I completed a 6-day round trip this past week with some members of my family travelling from our home village in Pakistan (situated around 100km south-east of Islamabad) northwards up to Sost. We were supposed to go a further 90km north-east up as far as Khanjereb Pass to touch the Pakistan-China border but we were running tight for time so decided to cut our trip a little short. You can find below some highlights of our trip as well as some tips which you'll find useful if you're planning on doing a similar trip. For pictures see here.
Highlights
- Mountains
- Rivers
- Good organic food and fruits (apricots abound)
- Nice friendly people living pure, simple lives
- Bumpy mountain roads!
Tour operator
We travelled with a Lahore-based tour operator named The Trekkerz. We contacted and got quotes from a number of tour operators ahead of time. All the quotes we got were in the range of 200,000 to 300,000 Pakistani rupees for a 6-day, 5-night, 8-person trip travelling in a new Toyota HiAce Grand Cabin. The price included a driver who doubled up as a tour guide, 3-room hotel accommodation, breakfast and entry to some but not all sites of interest. We decided to travel with The Trekkerz in the end not only because they had good online reviews but because they were the only one to be recommended to us by somebody we knew.
Day-by-day breakdown
Day 1 – We set off early in the morning from our home village (Arha) and arrived at Naran in the evening. We passed Islamabad, Murree, Muzaffarabad and Balakot along the way. We stayed the night at Naran Mountain Chalets.
Day 2 – We did a jeep ride up to Saif-ul-Maluk Lake in the morning and then set off for Hunza Valley. We passed Lulusar Lake, Babusar Top, Chilas and Gilgit along the way. We stayed the night at Hunza Embassy Hotel.
Day 3 – We visited Altit Fort in the morning, did a trek in Hopar Valley down to a glacier in the afternoon and then set off for Sost in the evening. We stayed the night at Sost Embassy Motel.
Day 4 – We made our return back to Hunza Valley passing Passu and stopping for some boating (at Attabad Lake), fruit picking and dried fruit shopping along the way. We stayed the night at Osho Thang Hotel.
Day 5 – We were supposed to proceed down to Naran but the road was blocked due to a local protest and so we had to take the longer road homewards which passes Dasu and Besham City. We stayed the night at Besham Continental Hotel.
Day 6 – We proceeded with our return journey home passing Mansehra and Abbottabad along the way.
Essential items to pack
- Travel sweets or chewing gum to stop you from throwing up because the road sure can get bumpy at times.
- A Chilly's water bottle (or equivalent) and cooler bag which keeps your water and snacks cool in the heat.
- Sunglasses and sun cream.
- A mixture of warm and cool clothes because the weather fluctuates between hot and cold from place to place.
- Pakistan national identity (NADRA) card for swift passage through police checkpoints.
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