Tajikistan: the Pamir Highway, Khorog and the Wakhan Valley

1. Day 1: Arrive in Dushanbe

   Dushanbe International Airport to your hotel in central Dushanbe

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Dushanbe
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Dushanbe International Airport (DYU), a short drive from the centre; many flights from Istanbul and the Gulf land in the small hours, so we book your room from the night before arrival on request and a driver meets every flight. The day is yours to sleep and settle in. Dushanbe is a green, spread-out capital at about 800 m, laid out in the Soviet era along Rudaki Avenue, with plane trees, wide parks and the mountains of the Hisor range on the northern skyline. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the Pamir Highway: how the 4x4 days are paced, what the homestays are like, how we handle altitude and what to keep in your day bag. Then we walk to a welcome dinner of Tajik dishes, plov, qurutob and fresh flatbread, at a restaurant in the centre.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Dushanbe International Airport (DYU), whatever time you land
   • Briefing with your guide on the Pamir Highway, altitude and the homestays
   • Welcome dinner in central Dushanbe

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by about 3 pm for the briefing. If you arrive overnight, an extra night before day 1 is booked on request so your room is ready.

   

2. Day 2: Dushanbe and the Varzob valley

   Central Dushanbe, then north into the Varzob valley and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Dushanbe
   Day 2 details

   We start on foot at 9 in Rudaki Park, under the mosaic arch of the monument to Rudaki, the 10th-century poet claimed as the father of Persian literature, then walk to the National Museum of Antiquities, where the star is a reclining Buddha about 13 metres long, found at the monastery of Ajina Tepa in the south of the country. Your guide explains the Persian, Buddhist, Russian and Soviet layers you will keep meeting on the road east. Mehrgon market follows, busiest late in the morning, with dried apricots, nuts, honey and the round breads you will eat all trip. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town, then a free hour. Mid-afternoon we drive about an hour north up the Varzob valley, where the river runs turquoise between red rock walls, for an easy walk along the water and tea in the cool before driving back for a free evening.

   Included

   • Rudaki Park and the Rudaki monument with your guide
   • National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan and its reclining Buddha
   • Mehrgon market
   • Sit-down lunch in Dushanbe
   • Afternoon in the Varzob valley: a riverside walk and tea

   Free time: Free hour after lunch and a free evening

   Activity: About 4 km on foot in the city, plus an easy 2 to 3 km walk on a valley path in Varzob.

   

3. Day 3: South through Kulob to the Panj

   Dushanbe to Kulob, then over the Shuroobod pass to the Panj and Kalaikhum

   • Drive about 9 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Kalaikhum
   Day 3 details

   This is the longest day of the trip, about 370 km and nine hours on the road with stops, and the one day we cannot shorten: there is no town between Dushanbe and the Panj with rooms we would book, and the Dushanbe to Khorog flights are small, weather-dependent and too often cancelled to plan around. So we leave at 7:30 in our 4x4s, three or four guests to a vehicle, and break the day into short stages. The first three hours are good tarmac through the cotton country of Khatlon to Kulob, where we stop for a sit-down lunch. After Kulob the road climbs over the Shuroobod pass and drops to the Panj river, which is the border with Afghanistan from here to the Wakhan. For the rest of the afternoon the Afghan villages are a stone's throw away across the water. We reach a guesthouse in Kalaikhum, at about 1,200 m where the Khumbou river meets the Panj, in the early evening, and dinner is served there.

   Included

   • Drive from Dushanbe to Kalaikhum by 4x4 with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Kulob
   • Stops on the Shuroobod pass and at the first views over the Panj and Afghanistan
   • Dinner at the Kalaikhum guesthouse

   Easier option: Stay in the vehicle at the photo stops.

   Free time: No free time today; the evening is short after a late arrival.

   Activity: A 7:30 start and the longest day in the vehicle, broken into stages of about two hours with a sit-down lunch in Kulob.

