LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL ITINERARY INFORMATION
Itinerary: The KKH to Swat
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ONE TO TO WEEKS / BESHAM TO KHWAZAKELA
It’s only about 65 km between Besham and Khwazakela and 98km between Mingora and Kalam, but you can spend a week or two exploring villages and relaxing in resort towns in this historic and picturesque district.
The Shangla Pass links the historical Swat district with the famous Karakoram Highway (KKH) and offers glimpses of life in rugged Indus Kohistan.
Although
Besham , on the KKH, and
Khwazakela, in the Swat Valley, have little to interest travellers they are linked by a quiet mountain road that was an earlier incarnation of the KKH, before the highway was continued south from Besham to Mansehra. The road hugs the bottom of a narrow valley from Besham to the village of Alpurai, every twist and turn revealing village life – water-powered mills, washing, fishing and playing – that is focussed on the swift-flowing tributary of the Indus River.
Shangla Pass at 2134m is open year-round, except during occasional heavy snows. After an interrogation at the police checkpoint, take in the fine views to Swat and back east to the Pir Panjal Range.
The busy bazaar of Khwazakela is just over half an hour from Swat’s main hub, the twin towns of Mingora and
Saidu Sharif, with a museum and nearby ruins of its Buddhist past. After visiting the sites, head upstream to spend a few relaxing days in the upper Swat valley – peaceful
Miandam, the erstwhile hippy hangout of
Madyan or the hotel resort of
Kalam with its cool mountain air, postcard scenery and gushing, fish-filled streams. Return to Mingora where the onward options include Chitral, Peshawar or Islamabad.
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