8-day Pamir Highway Tour8 Days | Private | Spring, summer and autumn | Dushanbe, Kalai-Khumb, Khorog, Ishkashim, Langar , Murgab, Karakul Lake, Sary-Tash

Arrive in Dushanbe. You will be met by Advantour driver and transferred to the hotel. Check in to the hotel at noon. Free time. Overnight at the hotel.

Our guide and driver will meet you at your hotel in Dushanbe. Start guided city tour with visiting of Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquities (closed on Mondays) that includes the exhibits on history, natural history and art (Buddha in Nirvana is one of the valuable exhibits of the museum). Walk along Rudaki Avenue, Statue of Ismail Samani, Rudaki Park with Flag Pole. Lunch.
Transfer to Hissar Fortress (30 km from Dushanbe) where you can see Kukhna Madrasah. Return to Dushanbe and visit Mehrgon Bazaar, Istiqlol Complex with museum and Dushanbe Imam Abu Hanifa Cathedral Mosque. End of Dushanbe City Tour. Overnight at the hotel.
Duration of sightseeing tour: 8-9 hours

After breakfast, depart to Pamir Mountains on Highway M41 via Tavildara and Khaburabad pass (or via Kulyab region). You may notice more conservative attitudes of local dressing style and beards, but the hospitality is just as welcoming. We pass over the Khaburabad mountain pass to Kalai-Khumb, which is located on the Panj River. Overnight at the hotel.

Our road lies along the Panj River, a tributary of the mighty Amu Darya River. You will have a chance to see Afghanistan from the right side across the river. Continue driving to Khorog, a small mountain valley town, the capital of the autonomous Gorno-Badakhshan region. The city lies 2000 m above the sea level, strung out irregularly along the slopes of both sides of the dashing Gunt River. A few kilometers downstream, the Gunt merges with the Panj, the river that marks the border with Afghanistan. In Khorog visit Botanic garden and the local museum. Overnight at the hotel.

In the morning, visit the famous mineral hot spring Garm-Chashma and ruby mines of Kuhi Lal in Khorog (where Badakhshani rubies were mined as early as 14th century). Later depart to Ishkashim, a small town at the mouth of the Wakhan corridor, where the 19th century Great Game ended. Continue up the north side of the river with amazing views of the Pamirs to the left and the Hindu Kush to the right; a number of peaks in view are above 6,000 m. If you are lucky and you arrive to Ishkashim on Saturday, you can see the border Tajik-Afghan market on the Afghan side. Afghan visa is not required to cross to the market. Overnight at guesthouse.

Drive from Ishkashim to Langar. On the way, visit one of the old fortresses on the Silk Road Kah-Kaha in Namadgut. Continue to the Museum of Sufi Muborak-Kadami Vakhani, a local Sufi scholar, theologian, poet and traveller, who died in 1910. There is a stone pillar with a hole near his house, which he used to calculate a solar calendar and a building with inscriptions and decorations made by the scholar. We will also visit Buddhist Stupa in Vrang, sacred hot springs of Bibi Fatima Zahra, and ruins of Yamchun Fortress (IV-III B.C.) that guarded once Pamir branch of the Great Silk Road. Overnight at homestay.

Start the day with a trip to petroglyphs. There are more than 600 rock carvings made by prehistoric people lying under the open sky in that area. Continue to Khargush, source of Amu Darya River. Cross the road via pass Khargush (4344 m). Pass Nayza-Tash (4137 m). Arrive in Murgab. Overnight at homestay.

At 7:00 am transfer to Karakul lake. The views of mountains and glaciers along the way are breath-taking as the road takes us to the Ak-Baital Pass (The White Horse Pass 4655 m). This is the highest pass in the former USSR, real “The Roof of the World” and the hidden site in this expanse of arid landscape is the stunning Karakul Lake created millions of years ago.
Continue to Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border point via Kyzylart and Taldyk Passes to Osh in Kyrgyzstan. Arrive at border check point. Cross 9 km neutral zone. Arrive at the Kyrgyz border crossing point, which is at the bottom of the pass. Meet your Kyrgyzstan driver and head to Sary-Tash (90 km). Lunch in the Kyrgyz family. Transfer to Osh (185 km) hotel or Airport. End of the tour service.

Karon Palace

Dekhli Darbor / Lal

Guesthouse

Homestay

Hotel «Pamir»