Pamir Highway: Khorog to Ak Baital Pass

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Khorog

   Khorog sits on the edge of Afghanistan, with only a river between them. The town lies at about 2,200 metres in the valley of the Gunt and Panj rivers, in the Gorno-Badakhshan region of Tajikistan, and from its streets you can see across the Panj to the villages and mountain tracks of the Afghan Pamir, close enough to hear the dogs. About thirty thousand people live here, the regional capital, and its character is calm and rather quiet, with tree-lined streets, Soviet-era buildings and a river promenade. A park beside the river is a pleasant place for a walk.

   Read the complete Khorog write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Khorog is where the day begins. Next is Murghab.

2. 2. Murghab

   Murghab is a town at the top of the world, or close to it. At around 3,600 metres on the high Pamir plateau in eastern Tajikistan, it is among the highest settlements in Central Asia, a scatter of low buildings and shipping containers set on a vast, cold desert of gravel, with bare mountains standing on every side. The air is thin and dry, the sky is an intense blue, and the nights can fall well below freezing even in summer. In winter, temperatures drop to minus thirty or lower.

   Read the complete Murghab write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Murghab comes up about 314 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ak Baital Pass.

3. 3. Ak Baital Pass

   The Ak-Baital Pass, at 4,655 metres, is the highest point on the Pamir Highway, and it looks the part: a bare, windswept saddle of grey and tan rock, with no trees, no plants and scarcely any life except the odd marmot, on a high plateau where the sky seems dark blue even at noon. The name means White Horse, and the story is that a white horse once crossed here and left no tracks, though no one can say when. The road climbs from the east across a long, rough plateau and drops to the west toward Karakul, with the borders of China and Kyrgyzstan not far away.

   Read the complete Ak Baital Pass write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 390 km. Nothing on this route is higher.