The hook
One of the world's great road journeys, a rough ribbon of tarmac and gravel climbing over passes above four thousand metres across the "roof of the world," past glacial lakes, yak herders, and the mountains of four countries.
01Why it's worth it
The Pamir Highway crosses the high plateau of eastern Tajikistan, among the loftiest and most remote inhabited landscapes on earth, and driving it is a slow, spectacular multi-day expedition. The road climbs over passes above four thousand metres onto a stark, thin-aired world of ochre mountains, high salt lakes, and scattered Kyrgyz and Pamiri villages where you sleep in family homestays. The most beautiful stretch drops into the Wakhan Corridor, a green valley following a river with Afghanistan on the far bank and the snow wall of the Hindu Kush beyond, dotted with ancient forts, hot springs, and shrines. It is genuinely hard travel, cold, high, bumpy, and far from help, and altitude is a real concern, but for those who want mountains at their most immense and empty, few journeys compare. It is a route to be earned rather than a sight to be seen.
02How to experience it
Go in summer, hire a sturdy 4x4 and driver (or cycle it if you are very hardy), and take several days, sleeping in Pamiri homestays along the way. Detour into the Wakhan Corridor for its valley scenery and forts. Acclimatise, carry supplies, and treat the altitude and remoteness with respect.