---
type: Place
title: Khunjerab Pass
description: The Pakistan–China border crossing at the top of the Karakoram Highway — the world's highest ATM, an armed guard, a line you may not step over, and −20°C in January.
tags: [khunjerab-pass, hunza-valley, pakistan, china, borders, mountains, winter, wildlife]
coordinates: {lat: 36.8501, lng: 75.4283}
timestamp: 2026-08-06T12:00:00Z
---

# Khunjerab Pass

The pass where [Pakistan](/countries/pakistan.md) meets China, at the top of the
[Karakoram Highway](/places/karakoram-highway.md), north of the
[Hunza Valley](/places/hunza-valley.md).
**About two and a half hours' drive from upper Hunza**, through a national park
and up into permanent snow.

It is the third land border Harry has been to between these three countries —
after the India–Pakistan ceremony at [Wagah](/places/wagah-border.md) and the
India–China frontier — and it is nothing like Wagah. There is no crowd, no
ceremony and, in January 2022, **no traffic at all: the border is closed**, so
none of the goods that normally move through it are moving.

## What is actually there

- **A line, an armed guard, and China on the other side of it.** The guard is
  friendly and the rule is not: you do not step past the marker. Harry checks,
  and is told plainly what happens if he does.
- **The world's highest ATM**, which Harry notes he may actually need, having
  spent everything.
- The Pakistan flag, and a bank of solar panels.

## The drive up

- **Register with the police first.** There is a stop at a police station on the
  way, because of how close the road runs to the border — the guides handle it.
- **The hazard is the road surface, not the border.** Ice, frozen meltwater
  above the road, and loose rock; Harry passes a fresh landslide and stretches
  where the road is covered in fallen stone. He names this as a further argument
  for a guide: **they know which sections are the dangerous ones.**
- The road is the Chinese-built highway, which he is told took six years to
  build *(from video – unverified — the dates he gives here don't quite line up
  with the account on [Attabad Lake](/places/attabad-lake.md), where the road is
  described as built after the 2010 landslide)*.

## Practical facts

- **Entry is $20 for foreign visitors and 300 rupees for Pakistanis**, going
  towards the upkeep of the national park.
- **Temperatures**: −11°C the day before Harry's visit, −20°C in the mornings,
  and in January the guides say it can reach −25 to −30. With the wind at the
  border itself, he calls it the coldest he has ever been in his life.
- **Winter sun is not guaranteed** — Harry is told he was lucky. When it is out,
  the cold is manageable; the mornings and evenings are not.
- **The sun goes behind the mountains around 2pm**, so the round trip has to
  start early.
- **The pass runs on Chinese time.** Mac checks his phone at the border and it
  reads 6pm — three hours ahead — because the handset has picked up the Chinese
  network.

## Wildlife

The park signs list **snow leopard, ibex, brown bear, wild ass, blue sheep, lynx
and wolf**. What Harry actually meets is yaks, on and beside the road, one of
which squares up to the car before running off up an almost vertical slope.

## Harry's tips

- Go with a guide who knows the rockfall sections.
- Start early — you are chasing a 2pm sunset in a five-hour round trip.
- **Plan to spend very little time out of the car.** They cut the visit short
  because of the wind, and he does not pretend otherwise.

## Source

- [-20 Degrees at the China - Pakistan Border 🇵🇰](/videos/yElvKLDSMHI.md) —
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yElvKLDSMHI