the Sahara in Mauritania, and a yearly ultra cycle from Ashgabat to the Gates of Hell in Turkmenistan.

I’m a full-time professional blogger who runs a lot of group trips (so no excuse for the endless spelling mistakes I make, sorry!) and I’m most happy when I’m running those group trips with like minded people to weird places, from the connections I made doing my 10 year ‘every country’ quest!

I’ve taken thousands of people on group trips to some of the weirdest places on earth – from South Sudan to Niue. And now Luis and I are going to try to focus more on helping MTP have more options to go with friends to far flung destinations. So here we are!

I should also probably add, I’m not your usual ‘tour company’ or ‘tour guide’. I do this because I love it! It’s my passion. So expect a bit of chaos, a lot of laughs, a healthy dose of unpredictability and a trip to tell your grandkids about.

• I will be guiding the Pakistan overland to China, via the Karakoram Highway before the MTP conference. Josh, my co-founder at MuditaAdventures.com will be guiding this tour, along with our local team too of course. This is Josh at me in Nepal recently:

Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan: What This Trip Is

Highlights include:

• 2 countries completely ALL overland
• Almaty – Gateway to Central Asia
• Charyn Canyon – Kazakhstan’s wild west
• Kolsai Lakes – Alpine mountain paradise
• Kaindy Lake – The sunken forest
• Remote Kazakhstan–Kyrgyzstan border crossing
• Issyk-Kul – Mountains meet endless water
• Skazka Canyon – Kyrgyzstan’s alien landscape
• Silk Road ruins at Burana

We start in Almaty, probably the best introduction you could ask for to Central Asia. It’s a surprisingly cool, green city sitting beneath the mountains, and we’ll have a full day there before heading east and leaving the city behind.

From there we hit Charyn Canyon, then continue towards Kolsai and Kaindy Lakes. This is the Kazakhstan that people don’t picture when they think of the country: enormous mountains, forests, turquoise water and tiny villages hidden out near the Chinese border.

Then we cross overland through the Kegen/Karkyra border into Kyrgyzstan. That immediately drops us into another completely different landscape as we head towards Karakol, Jeti-Ögüz, Skazka Canyon and the southern shore of Issyk-Kul.

Issyk-Kul is one of those places that looks slightly fake when you first see it. You’ve got this enormous blue lake surrounded by mountains, with snow-covered peaks in the distance and barely any development along huge sections of the shoreline.

Finally, we continue west towards Bishkek, stopping at Burana Tower on the way. We’ll have a full day in the Kyrgyz capital before the trip finishes and the MTP crowd can continue onwards to Chengdu.

Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan Overland Itinerary

Day 1 – Arrive in Almaty

Touchdown in Kazakhstan’s coolest city, meet the crew, share laughs over local food, toast the start of our Silk Road adventure.

You’ll arrive in Almaty, check into the hotel and get settled. That evening we’ll all meet properly for dinner and drinks, go through the plan for the week, and start getting to know the people we’re about to spend eight days crossing Central Asia with.

Day 2 – Almaty

We’ve got a full day in Almaty before the road trip begins. We’ll explore the city, eat well, get a feel for Kazakhstan and enjoy the last properly urban day before we start pushing east into the mountains.

From leafy boulevards to brutalist Soviet blocks, markets, cable cars, and epic mountain backdrops. Almaty’s got a crazy unexpected vibe.

Day 3 → Charyn Canyon → Kolsai Lake

Now the trip really starts. We leave Almaty and head towards Charyn Canyon, before continuing deeper into eastern Kazakhstan towards Kolsai Lake and the Saty area for the night.

Jaw-dropping canyons that rival the Grand Canyon, red rock valleys, hiking trails, endless photo stops. Kazakhstan in its wildest glory.

Day 4 – Kaindy Lake → Kyrgyzstan → Karakol. BORDER CROSSING TIME!

If conditions allow, we’ll start with Kaindy Lake, one of the strangest lakes in the region, famous for the drowned forest still sticking out of the water. Then we drive towards the remote Kegen/Karkyra border, cross overland into Kyrgyzstan and continue to Karakol.

Day 5 – Karakol → Jeti-Ögüz → Skazka Canyon → Issyk-Kul

This is going to be one of the best scenery days of the whole trip. We leave Karakol, visit the dramatic red cliffs of Jeti-Ögüz Gorge, continue to the surreal landscapes of Skazka Canyon and then make our way along the southern shore of Issyk-Kul towards Bokonbaevo.

