Chitral, also spelled Chetrar, translated as field, is the capital of the Chitral District, situated on the western bank of the Chitral River(also called Kunar River), in Khyber Paktukhwa, Pakistan. It also served as the capital of the Princenly state of Chitral until 1969. The town is at the foot of Tirich Mir, the highest peak of the Hindukush Mountain Range, which is 25,289 ft (7,708 m) high. It has a population of 20,000. The elevation of the valley is 3,700 ft (1,100 m).
The city has an average elevation of 1,500 m (4,921 ft). The easiest access to Chitral, other than by air, is from the southwest along th Kunar Valley. However the Afghan-Pakistan border (Durand Line) and cross border tensions prevent this from being used as an internal route to the rest of Pakistan. There are other routes over the high mountain passes; to the south, the 3,200-metre (10,500 ft) Lowari Pass leads 365 kilometres (227 mi) to Peshawar. In the north, the easiest route during summer runs over the 3,798-metre (12,461 ft) Broghol pass. To the east, there is a 405 kilometres (252 mi) route to Gilgit over the 3,719-metre (12,201 ft) Shandur Pass. The territory is cut off by snow from the rest of the country for up to six months a year, a problem soon to be relieved by the completion of the Lowari Tunnel.