Burana Tower: A historical & affordable day trip

Around 80km from the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, Burana Tower is full of history dating back to the 11th century and makes for an easy one day (and even half-day) trip.

Originally built as a minaret (a place where Islam calls to prayers were made) in the 11th century, Burana Tower once stood tall to be the centre of Balasagun, a once flourishing Silk Road city dating back to the 9th century.

This city had been described as a rather large city where there were many buildings that included as much as 200 mosques and 40 cathedrals. The city had been created by the Karakhanids (Turkic khanate people) near the end of the 9th century.

What’s left of this city is Burana Tower, remnants of a castle, several mausoleums, and ancient stone memorials called Balbals.

Design as a template for later minarets, Burana Tower was not painted – its geometric patterns in its brickwork construction became its decoration.

This UNESCO heritage tower use to stand at 45m but it is now reduced it to its current height of 24.6m after a series of earthquakes across different centuries.

The views from the top of the tower are grand, especially on a clear and sunny blue sky day – it’s worth the claustrophobic walk up!

A trip to Burana Tower is an easy half-day trip from Bishkek where you can leave early in the morning and be back mid-afternoon.

There isn’t enough to see or do to justify a full day trip at Burana Tower unless you plan to have a quick look around Tomtok – the nearby small town.

Steep steps

Please be aware that the upper Burana Tower staircase is really narrow and the 40-50 steps leading to the top of the tower are really steep. There is not a lot of illumination here so you may need to use the torch/flashlight function on your phone. Proceed carefully.

Explore the field of Balbals

Balbals are ancient stone memorials of Turkic ancestors dating back to the 6th century – there were no actual buried people here. These stone memorials are characterised by their detailed carvings of faces (especially their starey eyes!), hands, clothes, jewellery, and weaponry of the time. These ancestral stones are meant to be revered by future generations. Some of them represent the Nestorians, a group of early Christians who also lived in the city – these stones have people depicted with either a wine glass or a cup of tea.

Visit the museum

In this small museum, you’ll discover artifacts and small remnants from the old city such as pottery and jewellery, along with ancient religious artifacts such as Buddha statues and the Christian cross.

Essentials:

• Phone with the following apps installed:
  Maps.me (Have the Kyrgyzstan map downloaded)
  2GIS
  Google Translate (have the Russian language pack installed)
• Bottled water
• Passport (photocopy)
• Money (cash)

Recommended:

• Comforting walking shoes
• Sunglasses
• Jacket
• Lunch
• Hand sanitiser
• Tissues

The following facilities are available at the location:

• Basic toilet (long-drop)

Entrance cost:

• 150 som; includes entrance to Burana Tower, grounds, and museum (as of 2019; to be used as reference. Subject to yearly changes).

Go to Bishkek East Bus Station (be careful of pickpockets in this area). Take marshrutka 353 to Tokmok.
Cost: 40 som (as of 2019; to be used as reference. Subject to yearly changes).
Journey time: Approximately one hour (80km).

When you have arrived at Tokmok bus station, find and get a taxi to take you to Burana tower.
You can either take a taxi for a one-way journey or negotiate and agree on a price for a return trip where the taxi driver will wait for you at Burana tower.
Cost: ~200-300 som return (as of 2019; to be used as reference. Subject to yearly changes).
Journey time: Approximately 15 minutes (12km).

If you had organised a taxi waiting for you, simply get back in this taxi to take you back to Tokmok.

Alternatively, you can try to get any available taxis or shared rides near the entrance to Burana Tower.

From Tokmok bus station, take marshrutka 353 to return to Bishkek.

Burana Tower is a simple half-day (or full day) trip to learn a part of Kyrgyzstan’s interesting history.

Is it the most interesting tower will ever see? Probably not. It’s still a nice day out and to see more of the Kyrgyz countryside, especially on a beautiful sunshine day.

Have you been to Burana Tower? What did you think of it? Let other travellers and myself know.

If you know someone who is planning to go Bishkek or is already there, share this post about Burana Tower to help them make the most of their time in Kyrgyzstan.

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