Day 6 – Issyk-Kul → Burana Tower → Bishkek

We continue west along Issyk-Kul before turning towards Bishkek. On the way, we stop at Burana Tower, one of the most recognisable surviving Silk Road monuments in Kyrgyzstan, before reaching the capital for the night.

Day 7 – Bishkek

After several days moving across two countries, we slow things down and spend a full day exploring Bishkek. We’ll see the city, eat properly, have a few drinks and enjoy one final night together before everyone starts heading onwards.

Day 8 – Bishkek → Chengdu

That’s the end of the Central Asia adventure. Anyone attending MTP Chengdu can fly onwards to Chengdu, while anyone who isn’t joining the conference is free to continue their travels from Bishkek.

How This Trip Connects With MTP Chengdu 2027

This is one of the adventures I’m running specifically around MTP Chengdu 2027. The idea is simple: if we’re all travelling halfway across the world to meet in Chengdu anyway, why not turn the journey there into something much more interesting?

We travel through Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan from 12–19 October, finish in Bishkek, and anyone attending the conference can then fly onwards to Chengdu. The schedule leaves a full recovery day before MTP starts, which is probably going to be needed after eight days of Central Asian road-tripping.

You don’t need to attend the conference to join us, though. These trips are connected to MTP and designed around the conference dates, but they’re still my normal group adventures and can be booked as standalone trips.

Trip Dates, Price & What’s Included

12–19 October 2027

$3,399*

*Based on per person sharing. Single supplement available

Trip beginns in Almaty, and finishes in Bishkek.

The important thing for now is that this is designed as a comfortable adventure, not a backpacking trip. We’ll use decent accommodation, private transport where required and proper local guides, while still keeping the route adventurous enough that it feels like we’ve actually travelled across Central Asia rather than simply toured it.

Flights into Almaty and onwards from Bishkek will be separate unless specifically stated otherwise in the final package. Your onward Bishkek–Chengdu flight for MTP will also be booked separately.

FAQs About the Trip

Do I need visas for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan?

Visa requirements depend on your passport, so everyone will need to check their own situation before travelling. We’ll provide the confirmed route and hotel details you need for any applications, but visas ultimately remain each traveller’s responsibility.

What kind of trip is this?

It’s adventurous without deliberately making life difficult. Expect road trips, border crossings, mountain areas, some long travel days and the occasional change of plan, but we’ll also be using comfortable hotels and private transport rather than pretending sleeping rough somehow makes us better travellers.

How physically difficult is it?

Not at all .This isn’t a trekking expedition, so you don’t need to be super fit. There will be walking around canyons, lakes and viewpoints, but the biggest challenge is simply the amount of travel and the fact that some of the route passes through relatively remote areas.

Is Central Asia safe?

Super safe. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan both receive international travellers and we’ll be working with experienced local operators throughout the route. As always, everyone should have proper travel insurance and check their own government’s current travel advice before departure.

Can I come alone?

Yes, absolutely. Most people who join my trips actually come solo, and within about twenty minutes nobody really feels like they came alone anymore.

Other MTP Chengdu 2027 Trips With Me

I’m running a handful of trips around the MTP Chengdu conference, so you can either join one adventure or basically turn the whole month into one enormous trip.

• Pre-conference trip 1: SPECTACULAR OVERLAND adventure from Pakistan into China via the world’s highest border crossing and The Karakoram Highway
• Post-conference trip 3. Chengdu to Tibet to Nepal OVERLAND, via Everest Base Camp with me! CHECK THAT OUT HERE.
• Post-conference trip 4. If you don’t want to overland through Tibet, you can fly to Ulaanbaatar and go and see the remote Reindeer Herders in the Northern Mongolian Territories with Josh. CHECK THAT OUT HERE.
• Mini Pre-conference trip 5: If you’re stuck for time, or don’t want to spend too much, we have a GORGEOUS shorter trip to Guilin + Yangshuo, bringing you back in time for the conference perfectly.
• Mini Post-conference trip 6: Bangladesh. We have a side quest in Dhaka! Then overland deep into the Sundarbans. 5 days, great price, real travel.
• Mini Post-conference trip 7: If you want to hang out with the overlanders to Tibet and Nepal, you can join a short version of that trip to just Chengdu and then onto the now famous ‘Cyberpunk City of China’, Chongqing for just a few days. A great cheap and fun extension to the conference