The Karakoram Highway, an all-weather road connecting Rawalpindi/Islamabad with China’s Xinjiang province, runs through the Northern Areas.
The 805 km metalled road starts from Havelian, 100 km from Islamabad, and winds through Abbottabad, Mansehra, Thakot, Besham, Pattan, Sazin, Chilas, Gilgit and Hunza to the Chinese frontier across the 4,733 meter Khunjerab Pass.
Built by Pakistan Army engineers together with Chinese experts and technicians, the road has been described as a marvel of civil engineering and even as “The Eighth Wonder of the World”.
Completed in 15 years, it was forced through some of the world’s toughest terrain. It not only opened the Northern Areas to trade and travel, but gives easy access to regions once reachable only by jeep or goat tracks.
Is Karakoram Highway right for you?
- Suggested time
- 7 – 15 days to travel it properly, with stops along the way
- Activity level
- A road journey — long drives broken by short walks and sightseeing
- Best for
- Road-trippers and anyone wanting to see the change from the plains to the high Karakoram
- When to go
- The highway is open all year as far as Hunza, but the Khunjerab Pass is closed to travellers in winter. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons in the hot lower gorges.
Combines well withHunza ValleyGilgit ValleyIndus & Karakoram Highway
Compare Karakoram Highway with another destination →Places to see
The Indus gorges
From Thakot, where the road first crosses the Indus, the highway follows the river for hundreds of kilometres through the deep gorges of Kohistan.
Chilas rock carvings
Thousands of carvings and inscriptions on the boulders along the Indus, left by hunters, traders and Buddhist pilgrims over thousands of years.
Nanga Parbat
Between Chilas and Gilgit the road passes below Nanga Parbat (8,125 m), one of the world’s highest mountains, rising straight from the Indus valley.
Meeting of the mountains
Near Jaglot, where the Gilgit river joins the Indus, a viewpoint marks the place where the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindukush ranges meet.
Rakaposhi
In Nagar the road runs past the foot of Rakaposhi (7,788 m), with views of its snowfields from the highway itself.
Attabad Lake
In Upper Hunza the highway runs through tunnels beside the turquoise lake formed by a landslide in 2010.
Khunjerab Pass
The road’s highest point and the border with China, at 4,733 meters — one of the highest paved border crossings in the world.
Good to know
- Getting there
- From Islamabad, drive to Havelian and Abbottabad to join the highway. In summer, the road over the Babusar Pass through the Kaghan valley is an alternative route, meeting the highway at Chilas.
- Breaking the journey
- The drive from Islamabad to Gilgit is long, and is usually broken with a night at Besham or Chilas.
- When to go
- The highway is open all year as far as Hunza, but the Khunjerab Pass is closed to travellers in winter. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons in the hot lower gorges.
Header photo: The Karakoram Highway — Saadzafar91, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons