Virtually untouched by time and unchanged by Soviet rule, traditional life flourishes in this mountainous land of primeval beauty

Vitals

Best time to go: May through September.
Air service: Tajik Air from Istanbul is the most convenient option.
Capital: Dushanbe.
Tour cost in the Pamirs: Approximately $200 for two per day with Hamsafar Travel.
Hassle factor: Medium. Police stop cars at random, and there is zero tolerance for alcohol when behind the wheel. Bring your own toilet paper; before squatting, remove all items from your pockets (or risk them falling into the hole); and—most important—check to see that the planks over the pit are stable.
Special safety concerns: Street crime is rare, but carry cash in a money belt. Don't leave valuables at the hotel.

For more than a century, craggy, landlocked Tajikistan was shut off from the world on the far edge of the Russian empire. It celebrated its post-Soviet independence by plunging into a five-year civil war that killed more than 50,000 people and put to flight most of the ethnic Russian population. Peace has reigned since 1997, but high poverty and low literacy rates and a dearth of natural resources have until recently kept the country off the map for Westerners. Travelers who venture there will have the place mostly to themselves, all the better to witness ancient ways of mountain life that were barely touched by the Communist decades. Tajiks have largely retained their traditional garb—the almond-eyed women (regarded as Central Asia's most beautiful) often wear sequined headdresses and robes of red, turquoise, and gold; many of the rawboned, regal-browed men sport embroidered skullcaps and long black capes, and could serve as extras in an Indiana Jones flick. If there is one former Soviet country where you can forget the USSR ever existed, Tajikistan is it.

THE BIG PICTURE

Mountains cover 93 percent of Tajikistan's 90,000 square miles, and more than half the country lies above 9,750 feet. The seven million or so Tajiks are mostly Persian-speaking and Sunni Muslim, but large minorities of Uzbeks and Kyrgyzs add a Turkic flavor, and Shiite Ismaili Muslims beholden to their leader, the Aga Khan, inhabit the Pamir Mountains. The capital, Dushanbe, and Khojand are the two main cities, but with scarcely 800,000 people between them, they feel more like pleasant provincial towns. Leave them behind and you ascend into a landscape reminiscent of neighboring Afghanistan, but without the perils of Islamic insurgency. Few beaten tracks exist, and every jeep journey into the mountains is sure to both bruise your kidneys and blow your mind.

THE DRAW

Tajikistan is a land of savage, almost mystic, natural beauty, with primeval mountains, clear alpine lakes, and ample opportunities for epic trekking, climbing, and jeep touring expeditions. The true terra incognita—and an unparalleled lure for hardy travelers—is the leaden-hued Pamir Range, where snow leopards and bears still prowl the crevasses between some of Central Asia's highest peaks. The Pamirs' Wakhan Corridor, in the shadow of Afghanistan's Hindu Kush, remains the remotest but most enticing locale in this far-flung land. Just to the north of Dushanbe are the Fan Mountains, which are lower yet hardly less stunning, and are convenient to the capital.