Getting There
The beautiful Shandur Pass is located near to Gilgit-Baltistan. It is about 169 km from Gilgit-Baltistan and 453 km from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
By Air: The nearest airport that can be used for air travel Shandur Pass is Gilgit-Baltistan Airport
By Road: Shandur Pass is located at a distance of about 168 km from Gilgit-Baltistan.You can easily travel from Islamabad Motorway to Swat Motorway. By car, you can reach Shandur Pass from Islamabad in 9 hours. The distance from Islamabad to Shandur Pass is 453 km.
By Train: If you want to go to Shandur Pass by train from any part of the country, there is no train available to go to Shandur Pass. So you can get off at Nowshehra Railway station or Peshawar station and go Shandur Pass by car, bus and Jeep.
What to Expect
Shandur Pass is called the “Roof of the World” and it is located between the Chitral district and Ghizer district of GB. Shandur Polo Festival is a big event that is organized here each summer. This remains the huge reason behind the attraction grabbed by the tourists.
In Pakistan, Shandur Pass remains one of the major mountain passes and also a stunning natural landscape to visit in Pakistan. Shandur Lake is one of the most beautiful lakes in Pakistan. It is located in the district of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan as a high mountain pass connects it to Chitral and Gilgit.
The upper side of the lake is flat so it is also called Roof of the World. Its beauty is majestic. The clouds that hover above it add to its beauty. The temperature there is always 14 degrees Celsius, never going up or down, maintaining cloudy weather.
The greenery everywhere at Shandur catches the hearts of tourists, and the valleys of Shandur increase its beauty in general. The place is most famous because of the Shandur Polo Festival. Shandur Polo Festival is one of the biggest festivals in Pakistan, it is held in Pakistan from 7th to 9th July every year.
History
Shandur Pass associates Ghizer District of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is frequently called ‘Top of the World’. Shandur top is a level and can be gone between late April and early November. The evaluation is exceptionally progressive, and the region is crossed by abundant little streams during summer.
During the yearly ‘Shandur Polo Festival,’ there are polo matches played in Shandur Polo Ground on Shandur Top, between the neighborhood groups of Gilgit-Baltistan and KPK. Roughly seven matches are played in the three days of the celebration typically hung on July seventh to ninth consistently. The last match is played on July ninth between Teams An of Gilgit and Chitral.
In 1935 UK Administrator for Evelyn Hey Cobb requested Niat Qabool Hayat Kakakhel nambardar of Ghizer to make a Big polo ground in Shandur. The polo ground was named “Mas Junali”, in light of the fact that in the Khowar language ‘mas’ is the word for ‘moon’ and ‘junali’ is the word for ‘polo ground, and Cobb was attached to playing polo in the twilight. Cobb was dazzled by Kakakhail’s genius and proficiency and wished to remunerate him for his administration, yet Kakakhail would not acknowledge any prize for his work. Rather, for the regular advantage, Kakakhail asked Cobb to carry trout to stock the neighborhood streams. Cobb requested live trout from England and dropped them into the River Ghizer.
Facilities Available
- A lot of hotels and motels are located on the road side with beautiful views of the mountains.
- Bazaars with local food and handicrafts are the main attraction of the area.
- Landline and mobile connectivity makes it comfortable for the tourists to communicate.
- Local tourist’s guides are also available for tourist facilitation.
- Local and private transport is easily available 24/7.
- Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Motels are available at Panah Kot, Dir, Chitral, Bamburet (Kalash Valley), Besham (KKH), Barseen (KKH) and Gilgit. There are many private Hotels and Guest Houses as well. Besides it, the tent village on the Shandur Top has all the facilities. During the Shandur Festival, a tourist tent village is being set up, with all the essential amenities of life. Merchants from Peshawar, Chitral and Gilgit set up their Kiosks of souvenirs and handicrafts.
