The Karakoram Highway is the highest paved international road on earth, cutting through three of the world’s greatest mountain ranges.
Snaking through some of the most extreme terrain on the planet, the Karakoram Highway holds a title few roads can claim. It is the highest paved international road in the world, climbing to roughly 4,693 meters, or about 15,397 feet, at the Khunjerab Pass on the border between Pakistan and China. Locals and travelers often call it the KKH, and it is sometimes described as the Eighth Wonder of the World.
The highway stretches around 1,300 kilometers in total, linking Pakistan’s northern regions with China’s Xinjiang region. Roughly 887 kilometers of it run through Pakistan, from near the town of Hassan Abdal in the foothills up into the mountains, while the remaining stretch continues across the border toward the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar. Along the way it threads through the Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa areas, following river valleys carved deep into the rock.
What makes the route so staggering is the landscape it passes through. The Karakoram Highway cuts across the meeting point of three of the world’s greatest mountain systems, the Karakoram, the Himalayas, and the Hindu Kush. Travelers can see Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest peak on earth, from parts of the road, along with vast glaciers and some of the tallest mountains anywhere.
Building a Road Through the Karakoram Mountains
The construction of the Karakoram Highway was a massive undertaking that stretched across decades. Work began in the late 1950s and continued for years as a joint effort between Pakistan and China, with the road finally opening to the public in 1986 after long and difficult labor.
The human cost was heavy. Building a paved road through this terrain meant blasting through unstable rock at extreme altitudes, and hundreds of workers lost their lives during construction, most of them in landslides and falls. The section crossing the Khunjerab Pass itself was fully paved in 1982, replacing older unpaved routes that had served as the main crossings through the range for generations.
Keeping the road open remains a constant battle against nature. The Khunjerab Pass closes for part of the year, typically open only from early May through the end of December, because of heavy winter snow. During the monsoon months of July and August, rain can trigger landslides that block sections of the road for hours or longer, and some stretches require regular clearing and repair.
What Travelers Find Along the Karakoram Highway
For all its dangers, the KKH has become one of Pakistan’s most popular tourist destinations, drawing adventure travelers from around the world. The route passes a series of remarkable landmarks that have turned it into a bucket-list road trip.
- Hunza Valley. One of the highway’s most beloved stops, known for terraced fields, traditional villages like Karimabad, and views of the towering Rakaposhi peak.
- Attabad Lake. A striking blue-green lake nestled among the mountains, popular for boating and photography.
- Khunjerab Pass. The highest paved border crossing in the world, marked by an iconic gate separating Pakistan and China, and bordered by a national park where snow leopards and Marco Polo sheep live.
- Gilgit. A major hub along the route and a gateway city for travelers heading deeper into the region.
The road is also known for its sheer drama. It regularly appears on lists of the world’s most thrilling and hair-raising drives, with narrow sections winding along steep drops and dramatic gorges.
The Karakoram Highway is more than a modern engineering feat. It traces a corridor that humans have used for thousands of years, roughly following one of the branches of the old Silk Road that once carried traders, pilgrims, and goods between South Asia and China.
Plans have been discussed to widen and upgrade the highway in the years ahead, expanding its capacity to handle far more traffic than it was originally built for. The route that took nearly three decades to carve through the mountains continues to connect two countries across one of the most forbidding landscapes on earth.
