Gilgit is a busy mountain town on the Gilgit River, the junction for Hunza, Skardu, Chitral and the Karakoram Highway.
Gilgit is where most travellers change cars, buy supplies and have a meal. It also has real history. Buddhist manuscripts from about the 5th or 6th century, among the oldest known, were found near the town in 1931. The Kargah Buddha, carved in a cliff a few kilometres out, dates from roughly the 7th century.
Keep half a day for the bazaar, which has dried apricots, walnuts and woven caps, and for the old suspension bridge across the river.
Highlights
- The Kargah Buddha, a rock carving of about the 7th century
- The long suspension bridge over the river
- The bazaar
- A view of Rakaposhi on the way to Hunza
