Family Road Trip to Gilgit, Hunza, Skardu

Not a guru.. But my 2 cents are as below.
The roads at certain point are not good, but I guess u have made up ur mind to take the car along. City is more then sufficient for this trip, we did it on Cultus.
Considering u will be living in army rest houses, I believe the budget is more then sufficient.
Babusar top normally opens towards the end of June . there is no surity but call ptdc naran a week before the trip and they will inform about that. Crossing it on city should not be a problem, a friend did it with wife and 2 kids last year.
20 days is a lot. U can even do Concordia track in this much time . depends on the kids I believe. If they are having a good time , then fairy Meadows can be covered as well.
I am not sure, about minimerg.
Will leave the sequence to gurus.
Best of luck. :]

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Needs a big heart to take a brand new car on such a tripe. But a good car means no hassle and greater comfort , which is important when u r travelling with family.

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I am also no expert, but let me write my opinion on ur queries

Is my budget enough for 1 family (2 adults & 2 children) ?
The budget seems more than enough. It would be difficult to get army rest houses for all days in that peak season. But if u can get army rest house for half of the days, then u can do the trip in quite less than 200k.

Will Babusar Top be open in July and can it be crossed on City then?
It is quite likely that Babusar will be open before end of June. And absolutely no problem for any vehicle to cross Babusar pass. It is such a lovely road. Last year i did it on my Nissan AD Van.

How are the road conditions from Gilgit to Skardu?
From Gilgit side, initial 30-35 kms would be somewhat easy (esp KKH portion), then almost 100 km need careful drive. Then after crossing the Indus bridge ('em forgetting the name) near Shangrila, last 25-30 km s are also quite easy.

Can I squeeze in Fairy Meadows within these days?
U can easily do Fairy Meadows in ur trip. It essentially require 2 days. On 1st day, reach Raikot bridge maximum by 2pm (or even 3pm). Get a jeep till Tatto. Jeep ride is max 45 min. then almost 3 hours hike to Fairy Meadows. On 2nd day, enjoy the beauty of FM, and if u want to come back, leave FM max by 3 pm. U will reach tatto in almost 2.5 hours. If u have already told the jeep driver, he will be waiting there. From Raikot, u can go to Chilas or Jaglot (or even Gilgit) on ur own car on the same evening. But better is that u stay at FM on day 2 and then move back on 3rd day.

Can I go to Minimarg on City?
Not much idea. I think, it is doable, but i have been advised not to plan minimarg trip using own car.

What should be the sequence of my trip?
A suggested sequence can be
Pindi to Gilgit. From Gilgit to hunza, Khunjerab, hoper, naltar, phander etc
then from Gilgit to Skardu. From Skardu, u can visit (and stay or come back to Skardu) Shangrila, upper kachura, Shiger, Khaplu, Satpara, Deosai (if open) etc.
Skardu to Gilgit or Jaglot for night stay. Next day, u can execute Fairy Meadow plan.
On 3rd day at FM, u can leave early and if u reach Raikot at 12 or even 1pm, u will still have ample time to drive upto Naran via Babusar.

Hi vakaas,
I m not a travel guru but i will give you some piece of advice first, If you have company fitted general tires on your car, you may change it to yokohama c drive or continental tires cc5 it will add your comfort zone by 200% and will give you far better grip on road and especially in rainy season. And you must carry extra accessories for your car like fan belt, fuses, air pump etc.
Next thing is that the route your choosing is highly affect with land slide and heavy rain in july so be careful.
And the third and the most important thing my suggestion is you may not travel from gilgit to skardu by road.. one of the most dangerous single carriageway I have ever seen.
Last thing you may start your trip from pindi and will stay a night in abbotabad and goto thandyani than follow to shinkyari theres army rest house as well. A night in bheshaam than to chilas from chilas either you can go to jaglot and than skardu or gilgit.
All the best for your trip.
~Adeel

Quite tiring journey it would be. But if u can manage then great. It would save ur time and u can rest as well

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Didn't read all the replies, but may be u should add rama in ur itinerary instead of fm. Fm is hectic when with family.

A soul in tension that's learning to fly
Condition grounded but determined to try.

Aoa Friends,

Just wanted to share my experience here as I recently came back from Northern Areas. This might help someone who is travelling with Family or friends.

I left Islamabad for Naran early morning at 7 am, as I was travelling with family so I had to stop a couple of times but reached Naran by 2 pm. ( I was travelling on SUV - 4wd)

Naran is a beautiful place but Hotels and food is not that good. You have to look for nice and clean hotel. I found one eco friendly hotel which was 15 kms ahead of Naran named as Kaghan Eco friendly hotel (Bhatta Kundy), it was cheaper thn Naran and Food was real hygenic. (5000 to 7500 depends on your room choice and negotiation skills).

