An hour and a half east of Bishkek, the Burana Tower is the most accessible major historical site near the city — a stocky 11th-century minaret in red brick, rising out of an open field below the snow-capped Kyrgyz Ala-Too. The site includes a small museum, a scatter of foundation stones from the lost city of Balasagun, and a famous outdoor collection of balbals — carved stone funerary figures from the Turkic era.
The climb up the dark, narrow internal staircase to the top of the tower is worth doing for the view over the Chüy Valley and the mountains beyond.