Polo in Gilgit-Baltistan: Where and When to Watch

Polo in Gilgit-Baltistan is freestyle polo: six riders a side, no umpire, a narrow walled ground and very few rules. There are two reliable ways to watch it. The Shandur Polo Festival is played on the pass between Ghizer and Chitral in June or July, and Gilgit city holds its own tournament at the Shahi Polo Ground in the second half of October, ending on 1 November. Both are free to watch.

This guide covers how the game works, where the grounds are, when the fixtures fall and how to get to them.

Why polo belongs here

The English word polo comes from the Balti word for ball, the language spoken in Baltistan and Ladakh. The game has been played in Gilgit, Hunza, Chitral and Baltistan since at least the 15th or 16th century, long before British officers met it in India and wrote a rulebook in the 1870s.

That history is why almost every old settlement in the region has a long, narrow polo ground in the middle of it, often the only flat public land in the village. In Khaplu, for example, it is known as the Shabshi or Yabgo polo ground, after the town's old ruling family.

How freestyle polo is played

The local game keeps the horses, the mallets and the goals and drops most of the rest. From published descriptions of the Shandur fixture:

• Six players a side, with two to four reserves. International polo uses four.
• About an hour of play, in two halves with a ten-minute interval. The international game is split into short chukkers instead.
• No umpire. With nobody to stop play, there is far more contact between riders than in the international game.
• A small ground. Shandur measures about 200 by 56 metres, against roughly 270 by 150 metres for a standard field, and low stone walls about 60 cm high replace the boards.
• Little protection. Players rarely wear helmets, and horses often have no leg bandages.

The side with more goals wins.

Shandur: the main fixture

The Shandur ground sits at about 3,700 metres on the pass between Gupis-Yasin district in Gilgit-Baltistan and Upper Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Teams from Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral are chosen through preliminary matches at home, and each side brings several teams, labelled A to D, so there are games on all three days before the A teams meet in the final.

The fixture is credited to Evelyn Hey Cobb, a British political officer in Gilgit in the 1930s. Sources give different founding years, 1930 and 1936 among them, so we will only say the 1930s. Today the two governments organise it jointly, with help from the army and the Frontier Corps.

The traditional dates are 7 to 9 July, but recent festivals have been moved. In 2026 it was played from 11 to 13 June. The final on Saturday 13 June went to Gilgit-Baltistan, 6-5: Chitral led 5-4 before two late goals turned it, according to APP, which reported that the win ended a Chitral run of 13 years. Chitral had won again in 2025.

Dates for 2027 had not been announced when we checked in October 2026. Our Shandur Polo Festival guide has the detail on dates, camping and what the days are like, and camping at the Shandur festival covers where to sleep.

Getting to Shandur

From Gilgit the road runs west through Ghizer, past Gahkuch, Gupis and Phander, about 214 km to the pass. Routing software gives four and a half hours; with the state of the road, festival traffic and stops, treat it as a full day. From Chitral town it is about 156 km through Mastuj, and at least as long in time. See our Gilgit to Shandur guide and the Shandur Pass page.

The Gilgit side is the simpler approach on safety grounds. As of September 2026 the UK government advises against all travel on the N45 from Mardan to Chitral city, the main road into Chitral through Dir. Pakistani visitors still use it, but foreign-passport holders should check their own government's advice, because travelling against it can void insurance.

Polo in Gilgit city

Gilgit has two main grounds: the Aga Khan Shahi Polo Ground, the city's historic ground, and the Wahab Shaheed Army Polo Ground at Jutial.

The fixture to plan around is the Jashn-e-Azadi tournament, which marks Gilgit-Baltistan's independence day on 1 November. The Gilgit-Baltistan tourism department's events listing gives its dates as 15 October to 1 November, with a pool for civil teams, whose final is at the Shahi Polo Ground, and a pool for departmental teams, whose final is at Jutial. In the 2025 civil final Chilas beat Skardu 8-5. We could read that listing only through search results, so confirm the dates locally. Our guide to 1 November in Gilgit-Baltistan explains the day itself.

A spring tournament, Jashn-e-Baharan, has also been played at the Shahi ground in past years. We could not confirm dates for a 2026 edition, so ask at your hotel if you are in Gilgit in April.

The Gilgit matches are the easy option. The grounds are in the city, there is no rough road or altitude to deal with, and you can walk in for an hour. Our guide to places to visit in Gilgit city covers what else is nearby.

Elsewhere: Hunza, Nagar, Ghizer and Baltistan

Village and district teams play across the region, and matches are attached to local festivals: the harvest festival in Hunza includes polo, for instance. These fixtures are not published in advance. If you are staying somewhere with a polo ground, ask whether a match is due that week.

When is the polo season?

Our guide to the best time to visit sets these against the weather and road seasons.

Watching a match

There are no tickets. Spectators sit on the walls and banks around the ground, and at Shandur temporary stands go up for the festival. The ball and the horses come very close to the walls, so keep children back from the edge and do not sit with your legs over the wall.

Bring a hat and water for an afternoon match. At Shandur add warm layers, because the ground is at 3,700 metres and the temperature drops fast once the sun goes. Anyone arriving from the plains should take the first day gently; see our altitude sickness guide.

Which should you choose?

Go to Shandur if you want the occasion: the tent village, the crowd and the rivalry with Chitral. Accept a long, rough drive, basic camping and a cold night at altitude.

Choose Gilgit in late October if you want to see the game itself without the expedition. The autumn weather is settled, the trees in Hunza are turning, and the final falls on Gilgit-Baltistan's independence day.

Frequently asked questions