10 days Pamir-one of the most beautiful and highest routes on earth.

The Pamir Highway is one of the few roads where a real motorcycle lover's heart will beat faster. The Pamir Highway or Pamir Highway, abbreviated as M41, is the main artery of life. The road was built between 1931 and 1934 for the Soviet military. Its history goes back thousands of years when it was still part of the Silk Road. Opinions about its beginning (Afghanistan, Uzbekistan or Tajikistan) differ, but the highway ends right in the city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan. Our journey begins in the same city, overcoming the classic part of the Pamir Highway between Khorog and Osh. We start our journey in Osh, from where we will ascend to the Pamir plateau, form a circle and return to Osh. Most of the road runs at an altitude of 4000 meters. Due to its high location above sea level, the Pamir Highway is one of the highest mountain roads in the world.

Day 1 arrival

There are two ways to fly to Osh:

Bishkek International Airport, change and fly another 45 min domestic flight to Osh.

Bishkek International Airport with transfer in Moscow.

You will then be transferred to the hotel by transfer. The rest of the day we will devote to the test drive, the info briefing and the city tour. Osch is the capital of southern Kyrgyzstan. The population there is more conservative than in Bishkek. This conservative behavior is evident in clothing style, behavior and belief. In addition, only a few restaurants offer alcoholic beverages. You can visit the biggest attraction of the city "Suleiman Mountain". This is a sacred mountain for Central Asian Muslims and offers a breathtaking panoramic view of the city. In Osh you can feel the real origin and diversity of Central Asia. We will also visit the market, try the real Uzbek or Uyghur pilaf / Plov and taste famous watermelons and melons.

Day 2 Osh - Sary Tash 186 km

The day begins with breakfast in the hotel. If the Kyrgyz people wish them a happy journey, they say "ak zhol" - the white path. Today's trip will be on asphalt. You will reach noticeable heights on the Taldykb mountain pass (3615 meters high). Today's destination Sary-Tash is a village between the ridges of the Pamir Highway. It is an important point on the Pamir tract, because four roads converge here: to the warm and flat Osh, to the Murgab highlands, to the Tajik Jirga valley and to the Chinese Kashgar. In the afternoon, traditional Kyrgyz campsites - yurts - appear on the horizon. This will be the last city and shop before the Tajikistan border.

Accommodation in a guest house in Sary-Tash.

Day 3 Sary – Tash Murghab, 227 km

After breakfast we drive to Tajikistan. Immediately after leaving Sary-Tash we have the opportunity to see Lenin Peak (7,134 meters high) in good weather. We will pass the Kyzyl Art Pass (4,280 meters high). This is followed by several ten kilometers of driving on a direct asphalt road to the border point of Kyrgyzstan. From this point on, a journey through the “no man's land”. The serenity of the border police and manual handling without a computer and mobile network require a little patience and time. It seems like you're still in the 70's. After some time at the border, we will drive in Tajikistan over the Pamir plateau to a real extreme, the Ak Baital Pass (4,655 meters above sea level). Gradually, a change from asphalt roads to gravel roads will take place. On the gravel roads we face obstacles and everything nature has in store for us. You will likely suffer from a lack of oxygen at an average altitude of 4,000 meters. Be prepared for this adventure, because of the altitude, that you will feel bad or even very bad until your body adapts to the altitude.

At the end of the day we will reach the next place to stay. The second largest city of Tajikistan, Murghab, is 3,612 meters high in the mountains of the eastern Pamir. This is one of the most remote areas of Tajikistan - almost 1000 kilometers from Dushanbe. Here there is the famous Lenina Street with administrative buildings, abandoned Russian military barracks from the Soviet era, vintage vehicles made in Russia, monuments to the Kyrgyz and Tajik soldiers (who died in the Second World War), of course bazaar and many happy and carefree children of the Pamir. The climate here is harsh - in winter to minus fifty and in summer to plus forty degrees Celsius. The weather contrasts in summer are also very significant - in summer it is warm and at night strong, cold wind flows down to the Alpine valley. The wind whirls smoke from dozen wood stoves under the giant Pamir stars and fills the air with a pleasant Pamir aroma.

Accommodation in a pension in Murghab.

