Heritage Hotels in Gilgit-Baltistan: Staying in History

Gilgit-Baltistan has three heritage hotels in restored royal buildings: Shigar Fort and Khaplu Palace in Baltistan, and the Altit Fort Residence below Altit Fort in Hunza. All three are run by Serena Hotels, and the Baltistan pair were restored by the Aga Khan's cultural agencies. They are small, with 16 to 21 rooms each, so book early for summer.

This guide compares the three, adds Shangrila near Skardu for those who want history of a more recent kind, and explains how to fit a night into a trip.

Serena Shigar Fort

Shigar Fort, called Fong Khar in Balti, was the palace of the Amacha Rajas of Shigar and dates from the 17th century. The Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan restored it between 1999 and 2004, and the work won a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award in 2006. Part of the building is a museum of Balti culture; the rest is the hotel.

Serena lists 20 rooms: 13 in the old palace and seven in the Garden House in the grounds. Room types run from standard rooms to heritage suites and a royal suite. The Fong Khar restaurant serves buffet breakfast and dinner. Our guide to staying at Shigar Fort covers the rooms and rough prices in detail.

Shigar is about 30 km from Skardu, under an hour by road, which makes it the easiest of the three to add to any Skardu trip. The Amburiq mosque, which Serena describes as 14th century, is in the same village, and the Sarfaranga cold desert, which Serena puts 40 minutes from Skardu, fits into the same day.

Serena Khaplu Palace

Khaplu Palace, or Yabgo Khar, was built in 1840 by Yabgo Raja Daulat Ali Khan of Khaplu. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture restored it from 2005 to 2011, and it received a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award of Distinction in 2013. It stands at about 2,600 metres, between Khaplu town and the Shyok river.

Wikipedia gives 21 rooms in all, six of them inside the palace and the rest in other buildings in the grounds. The palace is larger than Shigar, and much of the site is given over to a museum and exhibition space on Baltistan's history and culture. The Sarfa Khar restaurant is small, with 26 seats according to Serena, so book dinner if you are not staying.

Khaplu is about 112 km from Skardu by road, along the Shyok. It can be done as a long day trip, but a night lets you see the town and the nearby valleys without rushing, which is why Khaplu is the better of the two for an overnight stay. From Khaplu, Serena puts the Saling valley just under half an hour away, Thalle about an hour, and the Hushe valley about two and a half hours. Our Skardu to Khaplu guide covers the drive.

Day visitors can tour the palace for a fee. A September 2025 article in The News reported an entry charge of Rs 800 per person, which the writer felt was steep for local tourists but fair once inside. Fees change, so treat that as a guide.

Serena Altit Fort Residence

The third is in Hunza. The Altit Fort Residence is the former Royal Garden Residence, home of a son of Mir Jamal Khan of Hunza, built at the time of the fort's restoration and set in the royal garden at the foot of Altit Fort. Serena lists 16 rooms: one executive room, four standard rooms and 11 valley-view huts. Its Kha Basi Café serves Hunza dishes alongside Pakistani, Chinese and Continental food from 7 am to 11 pm.

Altit Fort itself is around 1,100 years old in its oldest part, the Shikari tower, and was home to the rulers of Hunza before they moved to Baltit. It has been open to the public since 2007 and won a UNESCO award in 2011. You do not sleep inside the fort, but Serena says it is minutes away, next to the old Altit settlement. Our Altit Fort guide covers the fort visit.

Shangrila: history of a different kind

Shangrila Resort, on Lower Kachura Lake about 26 km from Skardu, is not a restored palace. It opened in 1983, founded by Aslam Khan Afridi, a former commander of the Northern Scouts, and is known for a restaurant built in the fuselage of an aircraft that crashed nearby. It suits families who want a lake, gardens and boating more than a museum. Our Shangrila Resort guide covers day visits and rooms.

What a stay costs and what you get

All three heritage hotels charge well above a normal valley hotel, and Serena changes rates with the season, so check the current price on its website or by phone when you plan. We have not quoted a figure here because rates move more than once a year.

What you pay for is the building and the quiet. Khaplu takes day visitors for a ticket, and Shigar Fort's museum is also open to visitors, though we could not confirm its current fee, so an overnight stay is not the only way to see inside. What it gives you is the courtyards and gardens in the evening and early morning, when the day groups have gone. If that matters less to you than the price, see the fort as a day visitor and sleep in a guesthouse; our pages on hotels in Shigar and hotels in Khaplu list the alternatives.

Which one should you choose?

• Short Skardu trip, one night only: Shigar. It is under an hour from Skardu, so you lose little time.
• The larger palace: Khaplu. The distance from Skardu also makes an overnight sensible.
• Hunza trip: the Altit Fort Residence, the heritage stay on the Hunza side.
• Families who want space and a lake: Shangrila, which is about gardens and boating more than history.

Our Skardu and Deosai tour visits Shigar and Khaplu as day stops; a night at either can be added if a heritage stay is the priority. For the history of all the region's forts, see our guide to forts in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Booking tips

Rooms are few, so book early for June to September and for Eid holidays. Ask which building your room is in, since rooms are split between the historic building and other buildings in the grounds. Skardu flights are often cancelled in bad weather, so check the hotel's change and cancellation terms before you pay.

Frequently asked questions