Besham

Besham (beh-shaam) is about midway between Rawalpindi and Gilgit, with several hotels, cheap serais, gun shops and a main road choked with trucks and buses. This is your base for visiting the Alai Valley, and pleasant Dubair Valley is not far away.
Besham is in an eastward bulge of Swat district, and is a mostly Pashtun town. The common speech is Pashto, and Pashtuns call the Indus ‘Abaseen’ (Father of Rivers). The forerunner of the KKH was meant to link the NA, not south to Mansehra but west to Swat over the scenic Shangla Pass, and Besham is the junction for buses to/from that direction.