What to know before you go

Visas and entry

Most visitors need a visa. Pakistan runs an online visa service, and many nationalities are eligible for a tourist e-visa. Requirements, fees and processing times change, so check the official portal close to your travel date rather than relying on a blog.

We can supply an invitation letter and a confirmed itinerary, which the application usually asks for. Send us your passport details once your trip is confirmed and we will prepare them.

Current fees and processing times: [to be confirmed against the official portal].

Permits and restricted areas

Most of the north is open to visitors without any special paperwork. Some areas near the borders and some high valleys need a No Objection Certificate, and the rules differ for Pakistani and foreign nationals.

Khunjerab National Park and Deosai National Park charge entry fees. Parts of the upper Neelum valley need permits arranged in advance.

We handle all of this before you arrive. If a permit cannot be obtained for your dates, we will tell you at the planning stage rather than at the checkpoint.

Getting there

Most travellers fly into Islamabad, which is the closest major airport to the north. Lahore and Karachi are the other international gateways.

From Islamabad you can fly on to Skardu or Gilgit when the weather allows. These flights are spectacular and genuinely unreliable — they fly on sight, and they cancel often. We always plan a road alternative and a spare day.

By road, it is two days up the Karakoram Highway to Gilgit or Skardu, usually with a night in Chilas or Besham.

Getting around

Private vehicle with a driver, in almost every case. The roads in the north are narrow, unlit and shared with trucks, and local drivers read them in a way visitors cannot.

Some valleys — Fairy Meadows, Naltar, the high lakes — are reached only by jeep, and the last stretch to Fairy Meadows is on foot.

Driving times are longer than the distances suggest. We show real times in every itinerary, not optimistic ones.

Altitude and health

Skardu and Gilgit sit at around 1,500 to 2,200 metres, which most people feel only as mild breathlessness. Deosai is above 4,000 and Khunjerab close to 4,700.

We build itineraries that gain height gradually and we do not rush the first two days. Tell us at the planning stage if you have had altitude trouble before, or if you have a heart or lung condition.

Bring any regular medication with you. Pharmacies in the larger towns are reasonable, but do not count on a specific brand. Travel insurance that covers mountain travel and evacuation is a condition of every trip we run.

Weather and roads

Mountain weather decides more of your trip than any plan does. Passes close, flights cancel and landslides shut roads for a few hours or a few days.

This is why we hold a spare day on longer itineraries and why we never schedule a flight on the morning of an international connection. It is also why we would rather quote a route with slack in it than a tighter one we cannot keep.

Money

The currency is the Pakistani rupee. Cash is still king outside the cities, and in the upper valleys it is the only option.

ATMs exist in Gilgit, Skardu and the larger towns but are not dependable — draw what you need in Islamabad. Cards are accepted in city hotels and almost nowhere else.

Guidance on tipping: [to be confirmed by the brand].

Connectivity

Mobile coverage is good in the towns and patchy to absent in the valleys. On Deosai, at Fairy Meadows and in much of the upper Neelum there is no signal at all.

Foreign SIMs generally do not roam usefully in Gilgit-Baltistan. Your guide carries a local phone, and we agree check-in points with anyone at home who needs them.

What to pack

Layers, and more warm ones than the season suggests. Even in July, Deosai at night is close to freezing.

Walking boots you have already broken in, a windproof shell, sun protection at altitude, a head torch, and a power bank.

Dress modestly — long trousers and covered shoulders — which matters more in villages than in the cities, and for women more than men. It is a courtesy, not a rule we enforce.

Respect and etiquette

Ask before photographing people, and accept no for an answer. In conservative valleys, photographing women without permission causes real offence.

Accept tea when it is offered if you possibly can. Refusing is the one thing that reads as rude almost everywhere in the north.

Take your rubbish out with you. The meadows and lakes are under real pressure from the number of people now visiting them.