Hunza Valley
Hunza Valley sits at 2,438 metres in the Karakoram range of Gilgit-Baltistan, about 600 km north of Islamabad along the Karakoram Highway. The valley is famous for the 700-year-old Baltit Fort and 1,000-year-old Altit Fort in Karimabad, the turquoise Attabad Lake, the jagged Passu Cones, and the Eagle's Nest viewpoint at Duikar with its panorama of Rakaposhi and five other 7,000-metre peaks. Apricot and cherry blossoms cover the valley from late March to mid-April, and autumn turns the poplars gold through October. The Ismaili-majority community is among the most welcoming and progressive in Pakistan, with near-universal literacy and a reputation as the country's safest destination. Plan five days to cover Central Hunza, Gojal and the Khunjerab Pass border with China, the highest paved border crossing in the world at 4,693 metres.