I stayed in Naran for 2 days and left early morning like 6am to Hunza.

On the way passed Babu Sar Top which is 13700 ft high. Nice place but 0 good resturant for tea or pakoras etc as I saw their utensils were washed last time in 1902. Please carry your own stove and tea making necessities.

Road was better and small parts were being repaired aswell. Any car can go as I saw even Mehran moving around

After babu sar top, my next stay was Shagrilla Hotel in Chilas, had my lunch there, it was jam packed. Left after 1 hour to hunza, reached by 5 pm. Hunza is aprox 2 and half hour extra drive from gilgit. Roads are good as CPEC project has already started, crossed couple of chinese trucks on the way to hunza.

Serena is the best place to stay and its cheap as 7,500 per day including breakfast. You can visit forts, lake and new tunnels created. Food is also good at serena. You can also try Eagle's Nest, and few others new hotels which look better.

Stayed 2 days in Hunza and thn took off for Skardu.

Now there are 2 routes to skardu, one is through Astro- Chilman etc. This is a long route and it will take you some extra hours to reach skardu. Road till Astore and chilman are satisfactory but After chilman till Sadpara, the road is just like an off road track with stones and dust. It will take you extra hours as your car will move real slow because of the road condition. I saw many cars travelling aswell but 4x4 is advised.

I took the other route which is taking off from Korkoram Highway towards Sassi- Shengus - Tungus- Kashura -> Skardu. This is better route as per my experience but you have to see DeoSai planes while you are in Skardu. So i traveled back from the other route of DeoSai plains so I don't miss that part as well.

Stayed there in Skardu, stayed in Concordia hotel, its an avg hotel, but when i was booking them from Islamabad, the tour operators gave me paradise picture about it. You can try Serena(12,500 Rs per day) which is in Shigar or Hotel One (PC frenchise- 8500 Rs per day) which is near Skardu Airport.

From Skardu I drove back to Islamabad in 1 go, Left from Skardu Airport at 1:00 pm after dropping family to catch their flight. Crossed Sapara Lake, Deo Sai, Chilman, Astore and reach Chilas Shangrilla at 11:00 pm near mid night.

Had dinner, rested for 4 hrs and left at 4:00 am towards Naran. Reached there at 8 o clock, nashta break and thn straight to Islamabad.

Please carry some light toolkit for your car just in case as it can be handy. Also don't forget to take your Stove and tea necessities.

( Some guys borrowed my toolkit but when i got it back there was no pliers in it. Please guys don't be an A.hole when you borrow things, make sure you return them all or don't borrow in the 1st place)

I hope this helps.

Regards.

Hi Guys

I'm travelling with family - kids 2 & 5 and planning a trip as under. Had a few questions which I'm hoping some of you can help with
Day 1 - Islamabad to Abbottabad
Day 2 - Abbottabad to Serena Gilgit ( I don't want to stop in Naran as I hear better to do an extra drive and stay in Gilgit)
Day 3 - Rest no excessive travel
Day 4 - Go to Khunjrab and back to Gilgit

I have 3 more days to go

I want to go to Shigar on Day 5 ( this will be 14th September) and I've been told I can get stuck in some serious traffic after KKH ends as its a single lane road and apparently a dangerous road.

What is the approximate travel time from Gilgit Serena to Shigar.

If this is not the case and drive not too long, I would like to spend 2 days in Shigar and then return to Islamabad. Pls also advice on where I can stop on the way back to Islamabad From shigar.

If the experts here feel that there is a possibility of getting stuck, I'd rather explore other areas near Gilgit and leave Shigar for next year as I'm going with kids and can't afford to get stuck for an extensive time. In such case what are possible places that I could go to near Gilgit which would be nice to see?

By the way I'll be driving in a 2005 Prado.

Thanks In advance for your advise.

Regards Shezad

Hi bro, my advice
Day 1- Isb to Naran (Fairy Meadows, Millenium Inn and Demanchi are v good hotels there) rate per night are 3500 in fairy meadows n demanchi hotels)
Day 2- Saiful Malook n rest
Day 3- Naran to Gilgit (Gilgit Continental Hotel is v good- 3500 per night)
Day 4- khunjerab n back
Day 5- Hire a jeep and go to Naltar Valley n Lakes and Naltar meadows (jeep will charge around 7000)
Day 6- Hire a jeep and go to Phander valley
Day 7,8 - back

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If you are on prado and a good offroad driver of hilly areas you can go to phander n naltar yourself.... Gilgit to Skardu road is bad and dangerous. I crossed it 2 days ago. From Gilgit to Shigar it can take around 9 hrs

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