2 Days in Skardu: A Weekend Fly-In Plan

A Skardu itinerary for 2 days works best as a weekend fly-in. Take the first flight on day one and drive straight from the airport to the Kachura lakes, then finish at the Katpana dunes at sunset. Spend day two at Shigar Fort, with the Manthal Buddha Rock and Satpara Lake on the way back if you have the energy, and fly out on the morning of day three. Leave Deosai out unless it is the reason you are coming: it needs a full day of its own, and squeezing it in means dropping everything else.

Two days is short for Skardu, so this plan keeps the drives under an hour, puts each place at its best time of day, and tells you what to drop if the flight is late.

Is two days enough for Skardu?

It is enough for the valley floor: the two Kachura lakes, the Katpana cold desert and Shigar, which are what most people picture. It is not enough for Deosai or Khaplu, which each take a full day, and it leaves no slack for a cancelled flight.

If you can stretch to three nights, do. Our three-day Skardu itinerary covers the same ground at an easier pace, with a spare morning. But if a long weekend is what you have, two days in Skardu is still very much worth the flight.

Before you go: book around the flight

On a short trip the flight is the plan. Three habits make it work:

1. Book the earliest flight of the day. Morning flights have the best chance of operating, and landing by 10 am gives you most of day one.
2. Buy a changeable return fare, and don't put anything unmovable on the day after you are due home.
3. Have the car waiting. Ask your hotel to send a car and driver to meet you, so you can leave the airport straight for the lakes rather than negotiating a taxi.

If your weekend allows, fly in on Friday and out on Sunday, and keep Monday as your cushion.

Day 1: land, the Kachura lakes and Katpana

Skardu airport lies west of town, between the town and the Kachura lakes, so day one starts by heading away from Skardu rather than into it.

1. Land and drive west to Kachura. Leave your bags in the car rather than doubling back to town first.
2. Shangrila first. Lower Kachura, inside Shangrila Resort, has flat paths and a café in an old DC-3 fuselage, which suits an arrival morning. Walk around the lake and have tea.
3. Upper Kachura, if you feel fine. The bigger lake is a few minutes up the road, reached by a short, steep path. At 2,500 metres on your first day, take the climb back up slowly, or skip it if anyone feels breathless. Take a boat out if the water is calm.
4. Trout for lunch at one of the simple places by the upper lake, in season.
5. Check in and rest through the middle of the afternoon. Drink plenty of water.
6. Katpana an hour before sunset. The dunes are beside the airport, 15 to 20 minutes from town. Walk up onto the higher ridges and wait for the light. Our Katpana desert guide gives sunset times by month.
7. An early dinner and an early night.

You will see the lakes in late-morning light rather than the stillness of dawn. If the dawn view matters to you, stay at Kachura on the first night and walk down to the water at sunrise on day two before driving to Shigar, which you can reach directly from the Kachura side.

Day 2: Shigar, then Manthal and Satpara

1. Leave around 8:30 am. The road north crosses the Indus and passes the Sarfaranga cold desert at the mouth of the Shigar valley. Stop if the light is good.
2. Shigar Fort. The seventeenth-century palace of the rajas of Shigar, restored and now a Serena hotel. The museum is open to day visitors; check the ticket and timings at the gate.
3. Amburiq mosque and the orchards. The small fourteenth-century mosque is a short walk from the fort. Walk the lanes behind the village among the apricot and walnut trees.
4. Lunch in Shigar, then back to Skardu by mid-afternoon.
5. Manthal Buddha Rock. A few kilometres south of the bazaar on the Satpara road, an eighth-century Buddha carved into a granite boulder. Twenty minutes is enough. Our Manthal Buddha Rock guide explains what you are looking at.
6. Satpara Lake in the evening light, further up the same road at about 2,600 metres. Head back before dark.

If you are tired, drop Satpara first. If you still have energy and good legs, swap Manthal and Satpara for the steep climb to Kharpocho Fort above the bazaar at sunset.

Day 3: fly out

Flights out of Skardu leave in the morning or around midday. The airport is 20 to 30 minutes from town; arrive in good time, because check-in queues build on busy days.

If the flight is cancelled, the airline will usually rebook you on the next available flight, which in busy weeks can be a day or more later. Use the day for Kachura at dawn, or Kharpocho, and keep in touch with the airline. If it is cancelled repeatedly, the road to Islamabad takes two days.

What about Deosai?

Deosai is the high plateau above Skardu, at over 4,000 metres, open roughly from June to October. It is the reason many people come, and it is exactly what a two-day trip cannot rush.

Why it is left out. A day to Bara Pani and back takes six to eight hours by jeep, Sheosar Lake nine to eleven. It climbs about 2,000 metres from Skardu, which is hard on the body the day after you fly in. And it would use half of a two-day trip.

The summer swap. If Deosai is the one thing you came for, and it is between late June and September:

1. Keep day one as above, but go easy on the Upper Kachura path.
2. On day two, take a jeep to Bara Pani and back, leaving at 7 am. Don't push on to Sheosar; turn round by early afternoon.
3. Drop Shigar, and stop at Satpara and Manthal on the way back down if there is time.
4. Take a packed lunch. Overnight camping on the plateau is banned, and there is nowhere to buy food.
5. Check the road the evening before. Heavy rain has closed the road below the plateau in recent summers.

If anyone gets a worsening headache or feels sick on the plateau, turn back. Our guide to the Skardu to Deosai drive covers the jeep and the route.

The better answer is an extra day. With three nights, Deosai gets a day of its own on day three, after two nights in Skardu.

Where to stay and how to get around

Stay in one hotel for both nights, so you never pack in between. Skardu town is the most practical, since everything here is within an hour. A hotel near the airport makes the first and last mornings easier, and a night at Kachura gives you the lakes at dawn.

Hire a car with a driver for both days through your hotel. A normal car is fine for everything in the main plan; you need a jeep only for Deosai. Carry cash for entry tickets, boats and food.

Is a two-day trip worth it?

Yes, if you are flying from Islamabad and have a long weekend. Two days on the valley floor, with the lakes, the dunes and Shigar, is a proper taste of Skardu, and the flight past Nanga Parbat on a clear morning is part of the trip.

No, if you would be driving: the road takes two days each way. It is also a gamble if your return date cannot move, because a single cancellation costs half the trip. With young children or older parents, three or four nights are more comfortable.

For a week with Deosai and Khaplu included, our Skardu and Deosai trip builds in a spare day for the flight. The Skardu destination page shows everything else in the valley.

Frequently asked questions