Long before the Jammu–Srinagar highway existed, the Mughal Road was the way in — the route Mughal emperors used to move their court between Lahore and the valley, cut through the Pir Panjal via the Pir Ki Gali pass at over 3,500 metres.
It reopened to regular traffic only in the last couple of decades, and it still isn’t the route most visitors take, which is exactly what makes the drive worth doing. From Shopian, the road climbs through Hirpora and its wildlife sanctuary, past Chandimarh’s high meadows, before the switchbacks up to Pir Ki Gali itself — snow lingering on the pass well into June some years, with views back over the Pir Panjal that the highway route never offers.
The descent on the Poonch side drops through Behramgala and Buffliaz, following the old caravan route the emperors’ retinues would have walked. Few travellers do the whole road in one trip; most see a stretch of it. Either way, it’s a genuinely different way to understand how this valley connects to the rest of the subcontinent.
Good to know: the pass closes with the first heavy snow, typically by late November, and reopens around April; check road status before you commit — landslides can close sections without much warning.