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Beyond Pakistan
Nanga Parbat above the meadows at Fairy Meadows

Nanga Parbat

Fairy Meadows and Nanga Parbat Base Camp

Eight days beneath the ninth-highest mountain on earth, with a meadow in front of it that genuinely earns its saccharine name. Pakistan’s most accessible big trek.

Author: Zaki Khan89, CC BY-SA 4.0

Duration
8 days
Difficulty
Moderate
Highest point
4,200 m
Distance
45 km
Best season
May – Sep
Budget on the ground
40–75 € per day
Group size
2–12

Overview

A name that holds up

“Fairy Meadows” sounds like a brochure, and I was sceptical accordingly. The name comes from German climbers in the 1930s: Märchenwiese, fairy-tale meadow. Then you stand at 3,300 metres in a pine forest, with open pasture in front of you, and behind it Nanga Parbat rises 4,800 metres in a single sweep. The name is fine.

Why this is the right first trek

There are huts. There is cooked food. The highest point is 4,200 metres and it is reached as a day walk without a pack. You need no glacier experience and no tent. If you do multi-day hut tours in the Alps you are entirely qualified. And there is still an eight-thousander in front of you.

On cost

Forty to seventy-five euros a day, including lodging, food, a guide and the jeep. A night in a hut costs a fraction of an Alpine Club hut and the food is plentiful. The single biggest line item is getting there.

Honest about the road

The jeep track from Raikot Bridge to Tato has a reputation and it has earned it. It is narrow, it is exposed, and it is driven by people who have known it for thirty years. If exposure in a vehicle bothers you, better to know that in advance.

Day by day

  1. Day 1

    Islamabad to Chilas

    A long driving day on the Karakoram Highway. The road itself is part of the trip.

  2. Day 2

    To Tato and upward

    Jeep on a track everyone should experience once, then three hours on foot to Fairy Meadows.

  3. Day 3

    Fairy Meadows

    Acclimatisation day. Walk, sit, look at the mountain. It gets sharply cold in the evening.

  4. Day 4

    Beyal Camp

    Two to three hours higher to 3,500 m, closer to the Rakhiot Glacier.

  5. Day 5

    Nanga Parbat Base Camp, 4,200 m

    Day walk to base camp and the glacier viewpoint. From here you see the entire Rakhiot wall.

  6. Day 6

    Back to Fairy Meadows

    An easy descent and a last evening on the meadow.

  7. 7–8

    Return

    Down to Tato, jeep out, then back to Islamabad or onward to Hunza.

Practical details

Permits
No special permit needed; small local entry fees are collected on site.
Visa
E-visa, ordinary tourist type.
Acclimatisation
Fairy Meadows at 3,300 m, base camp at 4,200 m. The rest day on day three matters more than it sounds.
Getting there
One to two days from Islamabad on the Karakoram Highway to Raikot Bridge, then jeep to Tato.

Photos

Wide view of the north face of Nanga Parbat
Wide view of the north face of Nanga Parbat · Sirgroh1, CC BY-SA 3.0
Beyal Camp above Fairy Meadows
Beyal Camp above Fairy Meadows · Emad ul Hassan, CC BY-SA 4.0
Evening light at Beyal Camp
Evening light at Beyal Camp · Emad ul Hassan, CC BY-SA 4.0
The approach along the Karakoram Highway
The approach along the Karakoram Highway · Khurramshabbir, CC BY-SA 4.0