Central Asia is calling. But which trip do you actually book?
If you follow our socials, you'll have seen our Kyrgyzstan trips rolling out on their big adventure over the summer. Or maybe you followed all the inspiring women during the Silk Road Mountain Race. If you're anything like us, you've spent a significant amount of time staring at those photos thinking "I need to go there."
But here's the question we get asked often: "Should I do Kyrgyzstan or Mongolia?"
Both are Central Asian bikepacking adventures. Both involve vast, remote landscapes that'll make your jaw drop on a daily basis. Both will ruin you for regular holidays forever. But they are genuinely different trips - and choosing the right one matters.
So here's our honest, no-fluff guide to help you decide.
First Things First: What Makes These Trips Special?
Central Asia is one of the last great frontiers for bikepacking. We’re talking landscapes so vast and unspoiled that you can ride for hours without seeing another soul. Ancient cultures, nomadic traditions, and a warmth of welcome that’ll genuinely catch you off guard.
Kyrgyzstan bikepacking takes you deep into the Tian Shan mountain range - high altitude passes, glacial valleys, and remote tracks that follow ancient Silk Road trading routes. This is mountain riding at its most raw and dramatic.
Mongolia cycling takes you across the open steppe of the Orkhon Valley - a UNESCO World Heritage Site where nomadic herders have lived for thousands of years. Vast open skies, sacred rivers, and landscapes so wide open they almost don’t feel real.
Same spirit of adventure. Very different flavours.
The Honest Comparison: Kyrgyzstan vs Mongolia
🏔️ Altitude
This is probably the most important difference between the two trips and the one most people underestimate.
Kyrgyzstan is high. We mean properly high. Passes regularly sit above 3,000 metres, with our highest reaching 3,400m. If you’ve never ridden at altitude before, prepare to feel it - legs feel heavier, recovery takes longer, and even a modest climb can leave you surprisingly breathless. It adds to the epic feeling, but it’s something you genuinely need to factor in.
Mongolia operates at much more manageable elevations. You’ll still feel the space and remoteness in every possible way, but your lungs will have a considerably easier time of it.
Verdict: First time at altitude? Mongolia is the smarter choice.
⛰️ Elevation Gain & Daily Climbing
Related to altitude but worth its own section, because this is where Kyrgyzstan really separates itself from the pack.
Kyrgyzstan serves up 1,000-1,500 metres of elevation gain most days on technical double-track gravel. These are big, serious mountain days that demand a genuine love of climbing. The kind of days where you earn every single descent. If that sentence made you excited rather than nervous, Kyrgyzstan might be your trip.
Mongolia is a different challenge entirely. The riding is significant and the distances are real, but it’s the remoteness and the terrain rather than relentless vertical gain that defines the experience. Think rolling steppe, wide open tracks, and that extraordinary sense of riding through a landscape that feels completely untouched.
Verdict: Love climbing? Kyrgyzstan. Prefer distance and remoteness to relentless ascent? Mongolia.
🛏️ Comfort & Camp Life
Right, let’s be honest here - because this is where the two trips differ most significantly, and it’s important you know what you’re signing up for.
Both trips have a dedicated crew cooking proper meals under a covered dining area each evening. So regardless of which you choose, you’re always well fed and in good company at the end of a long day.
But that’s where the similarity ends.
Mongolia is - perhaps surprisingly given the wild camping - the cushier of the two. A full expedition camp crew sets everything up before you arrive each evening. Hot showers are waiting. Proper facilities are in place. It’s genuinely wild camping, but make it civilised. You spend more nights under canvas in Mongolia than in Kyrgyzstan, but you arrive to a proper camp that’s been beautifully set up in your honour.
Kyrgyzstan is back to basics in every sense. No showers. Wild loos. A mountain stream if you fancy a wash. The support crew covers all the essentials and the food is brilliant - but you’re genuinely off-grid and you need to be not just comfortable with that, but actively excited by it.