   

4. Day 4: Along the Panj to Khorog

   Kalaikhum along the Panj valley to Rushan and Khorog

   • Drive about 6.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Khorog
   Day 4 details

   After breakfast at 8 we follow the Panj upstream, about 240 km and six and a half hours of driving, on a road cut into the cliffs above the river. It is longer than our usual four hours because there is nowhere between Kalaikhum and Khorog to stay two nights, but it is one of the best stretches of the highway, so we take it slowly, with photo stops wherever the gorge narrows and the Afghan track on the far bank comes close enough to see donkeys and people walking it. Lunch is at a teahouse in Rushan, where the Bartang valley comes in from the east. By late afternoon the valley opens into Khorog, at about 2,100 m, the capital of Gorno-Badakhshan and the one real town of the Pamirs, with a university, a riverside park and cafes. We check in for two nights, and dinner is at a restaurant in town.

   Included

   • Drive along the Panj from Kalaikhum to Khorog with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Rushan
   • Dinner in Khorog

   Easier option: Stay in the vehicle at the photo stops.

   Free time: Early evening free in Khorog before dinner.

   Activity: About six and a half hours of driving, mostly on a rough, narrow road, in stages of about two hours with a stop every hour or so and a sit-down lunch in Rushan.

5. Day 5: A slow day in Khorog

   Khorog: the botanical garden, the bazaar and the riverside

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Khorog
   Day 5 details

   No long drive today, and that is deliberate: a day at about 2,100 m helps your body get used to height before the Wakhan and the high plateau. After a late breakfast we drive a few minutes up to the Pamir Botanical Garden, founded in 1940 on terraces above the town at about 2,300 m, for a walk among its orchards and trees and the view down the Gunt and Panj valleys. Back in town your guide takes you through the central bazaar, where Pamiri traders sell felt socks, knitted woollens, apricots and sweets from Iran and China, and explains the Pamiri people: their own languages, their Ismaili faith and the houses you will sleep in next. Lunch is in Khorog. The afternoon and evening are free, for the riverside park, a cafe, a rest or the hot springs at Garm Chashma, about an hour away, as an option.

   Included

   • The Pamir Botanical Garden with your guide
   • Khorog central bazaar and a walk through town
   • Sit-down lunch in Khorog

   Optional experiences

   • Afternoon at the Garm Chashma hot springs, about an hour each way by 4x4, priced at booking

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Khorog

   Activity: An easy day: about 3 km on foot, partly on garden paths with some steps.

6. Day 6: Into the Wakhan

   Khorog to Ishkashim and the Kakh-Kakha fortress, then up the Wakhan to Yamchun

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Yamchun
   Day 6 details

   We leave at 8:30 and follow the Panj south for about two and a half hours to Ishkashim, where the river turns east and the Wakhan begins. From here the Hindu Kush rises across the water in Afghanistan, with snow peaks over 6,000 m, and the Wakhan corridor on that side reaches all the way to China. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Ishkashim. Just beyond, at Namadgut, we walk up to the ruins of the Kakh-Kakha fortress, on a bluff over the river, with a guard post of the border guards beside it, so photos follow your guide's word. Then we drive on to Yamchun, about 165 km and five hours of driving for the day, slightly over our usual cap because the road is slow and both stops are worth the time. Tonight is a Pamiri homestay: one large family room with a skylight, carpets and thick mattresses, home-cooked dinner and a room for your party.

   Included

   • Drive from Khorog to the Wakhan with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Ishkashim
   • The Kakh-Kakha fortress at Namadgut
   • Dinner and the night at a Pamiri homestay in Yamchun

   Easier option: Look up at the Kakh-Kakha fortress from the road instead of walking up.

   Free time: Early evening free at the homestay in Yamchun.

   Activity: About five hours of driving on a rough road, in two stages either side of lunch in Ishkashim. Homestays have shared toilets, often outside, and hot water from a stove or a banya; bring a head torch.

