🇵🇰Roads in Pakistan
2 roads found in Pakistan, Asia
Fairy Meadows Road
🇵🇰 Pakistan
The Fairy Meadows Road is a narrow, unpaved jeep track in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region that ascends from the Karakoram Highway at Raikot Bridge to the trailhead of Fairy Meadows, a lush alpine grassland at 3,300 meters directly beneath the massive Nanga Parbat, the world's ninth-highest mountain. The 16-kilometer road clings to sheer cliff faces with no guardrails, barely wide enough for a single vehicle, and drops hundreds of meters into the gorge below. Widely considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world, the Fairy Meadows Road was carved out of the mountainside and sees regular rockfalls, washouts, and collapses. Only experienced local jeep drivers attempt the full route, and even they sometimes refuse when conditions deteriorate. Despite the terror of the approach, the reward is extraordinary: Fairy Meadows offers one of the most spectacular mountain views on the planet, with Nanga Parbat's Rupal Face—the highest rock wall in the world at over 4,600 meters—towering directly above.
Karakoram Highway
🇵🇰 Pakistan
The Karakoram Highway (KKH) is one of the highest paved international roads in the world, connecting Hasan Abdal in Pakistan's Punjab province with Kashgar in China's Xinjiang region. The highway stretches over 1,300 kilometers and reaches its highest point at the Khunjerab Pass at 4,693 meters on the Pakistan-China border. Often called the "Eighth Wonder of the World," the KKH took 20 years to build (1959-1979) and cost the lives of approximately 810 Pakistani and 82 Chinese workers, roughly one life for every kilometer of road. The highway follows the ancient Silk Road route through some of the most extreme mountain terrain on Earth. It passes through the Karakoram, Himalayan, and Hindu Kush mountain ranges, running alongside deep gorges, past glaciers, and beneath peaks exceeding 7,000 and 8,000 meters. The section through the Hunza Valley is considered one of the most beautiful stretches of road anywhere, with views of Rakaposhi (7,788 m), Ultar Sar (7,388 m), and the ancient Baltit Fort perched above the valley floor. The road is subject to frequent landslides, rockfalls, and washouts, particularly during the monsoon season and spring snowmelt. The Attabad Lake section, created by a massive landslide in 2010, requires drivers to use a tunnel system completed in 2015 to bypass the blocked valley. Despite the hazards, the KKH offers access to some of the world's most extraordinary mountain scenery and culturally rich communities, including the Hunza people, known for their legendary longevity and hospitality.