---
type: Place
title: Altit Fort
description: 800-year-old royal fort above the Hunza Valley — stone cooking pots, a cannon fired at British troops in 1891, and seven of the region's highest peaks from the roof.
tags: [altit-fort, hunza-valley, pakistan, fort, history, kings]
coordinates: {lat: 36.3168, lng: 74.6821}
timestamp: 2026-08-06T12:00:00Z
---

# Altit Fort

A fort above the [Hunza Valley](/places/hunza-valley.md) in northern
[Pakistan](/countries/pakistan.md), reached by a short steep climb from the
bazaar at Karimabad and presented on the guided tour as **800 years old** and
as the seat of the kings of Hunza. It stands at **2,500 m (8,000 ft)**, and its
purpose, the guide says, was Hunza's military dominance of the region.

*Obs: which of the valley's two forts this is cannot be settled from the
sources. The video description names Altit; the auto transcript points at
Baltit and places the visit at Karimabad. The bundle follows the description
here as it does on [Baltit Fort](/places/baltit-fort.md), whose video names the
other fort while its transcript points back this way. **Treat the two names as
possibly swapped**; the tours themselves are entirely different and are recorded
separately. Discrepancy logged.*

## What Harry did

Took the guided tour with [Mac](/people/mac.md) on the second morning in Hunza,
having said in advance he isn't a history person, and came out calling it very
interesting. He did Wim Hof breathing on the terrace on the way in, and invited
viewers to do it with him.

## What the tour covers

- **The kings.** *Mir* means king. The first portrait is of Mir Ghazan Khan,
  who fled to China when the British entered Hunza and died there; his younger
  brother succeeded him, and the line runs down to Jamal Khan, the last king of
  Hunza. **Jamal Khan's son is still alive, aged 75**, and the family still
  lives in the valley.
- **Life before metal.** Cooking pots carved from black stone — the guide calls
  them the ancient pressure cooker — used because there was no metal in Hunza.
  Metal and brass arrived only through travel to Kashmir and China. Wooden
  scales for weighing grain in half, five and ten kilos sit alongside them.
- **A cannon used against British troops in 1891.**
- **The summer bedroom**, where the royal family slept on the floor. Around 80%
  of Hunza still sleeps on the floor *(from video – unverified)*.
- **A lookout built for watching polo**, and the first currency used in the
  valley.
- Traditional royal dress, very small doorways, and a basement visible through
  the floors.

## The view from the roof

In clear weather **seven of the region's highest mountains** are visible:
Rakaposhi across in Nagar Valley, Diran and Sumayar peak, Golden Peak, Ultar
under fresh snow, and Lady Finger with Hunza Peak behind. Harry's line, looking
at the summer bedroom's window: he could never get bored of that view.

## What it says about the valley

The tour is also where most of what the bundle records about Hunza's history
comes from — that it was **a separate kingdom before Pakistan took it over**,
that the population is now around 120,000 against 4,000 in the king's day
*(from video – unverified — Harry hedges the figure himself)*, and that Chinese,
Tajik and Pakistani culture have all fed into the valley alongside several
religions, with Hunza people counting themselves distinct from all of it.

## Harry's tips

- Take the guided tour even if history isn't your thing — his own framing, and
  he changed his mind by the end.
- Go up in clear weather, for the seven peaks.
- Combine it with the bazaar at Karimabad below, which is where the day's other
  half happens.

## Source

- [$8 Designer Shoes in Northern Pakistan 🇵🇰](/videos/YS6jAHPQLfc.md) —
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS6jAHPQLfc