What to Buy in the Northern Areas: Souvenirs and Dry Fruits

The things most worth buying in the northern areas are dried fruit and nuts, semi-precious gemstones, handwoven shawls and caps, and carved wooden or stone items, all sold in bazaars in Karimabad, Gilgit, Aliabad and Skardu. Quality and price vary a lot between sellers, so it helps to know roughly what you are looking at before you buy.

For a broader look at the region these come from, see our Gilgit and Hunza guide.

Dried fruit and nuts

This is the easiest, safest buy in the region, and the one almost every visitor comes home with. Hunza and the wider Gilgit-Baltistan region grow apricots, mulberries, walnuts, almonds and cherries, much of it dried or processed locally rather than imported.

• Dried apricots (khubani) are the signature product, sold whole, halved or as apricot kernels roasted for snacking.
• Walnuts and walnut oil are widely sold, often pressed locally.
• Dried mulberries, both white and black, are lighter and sweeter than most dried fruit sold elsewhere in Pakistan.
• Kilao, a local speciality, is a walnut coated in a dried paste of grape juice, apricot and mulberry.

Buy from a shop with visible turnover rather than the first stall you see, check that nuts are not stale or damp, and taste before you commit to a large quantity where the seller allows it.

Gemstones: buy carefully

Hunza and Nagar are known for topaz in yellow, orange and pink shades, while aquamarine associated with the region is mainly linked to Skardu and Shigar. Ruby, tourmaline and other semi-precious stones also turn up in local shops.

This is also the category where it is easiest to overpay or be sold something other than what it is described as. A few basic precautions:

• Buy loose stones or set jewellery only from an established shop, not from someone approaching you on the street.
• Ask what the stone is and whether it has been treated or enhanced; heat treatment is common in the trade and not necessarily a problem, but you should be told about it.
• Compare prices at more than one shop before deciding, and treat a price far below what you are seeing elsewhere as a warning sign rather than a bargain.
• Don't expect a certificate of authenticity from a small bazaar seller to mean much on its own; it is a marketing document unless issued by a recognised gemmological lab.

If you are not confident judging gemstones, treat any purchase as a memento rather than an investment.

Shawls, caps and textiles

Pashmina and wool shawls, often described as Hunza or Gilgit shawls, are sold in bazaars across the region, along with the pillbox-style caps worn locally, which come plain or embroidered. Quality varies enormously: some shawls are hand-loomed wool or pashmina blends, others are machine-made and sold at a similar price to the real thing.

Feel the weight and weave, ask directly what the fibre content is, and expect a genuine hand-loomed shawl to cost more than a machine-made one of similar appearance. As with gemstones, comparing a few shops before buying gives you a sense of the range.

Wood carving and handicrafts

Carved wooden items, from small boxes to furniture and window frames in the traditional style seen in old Hunza and Baltistan houses, are sold as souvenirs in most bazaars, alongside embroidered cushion covers, rugs and small stone items. These make honest, low-risk souvenirs: there is little to fake in a carved wooden box, and prices are generally modest.

A note on prices

Prices for all of the above change with the season, the exchange rate and how much bargaining you do, and a figure printed today may not hold in a year. As a rule, prices in tourist-facing shops in Karimabad's main bazaar tend to be higher than in Aliabad or Gilgit, and light negotiation is normal and expected almost everywhere except fixed-price shops.

Frequently asked questions