I was in Kyrgyzstan between the 30th of October and the 16th of October 2022. The currency in Kyrgyzstan is Som and prices are very cheap. You can read my guide to money in Kyrgyzstan to get an idea of ATMs, currency exchange, and fees.
You can easily spend even less than I did, but keep in mind that popular activities like horse trekking in the summer and skiing in the winter are still on the expensive side.
Accommodation
Accommodation in hostels varies between 6 euro and 9 euro. I paid for 10 nights in hostels while the other 8 I was Couchsurfing.
Total accommodation cost came to around 64 euro making the average 3.56 euro per night in total or 6.40 if you only count the nights I paid for.
Food
Food in Kyrgyzstan is very cheap. Street food like hamburgers, hotdogs, and shawarmas cost between 1 and 2 euros.
Most eateries are cheap with meals like manti, samsa, lagman, and beshtarmak costing no more than 2-3 euros.
There are some fancier places in Bishkek and Osh, but even there you won’t spend more than 5 euros for a meal.
In total, I spent 71 euro making the average 3.95 euro per day. Keep in mind some days I was “at the mercy” of my Couchsurfing host and didn’t spend money, so the average may be a bit higher.
Transportation
For transport I used marshrutkas and shared taxis, the main form of transportation in Kyrgyzstan.
In total, I paid 42 euro for transport with the main expense coming from the Bishkek to Osh journey (in total about 23 euros, but I split the grueling 14-hour journey and ended up paying only 19).
The average daily cost came out to 2.33 euro.
Health Insurance
For travel insurance, I use a company called SafetyWing, which provides a subscription model insurance, best suited for young people (as the price is understandably lower).
It costs 42 dollars for 4 weeks, so 18 days are ~27 euro or 1.5 euro per day.
Culture and Entertainment
There are very few museums in Kyrgyzstan. The National Museum in Bishkek is very good and I totally recommend it, but besides it there almost aren’t any other places with entrance fees.
The Sulayman Too holy mountain in Osh involves paying less than a euro for the museum and the mosque on top.
In the total of 8 euros I paid, I’ve also included entertainment costs, like the entrance fee for the hot springs near Karakol and for a gaming center in the same city.
In total, I paid 8 euro for entrance fees. The average cost per day comes to 0.45 euro.
Other
Everything else not covered above I consider other expenses. I bought a sim card with internet, a scarf from the Osh Bazaar in Bishkek (it was starting to get very cold) as well as random toiletries.
In total, I paid 10.50 euro or average per day: 0.58 euro.
Breakdown of expenses
| Accommodation | 64 euro |
| Food | 71 euro |
| Transport | 42 euro |
| Travel Insurance | 27 euro |
| Culture | 8 euro |
| Other | 11 euro |
| TOTAL | 223 euro |
In total, I spent 223 euro for 18 days, which makes the average 12.39 euro per day.