Trip types
A 7-Day Honeymoon Itinerary for the Northern Areas
A relaxed 7-day honeymoon itinerary for the northern areas, from Gilgit to Khunjerab Pass, with the coloured lakes of Naltar and a pace built for couples.
Tour package · 8 days
Honeymoon in Hunza and Skardu
This honeymoon is planned for fewer hours in the car and more time in each place. You fly from Islamabad to Gilgit, spend three nights in one hotel in Karimabad, cross to Skardu on the one long road day, and fly home from Skardu. You have your own car and driver throughout, and we book rooms with a view where the hotel has them.
- Duration
- 8 days, 7 nights
- Pickup from
- Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad International Airport
- Best months
- Mid June to September for the full plan; April, May and October without the Deosai day
- Effort
- Easy: short walks, one long road day, and a rough jeep day in summer
- Highest point
- About 4,100 m on the Deosai plateau (day trip, summer only)
- Price
- On request
The route
Day by day
- Three unhurried nights in Karimabad, with sunset from the Eagle's Nest
- Baltit and Altit forts and the lanes of the old villages
- A boat on Attabad Lake and the Passu Cones in upper Hunza
- The road through the Indus gorge from Jaglot to Skardu
- Shangrila, Upper Kachura and Shigar Fort
- A day on the Deosai plateau by jeep in summer
Good for: Newly married couples, Couples who want a slower pace, Short honeymoons without long drives.
A private trip for your group. Dates, pace and hotels are set around you and confirmed in writing with your quote.
Travel note, October 2026: flights to Gilgit and Skardu run all year, weather permitting, and the Hunza to Skardu road is normally open outside landslides and heavy snow, so this honeymoon can run now; we check the road the day before. Heavy snow closed Babusar Top on 13 October and we could not confirm that the Deosai track is still open, so until the plateau reopens, usually in June, Day 7 goes to Manthokha or Khaplu. Nights in Hunza and Skardu are cold from late October, so ask us about heated rooms.
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Day 1
Fly to Gilgit and drive to Karimabad
We collect you from home or your hotel in Islamabad or Rawalpindi for the morning flight to Gilgit, about an hour in a small PIA aircraft that only flies in clear weather. Your car and driver meet you at Gilgit airport for the drive of about 100 km up the Hunza river to Karimabad, with a stop at Ghulmet for the view of Rakaposhi (7,788 m). The afternoon is yours to settle in. We book a room with a valley view where the hotel has one.
Drive: About 2 to 2.5 hours, 100 km · Night: Karimabad
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Day 2
Karimabad at an easy pace
No early start. Late morning you walk up through the bazaar to Baltit Fort, then have lunch and a rest before an afternoon walk through the old village of Altit to Altit Fort above the river. Towards evening your driver takes you up the short, steep road to Duikar, the Eagle's Nest viewpoint, for sunset over Rakaposhi and the valley. The day is easy to shorten if you would rather do less.
Drive: Short local drives · Night: Karimabad
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Day 3
Attabad Lake, Gulmit and Passu
The highway north runs through five tunnels, about 7 km in all, beside Attabad Lake, which formed when a landslide dammed the Hunza river in January 2010. You can take a boat out on the lake, paid locally, then walk in Gulmit, look across at the Hussaini suspension bridge and stop for the Passu Cones. It is about 50 km each way, so there is plenty of time for long lunches and stops. Back to the same hotel in Karimabad.
Drive: About 3 hours in all, 100 km · Night: Karimabad
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Day 4
Karimabad to Skardu
The one long road day. We drive down to Gilgit and on to Jaglot, about 45 km south of Gilgit, where the Gilgit river joins the Indus and the Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Himalaya meet. From there the 167 km Skardu road runs through the Indus gorge. It was widened between 2017 and 2021 but has no tunnels, so it can be held up by landslides after rain. We stop for lunch on the way and arrive in the evening.
Drive: About 7 to 8 hours, 290 km · Night: Skardu, or a lake-view hotel at Shangrila
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Day 5
Shangrila and Upper Kachura
A quiet day by the lakes. Shangrila, the resort around Lower Kachura lake, is 20 to 25 km from Skardu, and a short walk below it leads to the clear water of Upper Kachura; both lakes are at about 2,500 m. There is nothing to rush: a slow breakfast, a walk, lunch by the water. If you want to stay at the lakes for the night rather than in Skardu, tell us when you book and we will look for a lake-view room.
