Skardu by Road or Flight: Which Is Better?

Whether to reach Skardu by road or flight comes down to how many days you have. The flight from Islamabad takes about an hour, and one-way fares in 2026 ran from roughly PKR 14,000 to 35,000, but weather cancels it often enough that you need a spare day. The road takes two long days each way and costs far less per person in a shared car, but it uses up four days of the trip. For a week or less, fly. For nine days or more, or a family sharing a car, drive, or do one of each.

This guide compares the two on time, cost, reliability, scenery and safety advice, then says which suits which kind of trip. The detail of each route is in our guides to the Islamabad to Skardu flight and driving from Islamabad to Skardu.

How long does each option take?

Flying. The flight itself is a little over an hour, with two or three flights a day between PIA, Airblue and AirSial in summer and far fewer in winter. Add about two hours at Islamabad airport and 20 to 30 minutes from Skardu airport into town. Most flights leave in the morning, so you can be in Skardu before lunch.

Driving. Islamabad to Skardu is about 700 km via the Karakoram Highway and the Jaglot–Skardu road, or a little over 650 km over the Babusar Pass in summer. Allow 16 to 20 hours of driving, split by a night in Chilas or Naran. The round trip uses four days, which is most of a one-week holiday.

That is the whole decision for many people. On a seven-day trip, flying gives you six days in Skardu; driving gives you three.

Which is cheaper?

The flight is the expensive part of a Skardu trip. In September 2026, fares on the Islamabad route started at around USD 52, about PKR 14,500, for an early booking, with typical one-way fares of about PKR 23,000 to 34,000. Late bookings for Eid and the summer holidays go higher. For a family of four, return flights can cost more than the rest of the trip combined.

The road costs fuel for about 1,400 km there and back, two nights' hotels on the way up and back, and food on the road, and all of that is shared between the people in the car. The coach from Rawalpindi, run by NATCO and private operators, is the cheapest way of all, at a fraction of the air fare, but it takes around a day each way.

A car with a driver hired from Islamabad is charged for every day of the trip, including the days it waits in Skardu, so it makes sense for groups rather than couples. Our Skardu trip cost guide puts both options into full budgets.

Which is more reliable?

Neither is guaranteed, but they fail in different ways.

Flights need clear weather along the route and at Skardu. When cloud comes down they are delayed or cancelled, often on the morning itself, and in busy weeks the next free seat may be a day or more away. Winter and spring are the worst seasons; summer is the most reliable, although monsoon cloud still grounds flights in July and August. Our guide to Gilgit and Skardu flight cancellations explains what to do when it happens.

The road rarely stops a trip altogether, but it delays it. Landslides are most likely in the spring melt and the July–August monsoon, and a single slide on the KKH can hold traffic for hours or days. The rebuilt Jaglot–Skardu road is now a proper two-lane road, but rockfall still closes it for short spells. Babusar is open only from about late May or June until the first heavy snow in autumn. Check our Babusar open or closed guide before planning that way.

A flight either goes or it doesn't. A road trip nearly always arrives, but sometimes a day late.

Which has the better scenery?

On a clear morning the flight is a highlight in itself. Sit on the right going up and on the left coming back, and Nanga Parbat fills the window. On a cloudy day you see nothing at all.

The road gives you more, for longer: the Indus through Kohistan, Nanga Parbat across the valley between Chilas and Jaglot, the point where the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush meet, and hours of the Indus gorge before Skardu. In summer, the Babusar route adds the Kaghan valley and a pass at 4,173 metres. The cost is two tiring days at the wheel.

Is the road to Skardu safe?

The road itself is paved throughout, and Pakistani families drive it every summer. What deserves attention is security on part of the Karakoram Highway.

The UK government's travel advice, updated on 22 September 2026, advises against all travel on the KKH between Mansehra and Chilas, via Battagram, Besham, Dasu and Sazin, up to the junction with the N15. This stretch has seen attacks: in March 2024 a suicide bomber struck a bus carrying Chinese engineers to the Dasu dam project near Besham, killing five of them and their Pakistani driver. The Babusar route, the N15, is not on the UK list, and nor is Gilgit-Baltistan itself.

If you drive, check local news and current police advice before you set out, travel only in daylight, and carry your CNIC for the checkposts. Overseas visitors should read their own government's advice, such as the UK's Pakistan travel advice: travelling against it can void travel insurance, which is one reason many foreign visitors fly.

Families, older parents and altitude

Flying is easier on most families. Two days in a car is hard on small children who get carsick and on older parents with bad backs. The flight lands at about 2,230 metres, which most people barely notice, as long as the first day is kept easy.

Driving suits families who want their own car in Skardu, a lot of luggage, or the freedom to stop where they like. Over Babusar, remember that the pass is above 4,000 metres; anyone who feels unwell at the top should simply keep going down.

Fly one way, drive the other

Many people get the best of both by flying in and driving or taking the coach out, or the other way round. Flying in saves a day and a half at the start, when you are keen to arrive. Driving out means a cancelled flight home cannot trap you, and you see the KKH once without doing it twice.

If you fly both ways, know the road as your fallback. If the flight out is cancelled more than once, the drive to Islamabad takes two days.

Which should you choose?

• A week or less: fly, book the earliest flight of the day, and keep a spare day at the end.
• Nine days or more: drive, ideally over Babusar in season, or fly one way.
• A family of four or five with their own car: drive; the cost per person drops sharply.
• A fixed date at the end, such as an international flight or work: fly in, but keep two spare days, or drive out.
• Foreign guests: fly, given the advisory on the KKH.

Our seven-day Skardu and Deosai trip flies in from Islamabad when the weather allows or arrives by road, and holds a spare day for the flight home.

Frequently asked questions