Osh

Osh claims a continuous history stretching back 3,000 years—making it not only Kyrgyzstan’s oldest city but one of the most ancient settlements in all of Central Asia. Archaeological evidence from the slopes of Sulaiman-Too dates to the Bronze Age, while written records first mention the city in the 9th century as a thriving silk production center along the great trading routes connecting China to the Mediterranean world. The Chinese explorer Zhang Qian passed through this region as early as 138 BCE on his historic journey that opened the Silk Road.

What makes Osh extraordinary is how that trading tradition endures. The Jayma Bazaar—a massive marketplace stretching along the Ak-Buura River—has occupied essentially the same site for over two millennia, though it was relocated to a modern facility in 2025. Originally three separate markets that merged into one sprawling commercial center, the bazaar once served caravans heading east toward Kashgar or west toward Samarkand. Today, Uzbek traders in embroidered tebeteikas mingle with Kyrgyz herders in white kalpak hats, selling everything from golden apricots to handwoven carpets to horse meat sausages—a living continuation of Central Asia’s ancient commercial culture.

Sulaiman-Too rises 200 meters above Osh’s otherwise flat urban landscape—a dramatic limestone outcrop that has drawn pilgrims and worshippers for at least 1,500 years. The mountain’s five peaks contain over 100 sites with petroglyphs dating from 1500 BCE to the 5th century CE, depicting humans, animals, and geometric forms. Seventeen active worship sites still attract believers seeking cures for barrenness, headaches, back pain, and other ailments. Women still slide down a stone worn smooth by centuries of use, hoping to ensure healthy children.

In 2009, UNESCO designated Sulaiman-Too as Kyrgyzstan’s first World Heritage Site, recognizing it as the most complete example of a sacred mountain anywhere in Central Asia. The site reflects both pre-Islamic and Islamic beliefs—ancient cults of fire worship and fertility blend seamlessly with Muslim reverence for the Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon), for whom the mountain is named. Two largely reconstructed 16th-century mosques crown the peaks, including the small meditation house where Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur—founder of the Mughal Empire—performed his forty-day chilla retreat before conquering India. Born in nearby Andijan, Babur wrote lovingly of Osh and its mountain in his famous memoir, the Baburnama.

Osh serves as the northern terminus of the Pamir Highway—the legendary M41 route that climbs over 4,600 meters on its 1,200-kilometer journey through some of Earth’s most spectacular and isolated mountain terrain. From Osh, the highway ascends through the Alay Valley to the Kyzyl-Art Pass at 4,250 meters, crossing into Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region and continuing through the Wakhan Corridor along the Afghan border before finally descending to Dushanbe. This route—constructed primarily by the Soviet Union in the 1930s—follows paths that traders, pilgrims, and armies have traveled for millennia.

Just three to five hours south of Osh, the Alay Valley opens beneath the snow-capped ramparts of the Pamir-Alay range. Lenin Peak (7,134 meters)—one of the most accessible 7,000-meter summits in the world—dominates the skyline. Trekkers and mountaineers stage from the base camp at Achik-Tash or the yurt camps around Tulpar-Kol Lake at 3,500 meters. Beyond the high peaks, the Alay offers magnificent multi-day treks through alpine meadows, past turquoise lakes, and across passes exceeding 4,000 meters where snow-dusted summits stretch to every horizon. This is the journey’s reward for travelers who venture beyond Osh into the roof of the world.