The one-liner:
🐎 Mongolia: Wild camping with a full crew, hot showers, and civilised comforts waiting at camp
🏔️ Kyrgyzstan: Back to basics adventure - wet wipes, wild loos, and mountain streams
Verdict: Want creature comforts at the end of wild days? Mongolia. Fully committed to going off-grid? Kyrgyzstan.
Support & Logistics
Kyrgyzstan has a support vehicle on the route alongside a local guide and driver/cook. You’re backed up throughout, but this is a stripped-back, self-sufficient adventure at heart. You need to be genuinely comfortable in remote wilderness with limited infrastructure.
Mongolia has a full expedition crew - dedicated camp team, cook, multiple drivers and support vehicles. By the time you roll into camp each evening after an epic day on the steppe, your sleeping area is set up, dinner is being prepared, and hot water is waiting. It’s an extraordinary level of support for what is still a genuinely wild adventure.
Verdict: Self-sufficient adventurers will love Kyrgyzstan. Those who want proper support without sacrificing the wild experience will love Mongolia.
So, Which One Is Actually Yours?
Choose Kyrgyzstan if...
💚 You’re a confident, experienced off-road rider with solid bikepacking miles under your belt
💚 You’re comfortable riding at high altitude or excited to try it
💚 Big climbing days (1,000-1,500m) genuinely excite rather than terrify you
💚 You’re happy going fully off-grid - wild loos, no showers, back to basics
💚 You’ve done multi-day bikepacking before and are ready to level up
💚 The Silk Road content made you think “I NEED to do that” rather than “that looks terrifying”
💚 Raw, demanding, mountain wilderness is your idea of a perfect week
Choose Mongolia if...
🐎 You want epic Central Asian wilderness with a bit more comfort built in
🐎 High altitude and relentless climbing sounds more exhausting than exciting
🐎 You love the idea of riding into a fully set-up camp with hot showers waiting
🐎 You’re experienced but want your first Central Asian bikepacking adventure to be well-supported
🐎 You’ve been watching Kyrgyzstan on socials thinking “almost, but not quite yet”
🐎 Vast open steppe, enormous skies and nomadic culture is your kind of adventure
🐎 You want to wild camp but with someone else doing the hard work of setting it up!
The Cultural Experience: More Similar Than You’d Think
One thing both trips absolutely nail is cultural immersion - and it’s worth mentioning because it’s as much a part of the experience as the riding itself.
In Kyrgyzstan, you’ll stay in traditional yurt camps with local families, ride through villages where hospitality is practically a religion, and experience a nomadic culture that has remained largely unchanged for centuries.
In Mongolia, you’ll spend a night in a traditional ger (yurt) camp on the open steppe, meet nomadic herders going about their daily lives, and experience the kind of human connection that you simply can’t manufacture. The crew includes local guides who bring an entirely different depth to the experience.
Both trips will leave you with stories that have nothing to do with the riding, and everything to do with the people.
The Bottom Line
Both trips will push you. Both will reward you beyond anything you can imagine from the comfort of your sofa. And both will absolutely ruin you for regular holidays in the best possible way.
Kyrgyzstan is raw, high, demanding and utterly breathtaking - for riders who know exactly what they’re getting into and want every bit of it.
Mongolia is equally wild and remote, but with a brilliant support crew making sure you’re well-fed, showered and genuinely ready to do it all again tomorrow.
And if you’re still not sure? Drop us an email. Honestly, we love helping match people to the right adventure. It’s one of our favourite things. There’s a trip for every rider here - you just need to find yours.
Ready to Book Your Central Asian Adventure?
🏔️ [Kyrgyzstan WILDER Bikepacking - View Dates & Book →]
High altitude mountain riding, Silk Road tracks, back to basics adventure
🐎 [Mongolia Cycling Expedition: Orkhon Valley - View Dates & Book →]
Open steppe, nomadic culture, full expedition crew, UNESCO World Heritage landscapes