Gilgit Karakoram Highway Gateway to the Mountains
Discover Gilgit — the mountain capital of Gilgit-Baltistan where the Karakoram Highway arrives from China through the Khunjerab Pass, where three of the world's greatest mountain ranges (Karakoram, Hindu Kush, and Himalaya) converge within a hundred kilometers, and where the rivers and valleys spreading out from the town offer access to some of the highest and most remote landscapes on earth.
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Gilgit Town Bazaar
The main bazaar of Gilgit town where the cultural mix of the Karakoram highway trade route is visible — Ismaili merchants from Hunza alongside Shia families from Gilgit proper, Chinese goods sold next to locally made wooden craft items, and the dried apricots, walnuts, and saffron of the mountain valleys piled high in the spice shops.
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Karakoram Highway Viewpoint
The viewpoint above Gilgit where the Karakoram Highway can be seen cutting through the mountain walls below — the road that Chinese engineers blasted through rock faces considered impassable, connecting Pakistan and China through the world's highest paved international road at 4,693 meters at the Khunjerab Pass.
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Gilgit River Confluence
The confluence of the Gilgit river with the Indus — the geographical point where the two great mountain rivers meet, the clear turquoise waters of the Gilgit mixing with the grey glacial silt of the Indus, the rivers flowing from entirely different mountain systems meeting in the valley below the town.
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Kargah Buddha Rock Carving
The 7th-century rock carving of a standing Buddha on the cliffs above Gilgit town — evidence of the Buddhist civilization that preceded Islam in the Gilgit region, the 6-meter figure carved into the cliff face during the period when Gilgit was part of the Buddhist cultural world of the Silk Road.
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Gilgit Polo Ground
The traditional polo ground in Gilgit where the distinctive mountain polo of Gilgit-Baltistan is played — a faster, rougher version of the game than its modern international equivalent, played without goals and referees in the original mountain tradition that claims polo was invented in these valleys.
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Mountain Views from Town
The panoramic mountain views from Gilgit town itself — the snow-capped peaks visible above the town in every direction, the Rakaposhi massif visible to the north, the feeling of being inside a cathedral of mountains that makes Gilgit one of the most dramatically situated towns in Asia.