7. Day 7: Yamchun fort and the Bibi Fatima springs

   Yamchun fort and the Bibi Fatima springs, then Vrang and Langar

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Langar
   Day 7 details

   We start early, at 8, while the light is soft on the mountains, and drive up the switchbacks above the village to Yamchun fort, at about 3,000 m, a ruined fortress of mud-brick towers on a ridge, usually dated to around the 3rd century BC. From its walls you look straight across the Panj to the Hindu Kush. A short walk on brings us to the Bibi Fatima springs, warm water in a natural rock pool, named for the Prophet's daughter and visited by local women who come to ask for children; men and women bathe at separate times, so bring a towel. Lunch is at the homestay. In the afternoon we drive about two hours up the valley, stopping at Vrang to climb to a terraced site usually described as a Buddhist stupa, and on to Langar, at about 2,800 m, where the Pamir and Wakhan rivers meet to form the Panj. The late afternoon is free; dinner is at our homestay.

   Included

   • Yamchun fort (Zamr-i-Atash-Parast) with your guide
   • The Bibi Fatima springs
   • The terraced Buddhist site at Vrang
   • Lunch at a homestay and dinner at a Pamiri homestay in Langar

   Easier option: Skip the climb at Vrang and look up at the terraces from the road.

   More active option: From Langar, a steep guided walk of about two hours up the slope above the village to rock carvings of ibex and hunters.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Langar

   Activity: About 2 km of walking on rough ground at about 3,000 m; take the climbs slowly.

8. Day 8: Over the Khargush pass to Murghab

   Langar over the Khargush pass to Alichur, then the Pamir Highway to Murghab

   • Drive about 8 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Murghab
   Day 8 details

   Today we climb out of the valleys and onto the high Pamir plateau, about 230 km and eight hours on the road with stops. We drive it in one go by choice: Bulunkul and Alichur have simple homestays, but a night there, at about 3,800 m, would add a third night above 3,500 m and cost a day elsewhere on the route. We leave at 8 and climb above the upper Panj, with a last view of the Wakhan peaks across the border, to the Khargush pass at 4,344 m, then down past Bulunkul to rejoin the Pamir Highway at Alichur, where we stop for a sit-down lunch at a chaikhana. The landscape changes completely: open grassland, yak and Kyrgyz shepherds' yurts, wide salt lakes and mountains that look low because the valley floor is already above 3,800 m. Late in the afternoon we reach Murghab, a town of about 7,000 at about 3,650 m, and check in to a guesthouse for the night.

   Included

   • Drive over the Khargush pass (4,344 m) with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Alichur
   • Dinner at the Murghab guesthouse

   Easier option: Stay in the vehicle at the Khargush pass and the photo stops.

   Free time: Early evening free in Murghab after check-in

   Activity: About eight hours on the road, in stages of about two hours with a sit-down lunch at Alichur. The pass is at 4,344 m and Murghab sits at about 3,650 m. Walk slowly, drink plenty and tell your guide about any headache.

9. Day 9: Ak-Baital pass and Karakul

   Murghab over the Ak-Baital pass to Karakul

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Karakul
   Day 9 details

   A shorter day, about 135 km and three and a half hours of driving. We start at 9 with a walk through Murghab's bazaar, built from old shipping containers, where traders bring goods from China and Kyrgyzstan, then head north on the Pamir Highway beside the fence of the old Soviet border strip with China. The road climbs to the Ak-Baital pass at 4,655 m, the highest point of the trip and of the whole highway; we stop for photos and a few slow steps, not long. On the far side the road drops to Karakul, a large lake at about 3,900 m in a basin thought to have been made by a meteorite impact, its water a deep blue against brown hills and the snow of the Pamirs. We arrive for a late lunch at our homestay in the village. The afternoon is free for a walk along the shore in the late light, and dinner is at the homestay.

   Included

   • Murghab container bazaar with your guide
   • The Ak-Baital pass (4,655 m)
   • Lunch and dinner at a homestay in Karakul

   Easier option: Stay in the vehicle at the Ak-Baital pass and rest at the homestay in the afternoon.

   More active option: A walk of about two hours along the Karakul shore to a viewpoint above the lake.

   Free time: Afternoon free at Karakul

   Activity: Tonight is the highest night of the trip, at about 3,900 m. Nights are cold even in summer, often near freezing; electricity and hot water are limited.

