Hunza & Gojal
Hunza at walking pace
Ten days in a valley at 2,500 metres, with day walks, apricot orchards and two forts from the eighth century. Recovery, not achievement.
Author: Alllexxxis, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Duration
- 10 days
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Highest point
- 2,900 m
- Best season
- Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov
- Budget on the ground
- 30–55 € per day
- Group size
- 2–10
Overview
Why this is here
The site is about hiking and recovery, and this is the recovery half. Not every trip to the Karakoram has to be a trek. Hunza is an inhabited high valley with villages, orchards and mountains on every side. You can spend ten days there, walk a few hours each day, and sleep in the same room every night.
What it actually costs
Thirty to fifty-five euros a day, counting a room, three meals and local transport. A simple guesthouse in Karimabad is ten to twenty euros a night. A full meal is two to four euros. Travel frugally and you will come in well below that.
For comparison: a week in an Alpine village on half board often costs more than three weeks here.
How busy it gets
Hunza is very popular within Pakistan, and the road is busy during the summer holidays. International visitors are still rare. You notice because people come up and talk to you, pleased that you came. Arrive in April for the apricot blossom or in October and you largely have the valley to yourself.
The honest caveat
The Karakoram Highway is the only link, and landslides can block it for days. Build in buffer, especially before your flight home.
Day by day
1–2
Travel to Karimabad
Fly to Gilgit or drive the Karakoram Highway. Arrive, plan nothing.
Day 3
Karimabad on foot
Baltit Fort, the old lanes, the bazaar. A day that needs no alarm clock.
Day 4
Altit Fort and the gardens
The older of the two forts, plus the royal garden down by the river.
Day 5
Eagle’s Nest
A short climb to Duikar for the view over the whole valley: Rakaposhi, Ultar and Golden Peak at once.
Day 6
Ultar Meadows
Half-day walk to the summer pastures behind Karimabad. Around 700 metres of ascent, very manageable.
Day 7
Attabad Lake and Gulmit
The lake created by a landslide in 2010. Turquoise, silent and slightly eerie.
Day 8
Passu and the suspension bridges
Passu Cones, the glacier, and the well-known Hussaini bridge if you fancy it.
Day 9
Free day
Nothing planned. That is the point of the trip.
Day 10
Return
Back to Gilgit or Islamabad.
Practical details
- Permits
- None. Hunza is freely accessible.
- Visa
- E-visa, ordinary tourist type.
- Acclimatisation
- 2,500 m poses no problem. Anyone flying straight in from Europe should still take the first day gently.
- Getting there
- Domestic flight Islamabad–Gilgit (one hour, weather dependent) or two days on the Karakoram Highway.
Photos
