How to Get to Jeti Oguz & See the Seven Bulls, Kyrgyzstan

There are a number of great day trips and short hikes from Karakol. Some are strenuous and up mountains but some are relatively easy and along valley floors.

Seeing the Seven Bulls close to the small town of Jeti Oguz is one such walk. Located just 28km from Karakol, this is a simple hike that that gives stunning views of the Seven Bulls, a rock formation that sticks out from the Kok Jaiyk valley.

This guide will tell you everything you need to know about how to visit and see Jeti Oguz.

Background on Jeti Oguz

Jeti Oguz is the name of the village close to this landmark which is spelt “Жети-Өгүз” in Kyrzgyz or Jeti-Ögüz if using the latin alphabet. Translated literally, Jeti Oguz means Seven Bulls. 

The rock formation and the village are both named Jeti Oguz because of the seven large formations you can see at the top of this post. 

Because they mean the same, I have used Jeti Oguz and Seven Bulls interchangeably in this post, however the village is always called Jeti Oguz but the rock formations are often referred to by their English name of Seven Bulls.

Locals will know you will want to visit the rock formations no matter what you call them as there is little to see for tourists in the Jeti Oguz village.

How to get to the Seven Bulls

There are a few different ways of getting to see the Seven Bulls.

The first way will need you visiting the village of Jeti Oguz by taking a marshrutka from the bus station on Zhamansariev Street close to the bazaar. The location is here. You can take marshrutka 355 or 371 which will take you to the town of Jeti Oguz (location around here with the exact location tagged on OrganicMaps and maps.me). This will cost 40som and leave every hour between 10am-6pm.

From here you will need to hitchhike or take a shared taxi to the Seven Bulls. Hitchhiking in Kyrgyzstan isn’t free and most drivers will expect some money. I paid 500som for this journey on the return section.

You could also take any marshrutka heading west along the lake to Balykchy or Bokonbayevo and get out at Jele Tobe. From there you could walk or hitchhike to the Seven Bulls but isn’t really worth it when there are other easier options.

If there is a group of you that wants to save time, it is possible to get a Yandex from Karakol direct to the Seven Bulls (without having to change at Jeti Oguz). This cost 1000som (€10/ £8.50) for the entire taxi which we split three ways.

On the way back, I hitchhiked in a truck back to Jeti Oguz and then got marshrutka 371 back to Karakol which dropped me off at the bazaar.

Find out more at 2gis.com. This works better than Google Maps in Kyrgyzstan and has public transport and bus routes as well. 

What to see at the Seven Bulls

When you arrive, you will be dropped off in a small dusty square with some shops and small stalls selling honey (close to this location). You will see a path leading up the hill on the left as you walk in and that is the best way to get to the viewpoint to see the Seven Bulls.

At the top is a coffee shop, viewpoints and a small restaurant. You could easily spend a lot of time here just admiring the view. 

Don’t forget to turn around and look at the stunning mountain backdrop behind you as well!

If you have you’re own car, you could probably turn around at this point and turn back, but as I came by public transport and wanted to do some hiking, I decided to walk down the Kok Jaiyk valley.

It is a lovely easy walk that is along a dirt road but surrounded by fir trees and sky high mountains. A river flows past as well as your criss cross over it on metal bridges that seem to have just been dropped in place. 

A short way along is a cave (it’s shown on most maps) which I ducked into but goes far too deep to explore in trainers and a phone torch.

At this point I turned around but there was more to see and another couple of kilometres further on are some yurt camps if you wanted to stay the night.

I walked back but then got picked up by a local in a truck who took me back to Jeti Oguz. We paid 500som between the three of us for the ride but I think it’s a fixed price. Considering this is half the price of the taxi there and it took us about half the way, I feel this is fair. 

From there, I only had to wait 10 minutes or so before getting a marshrutka back to Karakol.

Summing up the Seven Bulls in Karakol

The Seven Bulls is a nice easy hike and a stunning viewpoint that makes for a nice day trip from Karakol.

If you’ve just done one of the longer hikes near Karakol and now looking for something simple and relatively flat, this is a great hike for you. The rock formations are beautiful and well worth the short venture out into nature. 

Dan

Dan is an avid traveller from London. His first big adventure was in 2010 living in Malaysia for 3 months. He has been on the road almost constantly since 2015 travelling to destinations that aren’t on the mainstream tourist trail and working full time and travelling since 2021.