Chuy · 87 km · 1.4 hBurana Tower
11th-century minaret of Balasagun, a UNESCO Silk Roads component
- Film in Kyrgyzstan
- Silk Road
04Silk RoadUpdated: 2026-10-20
Where to film the Silk Road in Kyrgyzstan
Three sites in the Chuy valley, Balasagun with the Burana minaret, Suyab (Ak-Beshim) and Nevaket (Krasnaya Rechka), are part of the UNESCO World Heritage site 'Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor' (2014), and Sulaiman-Too in Osh has been on the list since 2009. Add a stone caravanserai at 3,200 m, mountain passes on the road to Kashgar and nomadic camps, and Kyrgyzstan covers most Silk Road scenes outside the great cities, at about $2,600 per shooting day.
What is on the UNESCO list
Balasagun, near Tokmok, was a capital of the Eastern Karakhanid state; the 11th-century Burana minaret, about 25 m high today, stands among balbal stone figures. Suyab (Ak-Beshim) was a major early medieval city of the Chuy valley with a walled town and citadel, and Nevaket (Krasnaya Rechka), the largest Kyrgyz component at 743 ha, revealed a Zoroastrian fire altar, Nestorian stones and two Buddhist temples.
Sulaiman-Too, the five-peaked sacred mountain above Osh, was a landmark for Silk Road travellers for more than 1,500 years and keeps 101 petroglyph sites and places of worship still in use. On Kyrgyzstan's tentative list are the Tash-Rabat caravanserai, the Saimaluu-Tash petroglyphs and the Karakhanid mausoleums and minaret of Uzgen.
This property is a 5,000 km section of the extensive Silk Roads network, stretching from Chang’an/Luoyang, the central capital of China in the Han and Tang dynasties, to the Zhetysu region of Central Asia.
For more than one and a half millennia, Sulaiman was a beacon for travellers revered as a sacred mountain.
Silk Road locations with photos
Sites from our location database; drive times are from Bishkek.
Chuy · 87 km · 1.4 h
Naryn · 435 km · 6.5 hTash-Rabat Caravanserai
Medieval stone caravanserai on the route to Kashgar, UNESCO tentative list
Jalal-Abad · 349 km · 5.2 hSaimaluu-Tash
Rock art from the 3rd millennium BC on a high-mountain sanctuary
Naryn · 497 km · 7.1 hChatyr-Kul Lake
High lake by the Torugart Pass road to Kashgar
Naryn · 296 km · 4.9 hSon-Kul Lake
Nomadic summer camps with yurts and horses
Batken · 761 km · 11.0 hKan-i-Gut Cave
Ancient silver mine worked for about 1,500 years
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Frequently asked questions
01Which Silk Road sites in Kyrgyzstan are UNESCO World Heritage?
Balasagun with the Burana minaret, Suyab (Ak-Beshim) and Nevaket (Krasnaya Rechka) in the Chuy valley, part of the 2014 Silk Roads site, and the Sulaiman-Too sacred mountain in Osh (2009).
02How far is the Burana Tower from Bishkek?
About 87 km by road, roughly an hour and a half, near the town of Tokmok.
03Is Tash-Rabat accessible for a film crew?
Yes, by road: the caravanserai is about 435 km from Bishkek in the At-Bashy district, roughly 6.5 hours, at over 3,200 m, so crews usually base in Naryn or At-Bashy and shoot in summer.
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Updated: 2026-10-20