Shigar
The fort valley on the road to K2.
Shigar, 32 km from Skardu, is the valley every K2 expedition passes through and the home of Shigar Fort — 'Fong-Khar', the 17th-century raja's palace restored into Baltistan's flagship heritage residence. With the Sarfaranga cold desert on its doorstep and Askole at its far end, it is both a destination and the doorway to the Baltoro.
Fong-Khar means 'palace on the rock', and it is exactly that — built around a living boulder, poplar beams carved with Kashmiri patience, and now twenty museum-grade rooms where the royal apartments were. Sleeping here is the single most atmospheric night in northern Pakistan.
The valley beyond runs 60 km to Askole, the last village before the glaciers — every K2, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum expedition's jeep convoy rattles past Shigar's orchards, which is the kind of traffic a place should have.
In and around Shigar
Beds worth the altitude
Shigar, asked and answered
Shigar Fort or Khaplu Palace — which stay is better?
Shigar is more intimate and nearer Skardu's sights; Khaplu is grander with bigger mountain views. Our honest routing: one night each, Shigar first.