Pamir Highway Motorcycle Tour
Scout Trip 2025
Our Pamir Highway motorcycle tour scout trip in August 2025 was designed to fully explore, test and validate one of the most iconic adventure routes in the world: the legendary Pamir Highway, a key section of the Silk Road motorcycle route through Central Asia.
Before bringing riders here, we believe in riding, driving and living the route ourselves. This exploratory journey allowed Eleven Riders to verify road conditions, accommodations, logistics and real-world challenges that define a true Pamir Highway motorcycle tour.
From Bishkek to Osh – the journey begins, but first: Uzbekistan
Our Pamir Highway scout trip started in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, heading south towards Osh. Very early on, reality set in. At the Too-Ashuu Pass, just 50 km from the capital, our rental car could barely climb at 30 km/h. It was clear that it wouldn’t survive a high-altitude, remote adventure like the Pamir.
We returned to Bishkek, changed vehicles, and secured a Toyota Sequoia, which would prove to be the perfect vehicle for scouting our future motorcycle expedition along the Pamir Highway.
After a full day driving to Osh, and before starting the real Pamir scout trip, we crossed into Uzbekistan to explore the region for potential future Silk Road motorcycle tours. This detour allowed us to evaluate border crossings, road quality and cultural highlights for riders of potential future tours there.
We spent a week visiting Andijan, Tashkent and Samarkand, gathering logistical data and experiencing first-hand the historical backbone of the Silk Road. From Samarkand, we continued towards Tajikistan, entering the country en route to Dushanbe. This is where the most famous part of the Pamir Highway starts: in the capital of Tajikistan.
Entering Tajikistan – the Pamir Highway scout begins
After a rest day in Dushanbe, the true Pamir Highway scout trip began. We left the capital heading south, recording GPS tracks, marking fuel stops, accommodation options and key viewpoints, essential for the success of our future guided Pamir Highway motorcycle tour. After more than five hours on mountain roads and crossing a spectacular high pass, we reached the Afghan border and started following the Panj River, one of the most dramatic sections of the Pamir Highway. The road conditions here were very good, with renewed asphalt. Our first overnight stop was in Khalaikum, where we verified hotels and local services.
Khalaikum to Khorog – riding along the Afghan border
The next stage took us to Khorog, the unofficial capital of the Pamir region. Riding alongside the Afghan border, the landscapes quickly became more dramatic: deep valleys, towering mountains and a constant sense of remoteness that defines any true Pamir Highway motorcycle adventure.
Road conditions here were better than expected, allowing us to focus on scenery and flow. Also, we started to meet the first adventurers in the Pamir. Many of them are traveling by bicycle, others in 4x4s, and others by motorbike. We met a couple of friends from Italy, she on a BMW F650GS Twin and he… on a maxi scooter and well dressed! It looked as if he had gone out to get a cappuccino and somehow ended up in the Pamir.
We ate at a guesthouse in a very small village, where they also stopped to have lunch. The food was delicious, and we marked the place for our tour, as it was a very nice guesthouse, with good food, and ideal for stopping to rest. After a well deserved quick siesta, we continued our way to Khorog, where we checked accommodation, rested and enjoyed dinner in a local stolovaya, exactly the type of authentic experience we want our riders to enjoy.
Wakhan Corridor – the heart of the Pamir Highway motorcycle tour
From Khorog, our plan was ambitious: reach Murghab in one long day. We departed early, already riding by 7:30 a.m., leaving the main Pamir Highway to enter the legendary Wakhan Corridor. This section represents the most adventurous and authentic part of any Pamir Highway motorcycle tour. Asphalt quickly degrades into rough tracks, river crossings appear and the riding becomes technical.
Along the way, we met even more overland motorcyclists following the same Silk Road dream. Afghanistan remained constantly on our right, separated only by the Panj River. In Ishkashim, we stopped for lunch and enjoyed excellent local samsy before continuing towards Langar.
Langar – when a scout trip meets reality
Beyond Langar, the route becomes more demanding. A steep dirt climb connects the Wakhan Valley with the northern Pamir Highway. Afther checking accommodation and lunch stops in Langar, we followed the route and encountered a serious obstacle: a heavy 4×4 camper truck from Andorra blocking the track, on the verge of sliding down the mountainside!
We had met the driver earlier in Tashkent, casually, so we knew him. He is a citizen of Andorra, so we speak the same languages. He was physically and mentally ok, but the situation with the truck was compromised. The route was completely blocked, and it was the only way out of the valley from this side. Situations like this are exactly why a scout trip is essential, and this kind of things may happen at any time.
Speaking Catalan, Spanish and Russian allowed us to coordinate the situation with the locals. Despite being full, the guesthouse in Langar hosted us and supported the recovery effort as much as they could.
Several attempts to bring help failed: a local tractor refused, and a nearby Chinese construction company could not deploy machinery. After hours of negotiation, and driving between villages in the valley, we finally secured an excavator for early the next morning.
Adding to the challenge, snowmelt caused a nearby river to rise steadily every day as sun rised. If the truck was not recovered before 10–11 a.m., the route would likely be closed until the following day…
Decision-making under pressure
That evening, we shared the guesthouse with other travelers, enjoying traditional Tajik dances while uncertainty hung in the air. With no beds available, we slept in the vehicle and were ready by 6:00 a.m.
Although the excavator was expected shortly, we had to make a critical call. Waiting could cost us a full day, jeopardizing the entire scout trip, as we needed to return the car in three days. The alternative was to return to Khorog and take the northern Pamir route to Murghab — 600 km of some of the roughest roads in Tajikistan.
We chose the safer option and turned back.
Halfway to Khorog, news came in: the truck had been recovered and vehicles were passing. For a moment we considered returning, but the risk of rising water levels remained. Instead, we continued, using the opportunity to scout the northern Pamir Highway.
Final stages – Murghab, Ak-Baital Pass and Kyrgyzstan
After more than 15 hours of continuous driving, we reached Murghab late at night, exhausted but satisfied. Remarkably, all the riders and travelers we had stayed with in Langar were already there. They had crossed just in time before the water level rised!
Stories were shared, laughter followed, and everyone finally had their very well deserver rest.
The final days of the scout trip covered the remaining stages of the Pamir Highway motorcycle tour. We rode towards the Kyrgyz border at Sary-Tash, crossing the spectacular Ak-Baital Pass (4,650 m), the highest point on the Pamir Highway.
We visited the yurt camp where Eleven Riders will stay during the tour, located at the foot of Lenin Peak (7,134 m), before continuing back to Osh.
Everything is ready for the Pamir Highway motorcycle tour!
This Pamir Highway and Silk Road motorcycle tour scout trip delivered exactly what it was meant to: real conditions, real challenges and absolute clarity.
The Pamir Highway once again proved demanding, unpredictable and extraordinary — and we confirmed that the route, accommodations and logistics meet Eleven Riders’ standards.
The Pamir Highway motorcycle tour is now fully scouted, tested and ready.