For a visitor, KPK breaks into four practical regions: Hazara (Abbottabad, the Galiyat, Naran and Kaghan), reached by the Hazara Motorway; Malakand (Swat, Dir and Chitral), reached by the Swat Motorway and the Lowari Tunnel; Peshawar and the valley, on the M1 from Islamabad; and southern KP (Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and the former tribal districts), which isn't part of any tourist circuit at present. This guide maps out how those regions connect, the roads between them, and rough distances from Islamabad.
| Region | Anchor town | From Islamabad | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hazara | Abbottabad | About 120 km, 2 to 2.5 hours | Galiyat hill stations, gateway to Naran and the north |
| Malakand (Swat) | Mingora | Roughly 250 km, 4 to 5 hours | Swat's valleys, Kalam, Malam Jabba |
| Malakand (Dir/Chitral) | Chitral town | About 500 km, 11 to 12 hours | Chitral, Kalash valleys, Broghil |
| Peshawar | Peshawar | About 155 km, 2.5 to 3 hours | The provincial capital, old bazaars, Gandhara museums |
| Southern KP | Dera Ismail Khan | About 285 km via the M-14 | Not a tourist route at present |
Hazara: the gateway region
Hazara Division sits closest to Islamabad and carries most of the province's family tourism: the Galiyat hill stations around Nathia Gali, Abbottabad itself, and the road up the Kaghan valley to Naran and beyond to the Babusar Pass, which connects on into Gilgit-Baltistan. The Hazara Motorway (M-15), 180 km long, runs from Hasan Abdal to Thakot and is the backbone of the region, cutting what used to be a long drive on the old Karakoram Highway down to a couple of hours to Abbottabad. This is also the region KPK trips usually start from if the destination is further north into the Northern Areas rather than KPK itself.
Malakand: Swat, Dir and Chitral
Malakand Division covers Swat, the two Dir districts and Chitral, and it's really two separate trips joined by one road. The Swat Motorway (S-2) branches off the M1 near Swabi and reaches Mingora in around four to five hours from Islamabad, making Swat's lower valleys, Bahrain, Kalam and Malam Jabba, a manageable long weekend. Chitral is a different proposition: the road runs via Mardan, Dargai, Chakdara, Timergara and Dir, then through the Lowari Tunnel, which has fixed opening hours rather than running 24 hours a day. The whole drive from Islamabad is roughly 500 km and takes eleven to twelve hours, which is why most visitors treat Chitral as its own multi-day trip rather than a stop on a wider KPK circuit.
Swat and Chitral don't connect to each other by a short cut; the practical link between them is back down through Dir, or, in summer only, the long high-altitude route over the Shandur Pass from Chitral to Gilgit, which bypasses Swat and Dir entirely and puts you in Gilgit-Baltistan instead.
Peshawar and the valley
Peshawar sits on the M1, about 155 km and two and a half to three hours from Islamabad, and works as a standalone city trip: the old city bazaars, the Peshawar Museum, and day trips out to Gandhara sites like Takht-i-Bahi near Mardan. It isn't a natural base for reaching Swat, Hazara or Chitral, each of which branches off the M1 well before Peshawar itself, so most itineraries treat Peshawar as its own leg rather than a stop en route north.
Southern KP: not part of the tourist map
Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and the former tribal districts along the Afghan border make up the southern third of the province by area, but they don't feature in a tourist itinerary. There's no scenic draw comparable to the north, and the security picture, covered below, rules most of it out in any case. A planned motorway between Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan has been approved but was still in early construction stages as of 2026, and for now the region is reached, when there's a reason to go, via the existing Indus Highway rather than any new road.
Which regions are open to tourism right now?
Hazara, including the Galiyat and the Kaghan valley up to Naran, has no current travel advisory and is where most KPK tourism happens without any security caveat. Swat, both Dir districts, Peshawar and the whole of southern KP are a different picture: the UK government's Pakistan travel advice, updated 22 September 2026, advises against all travel to Swat, Upper and Lower Dir, Peshawar and the southern and former tribal districts, following incidents including a suicide bombing in Swat's Kabal area on 2 August 2026 that killed 17 people. It also advises against all travel on the N45 road from Mardan to Chitral, via Dir, the route described above. Chitral itself and Gilgit-Baltistan, reached via Hazara and the Babusar Pass, aren't on that list. Pakistani visitors continue to travel to Swat and Chitral in large numbers, but check current local news before you commit, and if you hold a foreign passport, check your own government's advice too, since travelling against it can void your travel insurance. Our guide to whether KPK is safe for tourists goes through the picture region by region.
Once you've picked a region, our trip planning page and travel guide can help with the rest of the route.
Frequently asked questions
What are the main tourist regions of KPK?
Hazara (Abbottabad, the Galiyat, Naran and Kaghan), Malakand (Swat, Dir and Chitral), Peshawar and the valley, and southern KP, which isn't part of the tourist circuit.
How do I get from Swat to Chitral?
By road back through Dir and the Lowari Tunnel, since there's no direct link between the two valleys. In summer, an alternative is the high Shandur Pass route from Chitral into Gilgit-Baltistan, which avoids Swat and Dir entirely but goes the other direction.
Is Peshawar a good base for visiting the rest of KPK?
No. Swat, Hazara and Chitral each branch off the M1 before it reaches Peshawar, so it works better as a separate city trip than as a base for the wider province.
How far is Chitral from Islamabad by road?
About 500 km, roughly eleven to twelve hours, via Mardan, Dir and the Lowari Tunnel, which has fixed daily opening hours rather than running around the clock.
Is southern KP, like Dera Ismail Khan, worth visiting as a tourist?
Not currently. It has no established tourist circuit, and most of the region, along with Peshawar, Swat and Dir, is covered by a UK government advisory against travel.
