Salang Pass
Afghanistan · Parwan · 3400 m
Description
The Salang is the road that holds Afghanistan together, a Soviet-built tunnel of two and two-thirds kilometres driven under the Hindu Kush at three thousand four hundred metres and opened in 1964. It is the only year-round motor crossing of the range in practical use, so most traffic between Kabul and the north goes through it, and heavy snow shuts it for days at a time. Concrete avalanche galleries run down both approaches. A fire in a convoy inside the tunnel in 1982 killed a number nobody has ever fixed. The drive up is the point. Kabul is about a hundred and twenty kilometres south by road from the tunnel mouth.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 1 day
Travel season
Best time to visit: May – September
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Drive up to the tunnel mouth
- Concrete avalanche galleries
- Hindu Kush wall from the southern ramp
- Truck queues at the tunnel gates
- Old pass road above the tunnel
- Tea and kebab stalls on the approaches
- Snow galleries and the winter closures
- Salang river gorge below the road
Getting there
- Nearest airports:
- KBL