Pamir Highway roundtrip from and to Bishkek in 11-13 days?

[lennartcn]

Hello dear Pamir Highway experts,

We're looking at a self-driving trip through the Pamir mountains this autumn. We have a maximum of 13 days available (11 would be better), and due to car rental reasons it seems to be best to start and end in Bishkek. (During research we found that renting a car in either Osh or Dushanbe is very expensive, and one-way rental also incurs really high fees. But please correct me if you know some options)

Thus my question: is there a good itinerary for around 11 days? Even the drive from Bishkek to Osh seems to take at least 10 hours. Most recommended itineraries we found suggest 8 days from Osh to Dushanbe, and we'd need to go back as well.

We don't want to rush and would prefer more time eg for some hiking. How about skipping some part, for example not going all the way to Dushanbe, but returning after Khorog via the northern route?

Thanks for your help!

Lennart

[saule]

Hi Lennart,

We drove to Pamir and back from Almaty last year and we spend 17 days in total. You are right it takes around 10 hours non-stop from Bishkek to Osh and it is not a pleasant drive especially when you are coming closer to Osh, many small villages where the maximum allowed speed is 50.
13 days is not a lot of time but it is doable if you don`t have many stops along the way. Actually, you have enough time to take a southern route via Wakhan. You can have a little relaxing stop at Langar and go hiking in the mountains. From Khorog to drive back take a northern route via Mardz.

[lennartcn]

Ok thank you! Since we can't find any one-way rental with a reasonable price, and don't want to rush either, we're currently thinking of doing a Kyrgyzstan tour only.

[saule]

One way rental is possible with a driver only from Osh. https://caravanistan.com/tour/rent-car- ... r-highway/