Kyrgyzstan festivals and events 2027: Nooruz and the Aits

How to read this calendar

The Ministry of Labour's production calendar for 2027 (order No. 197 of 20 August 2026) lists the non-working days for the year: 1 to 7 January, 8 March, Nooruz on 21 March, the May holidays from 1 to 9 May, Independence Day on 31 August, and the religious holidays Orozo Ait and Kurman Ait, whose dates it leaves open. It also makes 27 January 2027, the day of the presidential election, a day off. Under the Labour Code of 2025, a holiday that falls at a weekend is no longer moved to a weekday, so a Sunday holiday in 2027 is simply a Sunday. The weekdays below are for 2027.

The two Aits are different: they follow the lunar calendar, move through the Gregorian calendar, and are confirmed by the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan only a few days before; in 2025 the notice for Orozo Ait came three days ahead. Plan around them as if the date could move by a day. For weather and the travel seasons, see our best-time guide.

January to March: New Year, Orozo Ait and Nooruz

New Year holidays, 1 to 7 January (Friday to Thursday in 2027), end with Orthodox Christmas on 7 January. 27 January 2027, a Wednesday, is the presidential election day and a day off; plan banking and paperwork around it.

Orozo Ait, Eid al-Fitr, marks the end of Ramadan and is a non-working day. Ramadan is expected to start around 8 February 2027, so Orozo Ait is expected around 9 or 10 March; in 2026 it fell on 20 March, the day before Nooruz.

International Women's Day, 8 March (a Monday in 2027), is a public holiday.

Nooruz, 21 March (a Sunday in 2027), is the spring new year and a state holiday. Nowruz is inscribed on UNESCO's list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity on behalf of Kyrgyzstan and twelve other countries from Türkiye to India, and in Kyrgyz villages it is the season for sumolok, cooked in a large kazan. Because the day falls on a Sunday in 2027 and is not moved, there is no extra day off; plan a weekend around it, in Bishkek or in Karakol, where Destination Karakol, the town's tourism organisation, suggests joining the celebrations.

In Bishkek the day belongs to Ala-Too Square. Kaktus.media reported that in 2026 the programme opened at 11:00 with the alas ritual and dance troupes, followed by speeches from the mayor and the head of government and a concert of Kyrgyz pop stars. Around the square, the Assembly of the People of Kyrgyzstan held a fair of the country's many communities, visitors played uch tapan with knucklebones, arm-wrestling, chess and toguz korgool, the traditional board game of strategy, and stalls sold bowls of sumolok. Use the 2027 city programme for the starting time.

May: the long holidays and Kurman Ait

The May holidays, 1 to 9 May, are the next long break after New Year. The calendar counts 1 to 4 and 6 to 8 May as the May holidays, with Constitution Day on 5 May (a Wednesday in 2027) and Victory Day on 9 May (a Sunday). All nine are non-working days, so plan banking and paperwork before 1 May.

Kurman Ait, Eid al-Adha, is the second religious holiday, expected around 16 May 2027 and confirmed a few days before.

June to August: horse games, eagles and yurts in the villages

The festivals a visitor can actually attend are the summer days that village groups of CBT Kyrgyzstan, the community-based tourism association, run around Issyk-Kul and Song-Kol. Each is a single day with a set programme, an entry fee that usually includes lunch, and booking through the CBT group named in the table. CBT Bokonbaevo, which books the south-shore eagle days, has its office in the Argymak café at 16 Mambetov Street in Bokonbaevo. The dates below are the ones the association lists for 2027.

The horse games are the reason to go. Ulak tartysh, also called kok-boru, is a team game on horseback, somewhere between polo and rugby; in oodarysh two riders wrestle to pull each other from the saddle; in tyiyn enmei a rider at the gallop leans down to pick a coin wrapped in a scarf off the ground; and kyz kuumai is a chase in which a young man rides after a girl to steal a kiss, or is whipped if he fails. At Kyzyl-Oi the day opens at 10:00 with a yurt being built, the ceremony of laying a baby in its cradle and a folklore show with verses from the Manas epic, and the games run from 14:30 to 16:30, with dinner in the yurts and a bonfire afterwards for those who stay. Dinner costs extra.

The birds-of-prey days show eagles and falcons flown by their hunters, with folk music and dance. The Jaichy Agro-Festival is a farmers' open day on the mountain pastures: sheep shearing, wool-craft and milk classes, and a folklore show. Kyzyl-Tuu’s yurt festival shows yurt-making, with games, food and crafts. Tamchy, Jaichy and Kyzyl-Tuu are in the Issyk-Kul region, so they fit a lake trip; our Issyk-Kul and Karakol guide covers the north and south shores.

Bokonbaevo, on the south shore, is the home ground of salbuurun, the old way of hunting with golden eagles, bows and taigans, the Kyrgyz hunting hound. Its Salbuurun festival on 2 August 2025 drew hundreds of guests to watch the berkutchi, the eagle hunters, alongside archery, horse racing, Kyrgyz wrestling, akyn singers, throat singing and the komuz, the 24.kg news agency reported; no 2027 date has been published. Outside the festival days, CBT Kyrgyzstan runs a two-day eagle-hunting demonstration tour from Bishkek to the south shore in every month of the year: advertised at USD 150, with a minimum of four people and a group size of four to twelve, with transport, a stop at Burana Tower, a night in a yurt camp in summer or a Bokonbaevo guest house in spring and autumn, meals and the morning with a hunter and his eagle. Get a quote for your whole party: the advertised price has no per-person or per-group label.

Summer: the World Nomad Games and Independence Day

The World Nomad Games began on the shore of Issyk-Kul. The sixth Games were held from 31 August to 6 September 2026 in Bishkek and Cholpon-Ata, with delegations from about a hundred countries, forty-three sports from horseback games and wrestling to archery, hunting with birds and intellectual games, the largest programme in their history, and an ethno-village in Kyrchyn with crafts, music, epics and food. There is no edition in 2027: the organisers have handed the Games to Tatarstan, and the seventh will be held in Kazan, Russia, in 2028, with dates still to be announced.

Independence Day, 31 August (a Tuesday in 2027), is the national day and a public holiday, at the end of the lake's summer season. If you plan a late-August trip to Issyk-Kul, the summer train from Bishkek to Balykchy ran daily until 13 September in 2026; our transport guide has the timetable.

Winter: the season opens at Karakol

Destination Karakol puts Karakol's winter at December to February, with skiing at the Karakol Ski Base. December, at the start of the season, is a good month to combine the slopes with the town, and the south-shore eagle-hunting tour above runs through the winter too. Our Issyk-Kul and Karakol guide covers the town and its valleys.