Sharda: a university in the mountains
For six hundred years this was one of South Asia's great centres of learning, and it gave an entire script its name.
Read itAzad Kashmir
Neelum: one river, ninety miles
A valley road that climbs slowly through pine and wooden villages, at altitudes gentle enough to enjoy from the first afternoon.
Neelum: one river, ninety miles
If the Karakoram is the north at its most severe, Neelum is the north at its most habitable. The valley runs 144 kilometres — about ninety miles — from Muzaffarabad up toward the high passes, and for most of that length the Neelum river is within earshot of the road.
Elevations run from around 4,000 to 7,500 feet along the valley floor, with peaks above reaching 17,000. That means you can arrive and walk on the same day, which in Gilgit-Baltistan you cannot.
A short history
The river starts in the Gurez valley on the Indian-administered side and runs west and then south-west until it joins the Jhelum at Muzaffarabad. The valley has been a route and a frontier for as long as there have been either, and the Line of Control runs close to the road for long stretches — which is part of why the upper valley needs permits arranged in advance.
Neelum is the largest district in Azad Kashmir by area, 3,621 square kilometres, and one of the least crowded — roughly 191,000 people in the 2017 census. It is thickly wooded, which after the bare rock of the far north comes as a relief.
It is also unusually layered linguistically. Hindko, Kashmiri, Shina and Gujari are all spoken here, and so is Kundal Shahi — a language found in this valley and effectively nowhere else, with a few hundred speakers left. It is one of the more fragile things in the north and most visitors drive straight past it.
Places worth your time
- Keran
- The first proper stop coming up from Muzaffarabad, right on the water, with the far bank close enough to see people going about their evening.
- Sharda
- Ruins, river, and the best light in the valley. Worth a night rather than a photograph.
- Kel and Arang Kel
- Kel is the road head; Arang Kel is the meadow village above it, reached by a chairlift and then a short climb on foot. Stay the night up there if you can — the day crowd leaves by four and the place changes completely.
- Ratti Gali Lake
- An alpine lake above the treeline, reached by jeep and then on foot. It clears of snow later than the valley floor, usually from late June.
- The road itself
- Genuinely the attraction. There is no single viewpoint that justifies the drive; the drive justifies the drive.
Before you go
May to September. Road all the way from Islamabad through Muzaffarabad; there are no flights. Permits for the upper valley are arranged before you arrive, and the rules differ for Pakistani and foreign nationals.
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