Skardu Road Condition: Jaglot to Skardu Explained

The Skardu road is in good condition for most of the year. The 167 km Jaglot–Skardu road, officially the S-1 or Baltistan Highway, was rebuilt as a paved two-lane road and reopened in December 2021, and the drive now takes about four hours instead of most of a day. What has not changed is the gorge it runs through: rockfall, debris flows and floods still close it, usually for hours and sometimes for days, as happened in July 2026. Check before you set off, and drive it only in daylight.

This guide covers the surface, where and why the road closes, night driving, and how to check whether it is open.

What is the Skardu road like now?

For most of its life the road was a single lane about 3.6 metres wide, cut into the cliffs above the Indus between 1970 and 1982, and the drive took around ten hours. Between 2017 and 2021 the Frontier Works Organization widened and paved it to about 7.3 metres, at a cost of about Rs 31 billion, and it was inaugurated in December 2021.

Today you can expect:

• A paved, two-lane road almost the whole way, good enough for any ordinary car in summer.
• Constant bends. The road follows the river through a narrow gorge, so there are few straights, and many corners are blind.
• Trucks and buses. This is the main supply route into Baltistan, and heavy vehicles take up more of the road on the bends than you expect.
• Repaired sections. Where floods or slides have damaged the road, repairs can leave a stretch of rough surface, a single lane or a temporary bridge for a while.

The upgrade widened the old alignment but did not add the tunnels and re-routings that were once planned. So the new road still runs under the same steep, loose slopes as the old one, and that is where its problems come from.

Places you will hear in road reports

Closure reports usually name the nearest village. From the junction with the Karakoram Highway at Alam Bridge, near Jaglot, the main places are roughly as follows. The distances are worked out from the Gilgit-Baltistan tourism department's distance chart.

The middle of the gorge, around Stak Nala and Thowar, runs through Roundu, the district that links Gilgit with Baltistan. After Bagicha the road reaches Kachura, the airport and finally the town. Our guide to the drive from Gilgit to Skardu covers the stops along the way.

Where and why the road closes

Almost every closure comes from one of four things.

1. Rockfall and landslides. Loose rock above the road comes down after rain, during freeze and thaw in spring, and sometimes for no visible reason at all. Most falls are cleared within hours.
2. Debris flows from side streams. After a cloudburst, the side nullahs that cross the road can bring down mud and boulders in minutes, burying the road where it crosses them.
3. Flood damage. High water in the Indus and its side streams can undercut the road or damage a bridge. These closures last longest. In July 2026, flooding damaged a section of the road; the Frontier Works Organization installed a temporary steel bridge, and the tourism department announced on 27 July that the road was open to all traffic again.
4. Snow and avalanches in winter. The valley floor gets less snow than the high ground, but snow, avalanches and ice in the shaded parts of the gorge can close or slow the road for a day or more.

The pattern through the year:

• July and August bring most of the serious closures, when glacier melt is at its peak and storms break over the mountains.
• March to May is the second risky period, as thawing slopes shed rock after rain.
• Autumn is usually the calmest time, with dry, settled weather.
• Winter brings short days, ice and occasional snow closures.

Is it safe to drive the Skardu road at night?

Don't do it. We plan every Skardu drive to finish in daylight, for three reasons.

• You can't see what is on the road. Fresh rockfall round a blind bend is visible in daylight and invisible at night until you are on it.
• Help is far away. Signal comes and goes in the gorge, and a breakdown or a blocked road is much harder to deal with in the dark.
• Drivers are tired. Many people reach this road at the end of a long day on the Karakoram Highway.

If you are delayed and the light is going, stop in the nearest village or turn back rather than finishing the gorge in the dark. On a day of four hours' driving, leaving by 8 in the morning gives you a margin of several hours even with a hold-up.

How to check if the Skardu road is open

There is no single live map, so combine a few sources, the evening before and again in the morning:

1. The Tourist Police. Dial 1422 from inside Gilgit-Baltistan, or 05811-930055 from elsewhere. They can tell you whether a stretch is open and what is happening at a blockage.
2. The Gilgit-Baltistan Tourism Department. Its news and advisories page carries road closures and reopenings, as it did for the July 2026 repair.
3. Your hotel or driver at the other end. A hotel in Skardu, or a driver who has just come down from Gilgit, usually knows within the hour.
4. The weather forecast. A heavy-rain warning from the Pakistan Meteorological Department is the best early sign that the road may close in the next day or two.

Ignore forwarded videos with no date on them. Our guide to checking Karakoram Highway road status covers the same sources for the rest of the route north.

Driving tips for the gorge

• Leave early, and plan to be in Skardu by mid-afternoon.
• Fill the tank before you start, in Gilgit or Jaglot heading east, or in Skardu heading west, so fuel is never the reason you stop somewhere awkward.
• Use the horn on blind bends, keep to your side, and give trucks room on the corners.
• Don't stop under loose slopes or at stream crossings, even for a photograph. Pull over only where the slope above is solid and there is room off the road.
• In rain, slow right down and watch the nullahs. If water or mud is running across the road, wait rather than drive through it.
• Keep water, snacks, warm clothes and a charged power bank in the car, not in the boot, in case you are held for hours.

What to do if the road is closed

Wait it out if the closure is a rockfall or a small slide. Most are cleared the same day, and a delay of a few hours is normal in July and August. Don't walk across fresh debris while rock is still moving or rain is still falling.

Stay put if it is flood damage. Bridges and washed-out sections take days, not hours. Keep a spare day at the end of any trip that uses this road, especially in summer.

Fly if you need to leave Skardu and the road is shut for days, although the weather that closes the road often grounds the flights too.

Go round by Deosai only in summer, and only in a local jeep. The route from Astore across the plateau to Skardu is about 152 km and a full day; our Astore to Deosai guide covers it.

Can a normal car drive to Skardu?

Yes. Since the rebuild, sedans make the trip every season. What matters more is the car's condition, with brakes, tyres and cooling in order, and a driver who is not exhausted.

If you are coming from Islamabad, the Skardu road is the last leg of a two-day drive, covered in our Islamabad to Skardu road guide. Overseas visitors should know that the UK government currently advises against all travel on the Karakoram Highway between Mansehra and Chilas, which is on that route; the Skardu road itself is not named. Our travel guide has more on planning around mountain roads and weather.

Frequently asked questions