Staying at Shigar Fort Heritage Hotel: Rooms and Prices

To stay at Shigar Fort is to book one of the 20 rooms of Serena Shigar Fort, the heritage hotel inside the restored seventeenth-century palace of the rajas of Shigar, an hour north of Skardu. Thirteen rooms are in the old palace and seven in a newer Garden House. On the main booking sites in 2026, a standard double cost roughly USD 85 to 130 a night with breakfast, and the suites more. For one or two nights, it is one of the most memorable places to sleep in Pakistan.

This guide covers the room types, what a night costs, what is and isn't included, and who will find it worth the price.

Palace rooms or Garden House?

This is the main choice, and it matters more than the room category.

In the old palace

The palace rooms are the reason to come. Serena describes them as heritage rooms with native stone walls, hand-carved woodwork and traditional Balti furnishing, looking out over the mountains or the garden. They come with double, twin or single beds.

They are also small. The building is four hundred years old and the rooms were never meant to be large, and the palace is on several levels, so expect compact spaces and stairs. Guest reviews mention the size, and most treat it as part of the charm, but if anyone in your group has trouble with stairs, say so when you book.

The palace also holds the four best rooms in the hotel:

• Three Heritage Suites, which were once the chambers of the royal women and the raja's mid-season quarters, furnished with period antiques. Each has a king bed and a single bed in an anteroom, which suits a couple with one child.
• The Royal Suite, the raja's summer quarters, with a hanging wooden latticework balcony over the Shigar stream. There is only one, so it goes first.

In the Garden House

The Garden House is a newer building in the grounds, with seven rooms including the Garden Suite. The rooms are more spacious and more conventional, with flat-screen televisions and room service, and they look onto the baradari, the square pavilion in the garden. The Garden Suite adds a king bed and a sitting area with a traditional diwan.

Choose the Garden House if you want more space and modern comfort, or if you are travelling with older parents who would find the palace stairs hard. Choose the palace if the night is about the building.

What does a night cost?

Serena does not print room rates on its website; you see them only when you enter dates in its booking engine. On the big booking sites in 2026, a standard double at Shigar Fort was listed at roughly USD 85 to 130 a night, depending on the date, room and site. The suites cost noticeably more.

A few things move the price:

• Season. The busiest months are the blossom and autumn seasons and the summer holidays, and rates follow demand. Outside those, it is worth asking the hotel directly for its best rate.
• Palace or Garden House. Heritage rooms and suites in the palace are the ones in shortest supply.
• Where you book. Compare Serena's own site with the booking sites for your dates, and read the payment terms: some listings ask for payment in advance.

For comparison, Serena's sister hotel at Khaplu was listed from about USD 95 a night in September 2026, and a comfortable hotel in Skardu town costs much less. Our guide to the cost of a Skardu trip puts room prices together with flights, cars and food.

What is included, and what isn't

A standard booking at Serena Shigar Fort includes:

• Breakfast, served in the Fong Khar restaurant from 6:30 to 10:30 am.
• Wi-Fi, a 24-hour front desk and laundry on request.
• The fort itself. As a guest, you have the old palace and the garden to yourself in the evening and early morning, when the day visitors have gone.

Dinner is extra, served from 7 to 10:30 pm. The menu mixes Balti dishes with Pakistani, Chinese and continental food, using produce from the valley, and the hotel makes its own cherry ice cream from orchard fruit. Shigar is a small, quiet town, so for most guests dinner at the hotel is the simplest choice.

The hotel can also arrange excursions: Serena lists the Amburiq mosque, about ten minutes away, Blind Lake, about 25 minutes, the Sarfaranga dunes and the old orchard garden at Hushupi. Ask at reception whether a guided walk through the palace is on offer for guests.

What a stay is actually like

Shigar is quiet after dark. There is no bazaar life to speak of in the evening, and a night at the fort is about the building, the garden and the stars rather than things to do. The best hours are the first and last of the day, when you can walk the village lanes and the orchards behind the fort without anyone else about.

Some practical points:

• Signal. Expect mobile coverage in Shigar town, but don't count on it in the side valleys, and let people at home know that you may be slow to reply.
• Cash. Card payment is accepted at the hotel, but carry cash for the rest of the day: drivers, jeep rides and small shops.
• Children. Children are welcome, and cots are available. The palace stairs and uneven floors need watching with toddlers.
• Winter. The fort has been reported to close for part of the winter. If you are travelling between December and March, confirm with the hotel that it is open, and ask what heating the room has.

The official Serena Shigar Fort page has the booking form and current contact details. For the fort's history and how day visitors see it, see our guide to Shigar Fort.

How long to stay, and where it fits in a trip

One or two nights is right for most people. Shigar is about 30 km from Skardu, and further still from Kachura and the airport, so using the fort as a base for a whole week adds an hour or more of driving to most days. It suits the end of a trip, after Deosai and the lakes, or the middle of one as a break from the town.

With one night, arrive by early afternoon, see the fort and the Amburiq mosque, and keep the evening and next morning for the garden and the village. Our Skardu to Shigar guide sets out the day. Our guide to where to stay in Skardu compares a night in Shigar with Skardu town and Kachura.

Is staying at Shigar Fort worth it?

For couples, honeymooners and anyone who loves old buildings, yes. There are very few places in Pakistan where you can sleep inside a palace this old, and the price is similar to a good city hotel, not a luxury resort.

It is less suited to families who want space and activities, travellers on a tight budget, and anyone who needs step-free rooms. For them, a Garden House room, or a day visit from a hotel in Skardu, gives most of the experience for less.

If you can afford only one palace night in Baltistan, the choice is between Shigar, an hour from Skardu, and Khaplu, three hours out. Our comparison of Shigar and Khaplu helps you choose. Our Skardu and Deosai trip, from PKR 90,000 per person, includes a day in Shigar for the fort and the old mosque.

Frequently asked questions