10. Day 10: Over the Kyzyl-Art pass to Osh

    Karakul over the Kyzyl-Art pass into Kyrgyzstan, then Sary-Tash and the Taldyk pass to Osh

    • Drive about 6.5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Osh
    Day 10 details

    We leave at 8 for the border on the Kyzyl-Art pass at about 4,280 m, an hour north of Karakul. Your guide handles the paperwork on both sides, and the formalities usually take one to two hours; between the two posts the road runs through about 20 km of no man's land. Below the pass the Alay valley opens up, wide green pasture under the Pamir's northern wall and Lenin Peak, at 7,134 m. We stop for a sit-down lunch in Sary-Tash, then cross the Taldyk pass at about 3,600 m and drop all afternoon through red hills and walnut country to Osh, at about 1,000 m. It is about 260 km and six and a half hours of driving, plus the border: long, but it brings you down to thick air and a hotel bed in one day, and the scenery after Sary-Tash makes the hours go quickly. Clocks go forward an hour at the border. Dinner is in Osh.

    Included

    • The Kyzyl-Art border crossing with your guide, with a change to Kyrgyz vehicles at the border if needed
    • Sit-down lunch in Sary-Tash
    • The Alay valley and the Taldyk pass
    • Dinner in Osh

    Easier option: Stay in the vehicle at the photo stops in the Alay valley.

    Free time: Evening free in Osh after dinner.

    Activity: An 8 am start, the border and about six and a half hours of driving, in stages of about two hours with a sit-down lunch in Sary-Tash. Kyrgyzstan is one hour ahead of Tajikistan.

11. Day 11: Osh and Sulaiman-Too

    Central Osh: Sulaiman-Too and the Jayma bazaar

    • Drive about 30 min
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Osh
    Day 11 details

    A morning in one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, and a day of rest after the high road. At 9 we climb the paths of Sulaiman-Too, the rock mountain in the middle of Osh, listed by UNESCO in 2009 as a sacred mountain used for pilgrimage for well over a thousand years. The climb to the top takes about 30 minutes, past rock-polished slides and shrines where local women still come to pray, to Babur's small mosque and the view over the city to the mountains you have just crossed. A museum built into a cave on the slope explains the site. Then we walk down into the Jayma bazaar, one of the largest markets in the region, which runs for a long stretch beside the Ak-Buura river. Lunch is a sit-down meal of lagman or plov in town. The afternoon is free, and in the evening we gather for a farewell dinner.

    Included

    • Sulaiman-Too with your guide, including the cave museum
    • The Jayma bazaar
    • Sit-down lunch in Osh
    • Farewell dinner

    Easier option: Walk only to the first terraces of Sulaiman-Too and meet the group at the museum.

    Free time: Afternoon free in Osh

    Activity: About 3 km on foot, with a climb of about 30 minutes on stone steps and paths.

12. Day 12: Depart from Osh

    Osh to Osh International Airport

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 12 details

    The trip ends after breakfast. A driver takes you to Osh International Airport (OSS), about 10 km and 20 minutes from the centre, at a time set by your flight. Osh has flights to Bishkek and onward connections, and we check the routes for your dates when you book; if you want to see more of the region, ask us about joining our Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan trip from Bishkek or our Uzbekistan Silk Road trip from Tashkent, both reached by a short flight. If your flight leaves late in the day, the morning is free for one more look at the bazaar, a coffee, or the slow walk back up Sulaiman-Too for the morning view. Your guide says goodbye at breakfast or sees you to the airport, and checks your flight before the group goes its separate ways.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Osh International Airport (OSS)

    Activity: Hotel checkout is usually at noon; any flight time works, and the transfer is timed to your flight.

Wildlife and weather: July to September is the season: hot in Dushanbe and Osh, often above 35 C, warm days in the Panj and Wakhan valleys, and cold nights on the plateau, near freezing at Murghab and Karakul even in August. Sudden snow on the high passes is possible at either end of the season. Look out for yaks, marmots and Kyrgyz herders' yurts on the plateau.

• Dushanbe2 nights
• Kalaikhum1 night
• Khorog2 nights
• Yamchun1 night
• Langar1 night
• Murghab1 night
• Karakul1 night
• Osh2 nights