Day 4 Murghab - Langar (Wakhan / Panj valley), 226 km

After breakfast we will continue our journey on the Pamir plateau to the Panj valley along the border with Afghanistan. This is one of the wildest and most deserted sections of our path, where the remotest corners of Tajikistan and Afghanistan border. Here you can see slowly moving caravans on the way to the other side of the border. Such events look like an illusion, messengers from the distant time of the great silk road. A rocky and stony road with several river crossings awaits us. In the afternoon we will drive from 4000 to 2900 meters above sea level in the Panj Valley. It gets warmer and finally we will reach the village of Langar. As soon as we arrive, we will have time to relax, rest and see ancient petroglyphs (cave paintings).

Accommodation in a pension

Day 5 Langar - Ishkashim (both Wakhan / Panj valley), 136 km

Breakfast - on the mopeds and go through the most picturesque part of the Panj Valley, the Vakhan Corridor! This narrow strip of land along the valleys and the rivers Panj, Pamir and Wahan, which at the beginning of the 20th century divided the areas and spheres of influence of the Russian and British empires on the border with Asia. The Pamir Highway, which we will follow, runs along the majestic banks of the Panj River and the Afghan border. The Panj river valley has quite a bit of fertile land compared to the rest of the country. We will drive through traditional Central Asian villages, see irrigated fields, rows of poplar trees and traditional huts on the slopes of the valley. Another striking landmark of the Vakhan Valley is the Yachmun Fortress. This fortress was built here as early as the 3rd century BC to protect against military attacks and to control the main trade routes from the Pamir to India and Persia that led through the Panj Valley. Life on both sides of the border river is about the same. The village of Ischkaschim is located on one bank in Tajikistan and a twin village of Ischkaschim on the other bank in Afghanistan. On Saturday, the inhabitants of both twin villages gather on an island in the river and trade visa-free and duty-free with each other.

Accommodation in a pension.

Day 6 Ishkashim - Khorog 104 km

You will receive breakfast from a local family and then we will continue on our way. This time our goal will be the Autonomous District of Badakhshan with the capital Khorog. The road will lead through numerous villages and apricot plantations.

Here is some information about the city:

Khorog is the capital of Pamir, an island of civilization with 30,000 inhabitants and is located at an altitude of 2,200 meters.

The main attraction is the botanical Alpine garden.

Here you again meet Lenina Street, a nostalgic greeting from the Soviet era.

The two mountain rivers Panj and Gunt flow into the Khogor.

There are government agencies in Khogor, the residence of the Tajik president, a university, banks and restaurants.

We will check in at the hotel and go exploring.

Accommodation in a pension.

Day 7 Khorog - Savnob (Bartang valley), 183 km

After breakfast we will leave civilization towards Bartang Valley. The start of the route will be easy, but the road conditions will deteriorate. We hope that the road will not be flooded in summer. Due to flooding and landslides, it will be difficult to drive through some sections. If the landslides block the road, we will look for ways to bypass the roadblocks. After the stress of the day we will reach the most beautiful village in the Bartang river valley. The village of Savnob lies on the edge of a deep gorge, surrounded by mighty mountains with snow-capped peaks, and the village itself blooms through green gardens. The brook in which the villagers wash themselves offers the best view of the village.

Accommodation in a pension.

Day 8 Savnob - Karakul (Bartang valley), 180 km

Breakfast in the pension, then put on and go! The technically most difficult day lies ahead of us. The further we move, the more difficult and worse the road conditions become. But as a reward, the Bartang Valley will appear before us in all its glory and picturesque views. In the afternoon we will cross the Bartang valley and return to the Pamir plateau. A terrain with rough road conditions awaits us here. In the evening we will reach the beautiful lake Karakul. The lake was formed by a meteorite fall, just like the Kaali lake in Saaremaa, only the Karakul lake is much larger. There are only a few creatures in the lake. In addition, there is only one species of fish in the lake that is inedible. Today we will spend the night with a normal amount of oxygen in the air, but under the harsh climatic conditions of the Pamir plateau.

Accommodation in a pension.

Day 9 Karakul - Osh, 280 km. Plane to Bishkek

Get up early, have breakfast and off you go! Today we're going to have a long drive in the opposite direction. We will soon reach the border with Tajikistan, where we will have to wait for the usual procedure of control, border, customs and drug control. Our path continues through the wilderness to the Kyrgyz border. From there begins a paved road that mainly leads downhill directly to Osch. If you have flown to and from Osh, a hotel and dinner will await you here.

Accommodation in a hotel in Osh.

Day 10 departure

Breakfast in the hotel.