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Motorcycle Adventure Touring in Karakoram Highway
The paved highway that climbs through Gilgit-Baltistan from the Indus gorge to the Khunjerab Pass on the Chinese border at 4,733 metres, the highest paved international frontier crossing on earth. Its great mountain stretch runs north through Chilas, Gilgit and the Hunza and Nagar valleys, past Rakaposhi, the Passu Cones and Attabad Lake, under an almost unbroken wall of 7,000-metre peaks. It is one of the world's classic overland and motorcycle roads.
Why here
Riding the Karakoram Highway is one of the world's great motorcycle journeys, a paved thread climbing from the plains of Pakistan to the Khunjerab Pass on the Chinese border at 4,733 metres, the highest paved international frontier crossing anywhere. Built over two decades by Pakistani and Chinese crews through some of the most broken terrain on the planet, the road follows the Indus gorge and then the Hunza river north, past the hanging glaciers of Rakaposhi, the spire cluster of the Passu Cones, and the turquoise Attabad Lake that drowned a stretch of the old road in 2010 and is now bypassed by long tunnels. The classic ride runs from Islamabad up through Chilas, Gilgit and the Hunza valley to Sost and the Khunjerab, with side roads to Skardu and the Deosai plateau. It is a rider's road for the scenery and the sheer altitude rather than for speed, with hairpins, rough patches, glacial meltwater across the tarmac and army checkposts, all set under a continuous horizon of high peaks.
Best months
The riding season is roughly May to October, when the Khunjerab Pass and the high side roads are open and clear of snow. July and August are warmest but can bring landslides and flash floods that close sections of the highway for hours, so buffer days help. Mornings are cold at altitude and the Khunjerab is near freezing even in summer. The road surface swings from smooth new asphalt to broken, gravel and meltwater-washed stretches, and the thin air above 4,000 metres saps both rider and engine. The pass itself usually closes with the first heavy snow from late autumn.
Getting there & around
Most riders start from Islamabad or Rawalpindi, either bringing a bike or renting one there, and run the highway north over seven to twelve days to the Khunjerab and back, often with a support vehicle carrying luggage, fuel and a spare. Foreign riders need the usual Pakistan visa and, for the Khunjerab and some side valleys, permits that operators arrange. Fuel is available in the main towns but thins out up-valley, so range and jerry cans matter. Gilgit and Karimabad are the natural rest and repair stops. Landslide closures and checkpost paperwork make rigid schedules unwise.
Skill levels: intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Karakoram Bikers
OutfitterKarakoram Bikers is a registered and licensed motorcycle tour operator with an office in Melbourne, Australia and operations in Lahore and Gilgit, able to issue letters of invitation for the Pakistan visa. It runs its own guided rides on the Karakoram Highway, including the Classic Karakoram, Indus Shyok Adventure and Pure Pakistan tours through the greater Hunza region, Khunjerab, Skardu, Khaplu and Deosai, providing the motorcycles, a support vehicle and mechanics on route.
Pakistan Bikers
OutfitterPakistan Bikers has run guided motorcycle tours since 2015 from bases in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Skardu, and its riding programme is led by Mr Agha, a native of the Skardu valley. It operates its own Karakoram Highway motorbike expeditions through the Hunza valley, Skardu and Fairy Meadows toward the Khunjerab Pass, providing the bikes, a support vehicle, fuel and mechanics rather than acting as an agent, and it has hosted riders from more than forty countries over the years.