Shandur Polo Festival

The Shandur Polo Festival is most famous event held at Shandur Top having an altitude of 3,700 meters. The festival is an cultural and sports activity between Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan. The most important event is the freestyle polo matches between the teams of Chitral district and Gilgit-Baltistan region.

The festival is organized by the governments of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Festival is normally organized in the beginning of July every year. There are various cultural activities such as folk music and dance along with the Polo tournament between Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan in the world's highest polo ground. The polo ground was constructed at Shandur Top in 1935 by Evelyn Hey Cobb, Administrator of Northern Areas.

To enjoy these thee days activities of Shandur Polo festival, number of local as well as international visitors come there. A large size of camping site is established there to accommodate those visitors. Visitors enjoy the cultural events as well as polo matches in the pleasant atmosphere among the snow-capped mountains around the Shandur Polo ground. They can also enjoy the best local food of Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan regions. One of the remarkable enjoyment is the fresh trout from the Shandur Lake just behind the Shandur Polo ground.

To visit Shandur Polo festival, visitors can travel from Chitral side or from Gilgit side. The road conditions from Gilgit side is better as compare to road condition from Chitral side. Visitors also enjoy the scenic views of the Hunza River and lush green valleys while travelling toward the Shandur Top.

Shandur Top is the mountain pass between Chitral and the Gupis Yasin districts in the Hindukush Range. It connects Chitral with Gilgit-Baltistan by road.