Bar Valley Nagar: Glaciers and Village Walks

Bar is a farming valley in upper Nagar, reached by jeep road from Chalt, sitting below two large glaciers, Baltar and Toltar, that drain the Batura Wall. Its name simply means "valley" in Burushaski, and it is one of the least visited corners of Nagar, known to trekkers rather than to most tourists on the Karakoram Highway.

This guide covers the road in from Chalt, what the village and its surroundings are like, and the pasture walk that takes you up towards the Baltar glacier.

Where is Bar valley?

Bar sits in the northern part of Nagar district, reached by the same side road that leaves the Karakoram Highway at Chalt and climbs towards Chaprot before continuing further up the valley system to Bar itself, roughly 20 km from Chalt on a narrow jeep track. The Batura Wall, a line of peaks around 7,500 metres on the Hunza side of the range, bisects the country between Gojal and Bar, and two of its glaciers, Baltar to the north-east and Toltar to the north-west, feed the valley with meltwater.

Our guide to Chalt valley covers the road junction and the other side valleys reached from the same starting point.

Getting there

The road from Chalt to Bar is unpaved for its whole length and narrower than the Chaprot road, so it needs a jeep and a driver who knows the current conditions rather than a normal car.

• Go with a local driver. The road can be affected by landslides and stream crossings, particularly after rain or in the early part of the season.
• Ask in Chalt or Chaprot before you set off, since conditions change through the summer.
• Plan for a full day from Karimabad or Gilgit if you want to reach the village and walk any distance beyond it, rather than trying to fit it around other stops.

What Bar village is like

Bar is a working farming village rather than a tourist stop, with fields set among the glacier streams and little in the way of shops, restaurants or formal accommodation. Anyone wanting to stay overnight should arrange it through a guesthouse or trekking operator in Karimabad before setting out, and bring food and water rather than expect to buy them locally.

The pull of the village for visitors who do make the trip is its setting: farmland pressed up against two big glaciers, with none of the traffic of Hopper or the Rakaposhi View Point.

Walking to the Baltar glacier

Bar is also a trailhead for a short, non-technical trek through summer pastures towards the Baltar glacier, usually run as a three-day round trip:

1. Day one. Cross the river at Bar village and follow the true left bank of the valley to the pasture at Shuwe.
2. Day two. Continue up alongside the outwash stream of the Baltar glacier as it bends east, then cross the moraine-covered ice to reach the open pastures on the glacier's north side.
3. Day three. Return the way you came to Bar village.

This is a trek for parties with some walking experience and, ideally, a local guide who knows the current line across the moraine; it is not a casual day walk from the road. The best months are July and August, when the pastures are at their most pleasant and the route is most reliably open. Our guide to camping in Gilgit-Baltistan covers what to bring for nights out in pastures like these.

Is Bar valley worth the trip?

For most visitors on a short Hunza trip, no; the drive is long and rough for a village with little to see beyond farmland and two glaciers you cannot easily walk onto without committing to the full pasture trek. It suits trekkers heading for the Baltar glacier pastures, and anyone who specifically wants to see a working Nagar valley away from the tourist road. If your interest is glacier scenery with an easier drive and a proper viewpoint, Hopper, covered in our Hopper valley guide, gives you more for far less effort.

Frequently asked questions