This 12th-century fort is the most impressive of the Wakhan Valley's many tumbledown castle ruins, complete with multiple walls and round watchtowers. The site is reached via a 6km zigzag drive from the main road (towards Bibi Fatima Springs) and sits about 500m above the valley. The hillside west of the fort offers the best views of the fort in the foreground and the snowy panorama beyond.
© Maximum Exposure PR/Shutterstock
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
23.63 MILES
Rock faces on the steep slopes above Langar are inscribed with over 6000 ancient petroglyphs. Climbing to see them is hard work in the high altitude and…
3.18 MILES
Some 500m off the main road in Yamg (Ямг) is the reconstructed house museum of Sufi mystic, astronomer and musician Mubarak Kadam Wakhani (1843–1903). One…
23.82 MILES
By the bridge, across the main road from the village jamoat khana (prayer house; easily recognisable by its colourful murals decorating the window frames)…
20.99 MILES
In the village of Sezhd (Km71), a tough, easily missed 4WD track spirals up and over a dusty ridge finally petering out after 6km in the green, very…
28.77 MILES
As the road doubles back beside a small mountain stream there are brief but impressive glimpses of two iconic peaks. At over 6000m a piece, Engels (6510m)…
25.17 MILES
Around 10km from Langar, on a promontory fortified for at least 2300 years, these minimal castle ruins are signposted off the main Wakhan road. A path of…
21.36 MILES
At Zong, 5km west of Langar, this fortress was built to guard a branch of the Silk Road from Chinese and Afghan invaders. The fortress ruins, while not…
22.14 MILES
This impressive canyon can be glimpsed from the roadside but it's best getting out of the vehicle to appreciate it properly. A 30-second walk from the…
Nearby Tajikistan attractions
3.18 MILES
Some 500m off the main road in Yamg (Ямг) is the reconstructed house museum of Sufi mystic, astronomer and musician Mubarak Kadam Wakhani (1843–1903). One…
6.66 MILES
Close to Yamchun, on an obvious salt-bleached patch of mountainside directly behind the hamlet of Vrang (Вранг), is a five-level stone monument claimed to…
17.85 MILES
The ruined Afghan citadel of Qala-e Panja, once the largest settlement in the Wakhan, is visible across the Pyanj River from near Zugband, some 10km west…
20.99 MILES
In the village of Sezhd (Km71), a tough, easily missed 4WD track spirals up and over a dusty ridge finally petering out after 6km in the green, very…
21.36 MILES
At Zong, 5km west of Langar, this fortress was built to guard a branch of the Silk Road from Chinese and Afghan invaders. The fortress ruins, while not…
22.14 MILES
This impressive canyon can be glimpsed from the roadside but it's best getting out of the vehicle to appreciate it properly. A 30-second walk from the…
23.63 MILES
Rock faces on the steep slopes above Langar are inscribed with over 6000 ancient petroglyphs. Climbing to see them is hard work in the high altitude and…
23.82 MILES
By the bridge, across the main road from the village jamoat khana (prayer house; easily recognisable by its colourful murals decorating the window frames)…