Drive: About 1 hour in all, 50 km · Night: Skardu or Shangrila
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Day 6
Shigar
After a late breakfast we cross the Sarfaranga cold desert, about 20 to 25 minutes from Skardu, where the sand runs up to the mountains. Shigar is about 30 km from Skardu, under an hour by road. You visit Shigar Fort, a 17th-century palace restored between 1999 and 2004, and the Amburiq Mosque, which tradition dates to the 14th century, and walk through the village before returning in the late afternoon.
Drive: About 2 hours in all, 70 km · Night: Skardu or Shangrila
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Day 7
Deosai, or Manthokha or Khaplu
From mid June to September you spend the day on the Deosai plateau by jeep, past Satpara Lake to the grasslands at about 4,100 m, and back to Skardu by evening; overnight stays inside the park are no longer allowed. Outside that season, or if you prefer, the day goes to Manthokha waterfall in Kharmang, about 80 km and two hours from Skardu, or to Khaplu Palace, about 100 km and 2.5 to 3 hours away.
Drive: A full day by jeep, or 4 to 6 hours by car · Night: Skardu or Shangrila
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Day 8
Fly Skardu to Islamabad
Your driver takes you to Skardu airport for the flight to Islamabad, about an hour. PIA, Airblue and AirSial fly the route, and Skardu's long runway makes it more dependable than Gilgit, though flights still stop in bad weather. Departures from Skardu are usually between morning and early afternoon, so you are home the same day. We meet you at Islamabad airport and take you home or to your hotel in Islamabad or Rawalpindi.
Drive: Airport transfers only
The detail
What your quote covers
What is included
- Private car with your own driver from Gilgit airport to Skardu airport
- Airport transfers in Islamabad and Rawalpindi at both ends
- Double room for seven nights, with breakfast, in better hotels, with a view where available
- Fuel, tolls, and the driver's meals and room
- Jeep with a local driver for the Deosai day in summer
- Booking the flights for you, and rebooking if weather cancels them
- A tour coordinator on call for the whole trip
What is not
- Flights from Islamabad to Gilgit and Skardu to Islamabad, quoted at the fare on the day
- Lunches and dinners
- Entry tickets for the forts and the Deosai park fee, paid at the gate
- Boat rides on Attabad Lake, paid locally
- Extra nights or transport caused by flight cancellations or road closures
- Personal costs and travel insurance
Good to know before you book
Why fly in and out instead of driving?
By road, Hunza and Skardu are each two long days from Islamabad, which would take up half of an eight-day honeymoon. Flying in to Gilgit and out of Skardu keeps you to one long road day, Day 4, and you never repeat a journey. If you would rather drive, we can run this as a road trip over Babusar in summer, but it needs about three extra days to keep the same slow pace.
What if a flight is cancelled?
Gilgit flights are cancelled more often than Skardu ones, because the small aircraft fly only in clear weather. If the Gilgit flight does not go on Day 1, we try to move you to a Skardu flight and run the trip the other way round, ending in Hunza; the trip then ends with the Gilgit flight, or two days by road in summer. Do not plan anything important for the day after Day 8, because there is no spare day in the plan.
What are the hotels like?
We book the better hotels in Karimabad and Skardu, with private bathrooms, heating and a view of the valley or the water where the hotel has one. Standards are simpler than in Islamabad, power cuts happen, and internet is slow. Tell us what matters most to you, such as a lake view, a quiet room, or a heritage stay, and we will book around it. The hotel names come with your quote.
Is Deosai suitable on a honeymoon?
It is the most dramatic day of the trip but also the roughest, with several hours in a jeep on an unpaved track and cold wind on the plateau even in July. There is no signal or fuel up there. Since 2025 overnight camping on Deosai is banned after a bear attack, and no hotels or camps are allowed in the park, so it is a day trip only. If it does not appeal, Day 7 goes to Manthokha or Khaplu instead.
What should we pack and carry?
Layers: days in Karimabad and Skardu can be warm in summer, but evenings are cool and Deosai is cold. Bring comfortable walking shoes for the fort paths, sunglasses and sun cream for the altitude, and modest clothes for villages and mosques. Carry enough cash from Islamabad, because smaller places and boat operators rarely take cards. Signal is fine in the towns but patchy on the road between them.
Before you go
Read up on the route
Trip types
Honeymoon Places in Pakistan: Best Destinations for Couples
The best honeymoon places in Pakistan by season and budget: where couples stay in Hunza, Skardu, Kashmir and Swat, from restored forts to riverside guesthouses.
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Gilgit and Skardu Flight Cancellation: Why and What to Do
Why Gilgit and Skardu flights get cancelled, how likely it is by season, your refund and rebooking rights, and the road plan for when the plane stays put.
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