Grand Expeditions

The Regions of Pakistan

From the crystalline heights of the Karakoram to the ancient streets of the Indus heartlands, discover a landscape of timeless majesty.

Gilgit-Baltistan

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.

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Gilgit-Baltistan

Skardu

Skardu sits at 2,228 metres on the Indus River in Baltistan, the eastern half of Gilgit-Baltistan and the gateway to four of the world's fourteen 8,000-metre peaks, K2 among them. Where Hunza is Wakhi and Burushaski, Skardu is Balti, with a Tibetan-rooted culture, language and cuisine that feels closer to Ladakh than to the rest of Pakistan. The valley is a launchpad for the Deosai Plains, the world's second-highest plateau at 4,100 metres, the turquoise Kachura and Satpara lakes, the Katpana and Sarfaranga cold deserts, and the restored Shigar Fort and Khaplu Palace. A 45-minute flight from Islamabad reaches it, or a 5 to 7 hour drive from Gilgit along the Indus. Plan five to seven days, since the headline sights like Deosai and Khaplu are long jeep days out from Skardu town. The best months are late May to early October, with autumn the most beautiful and least crowded.

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Gilgit-Baltistan

Fairy Meadows

Fairy Meadows is a high alpine meadow at about 3,300 metres in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan, sitting directly beneath the Raikot face of Nanga Parbat, the world's ninth-highest mountain at 8,126 metres and the so-called Killer Mountain. Reaching it is part of the experience: a drive to the Raikot Bridge on the Karakoram Highway, then a knuckle-whitening jeep ride up one of the world's most dangerous mountain tracks to Tato village, then a 2 to 3 hour walk up through pine forest to the meadow. From Fairy Meadows you can trek on to Beyal Camp and the Nanga Parbat Base Camp, a manageable day hike with one of the great mountain views on earth as the reward. Accommodation is wooden cabins and tents, with no road and no luxury, which is the point. The season runs roughly May to October, with the shoulder months of late spring and autumn the quietest. Give it at least two nights.

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