Red Fort

The Pamir Highway


The minimal ruins of this old 'red fort' has lent its name to the valley's main town. The town has a small bazaar and a fine location at the base of a contorted rocky landscape.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby The Pamir Highway attractions

1. Canyon Viewpoint

9.88 MILES

This impressive canyon can be glimpsed from the roadside but it's best getting out of the vehicle to appreciate it properly. A 30-second walk from the…

2. Ancient Shrine

12.11 MILES

Set within a traditional walled enclosure and now protected within an octagonal cover added in the 1990s, this is one of several authentic ancient Ismaili…

3. Durum-Kul Viewpoint

14.74 MILES

In the village of Sezhd (Km71), a tough, easily missed 4WD track spirals up and over a dusty ridge finally petering out after 6km in the green, very…

4. Pamir Botanical Gardens

18.77 MILES

At the entrance to the Shokh Dara Valley, 5km east of town, this arboretum encompasses a couple of hundred hectares of parkland and is claimed to be the…

5. First Truck Monument

19.55 MILES

A 1928 truck on a plinth just below the hydroelectric dam at the eastern end of Lenin, commemorates the opening of the Pamir Hwy to Osh after over 20…

7. Central Park

21.46 MILES

It’s hard to believe that Khorog’s Central Park was dug up to grow crops during the famine of the 1990s. It has since been renovated by the Aga Khan Trust…

8. Regional Museum

21.46 MILES

This fascinating Soviet-style old-school museum exhibits crampons and the first Russian piano to arrive in Badakhshan (10 Russian soldiers spent two…