Kel-Suu At-Bashy

The yurts are the nicest in the valley, with new wooden floors, good beds, and fireplaces in the middle. Service was okay, and there was power from 20-22h, enough to nearly fully charge most devices. There’s no WiFi, the toilet isn’t great, and the food could be better. Staff didn’t speak English. We asked them to arrange horses, but they didn’t know how to manage tourists on horseback. All the horses ran off and threw us. Golden Moon next door has WiFi, a big indoor dining area, and an English-speaking team experienced with horses and tourists, though its yurts aren’t as nice.

The new yurts have comfortable beds, wooden floors, and good heating. We chose this place because it had only five yurts and seemed likely to be quieter. Instead, locals parked large SUVs beside us, left their engines running late, and partied into the evening. The food is basic, as are the toilets, and there are no showers or WiFi. Golden Moon nearby has showers, WiFi, proper toilets, and even a sauna. Kel Suu at Bashy is a new facility, though, and they expected to open a restaurant with modern sit-down toilets in the coming weeks. There’s potential here if they manage outside guests sharing the limited space and facilities better, and improve the booking system. We’d prepaid through Agoda, but on arrival they said they were full. That was stressful after a long journey, and only got sorted when we showed the confirmed booking. They gave us a different room from the one we’d booked, and things were made good. The lady host was very apologetic and hospitable afterward. There was no place for our hired driver to stay, so we had to put him in our room, which wasn’t comfortable for us as women. It’s a couple more kilometers of hiking to the lake from here, and there are plenty of yurt camps in the area. We wouldn’t book in advance if we returned. Plan for a weekday if you want it quieter.

They treated us with real warmth and went above and beyond to help with a problem we were facing. It was a great experience.

We’d booked a yurt ahead, paid a deposit, and stayed in direct contact over WhatsApp. On the day we arrived, while we were on our way to the camp, they told us there wasn’t a yurt for us after all. They had taken other guests, then refunded our deposit. Thankfully we still had phone service and could reach another camp, which found us a room quickly. I can’t recommend this camp. Be prepared to hear halfway through your trip that they have no space, and that even a deposit doesn’t guarantee your reservation.