Hunza and Khunjerab Pass Tour by Air
Five days from Islamabad to the forts, the lakes and the highest paved border crossing on earth.
- Duration
- 5 Days
- Region
- Hunza Valley
- Trip level
- Easy
- Departure
- Private trip
Overview
There is a reason Hunza is the trip almost every Pakistani traveller wants to take at least once. In five days you go from an airport in Islamabad to a thousand year old fort above the Hunza river, to a lake the colour of antifreeze that did not exist before 2010, to a mountain pass at 4,693 metres where a stone marker tells you China begins on the other side.
This Hunza tour by air is built around the flight, which is the whole point. Islamabad to Gilgit takes about an hour and follows the spine of Nanga Parbat on a clear morning, so you are drinking tea in Karimabad the same afternoon instead of losing two full days to the Karakoram Highway. That leaves your time free for the things worth spending it on: Baltit and Altit forts, sunset from Eagle's Nest at Duikar, the Passu Cones, the Hussaini suspension bridge, and a full day running up the old Silk Route to the Pakistan China border.
Hunza is also, quietly, one of the best places to eat in Pakistan. Walnut cake in Karimabad, apricot cake at Gulmit, chapshuro and yak steak in Passu, tumuro tea poured at every stop. We have built the eating into the plan rather than leaving it to chance, because half the memories people bring back from this valley are of food.
Everything is arranged for you. Flights, transfers, hotels, a private vehicle with 4x4 where the road demands it, fort tickets, national park fees, bridge tickets, tolls and fuel are all in the package. Departures run on your dates rather than ours. You bring a jacket and a camera.
Trip at a Glance
- Duration
- 5 days and 4 nights
- Route
- Islamabad to Gilgit by air, then Karimabad, Duikar, Attabad Lake, Gulmit, Passu, Khunjerab Pass, Borith Lake and back
- Starts and ends
- Islamabad, by air
- Season
- April to October. Khunjerab Pass is normally open from May to November
- Region
- Hunza, Gojal and Gilgit, Gilgit-Baltistan
- Tour grade
- Easy. A sightseeing and cultural tour with short walks only
- Highest point
- Khunjerab Pass, 4,693m or 15,397 ft
- Total road distance
- Approximately 560 km of driving, Gilgit to Khunjerab Pass and back
- Overnights
- One night Karimabad or Duikar, two nights Gulmit or Passu, one night Gilgit
- Meals
- Breakfast and dinner throughout
- Transport
- Return flights, private vehicle throughout, with 4x4 where the route requires it
- Departures
- Fully customisable. Pick any dates that suit you within the season
- Suits
- Families, couples, honeymooners, solo travellers and photographers
- Price
- From $975 USD per person. Per person, all inclusive of return airfare from Islamabad. Departure dates are yours to choose within the season.
Trip Highlights
- Khunjerab Pass at 4,693m, the highest paved international border crossing in the world, at the Pakistan China gate
- The length of the Karakoram Highway through Gojal, the modern Silk Route
- Baltit Fort, on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list, and 11th century Altit Fort, the oldest surviving monument in Gilgit-Baltistan
- Sunset from Eagle's Nest at Duikar, with Rakaposhi at 7,788m, Diran at 7,266m, Ultar Sar at 7,388m and Lady Finger lined up in front of you
- Attabad Lake, 21 km of turquoise water created by the landslide of January 2010, with the old highway still under the surface
- The Passu Cones, the sawtooth ridge of Tupopdan that ends up on every Hunza postcard
- The Hussaini suspension bridge, one of the most photographed and most nerve testing rope bridges anywhere
- Ondra Poygah viewpoint above Gulmit, where Attabad Lake and the Passu Cones appear in the same frame
- Glacier viewpoints at Batura, around 57 km long, and at Passu
- Borith Lake at 2,600m, a saline lake between two glaciers and a stopover for migratory birds
- Walnut cake in Karimabad, apricot cake at Gulmit and yak steak at Passu, all built into the route
Photos
From the Hunza and Khunjerab Pass Tour by Air. Swipe or use the arrows.
Day by Day Itinerary
Tap any day to open the full detail.
An early start, and a flight most people remember for years. The Islamabad to Gilgit sector runs low and close through the mountains, and on a clear morning Nanga Parbat sits in the window at eye level. You land at Gilgit, meet your vehicle, and drive up the Karakoram Highway into Hunza with Rakaposhi appearing and disappearing between the ridges.
Altit Fort came first, built in the 11th century on a cliff above the Hunza river. At around 1,100 years old it is the oldest surviving monument in Gilgit-Baltistan, and it was the original seat of the Mirs of Hunza before the court moved up to Baltit. It survived invasions and earthquakes for a millennium, fell into ruin, and was restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture along with its royal garden and the old village lanes, which are worth as much of your time as the fort itself.
Baltit Fort sits higher up, above Karimabad. Its foundations go back to the 8th century, the structure you see is roughly 700 years old, and the Tibetan influenced woodwork came with a Baltistani princess who married a Mir of Hunza and brought Balti craftsmen with her as part of her dowry. The Mirs ruled from here until 1945, and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture completed a full restoration in 1996. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list since 2004, and the view from its wooden balcony over Karimabad and the Ultar glacier is the single best photograph in the valley.
Then it is down into Karimabad bazaar for the thing everybody comes for: Hunza walnut cake with a pot of tumuro tea. As the light starts to go, you drive the switchbacks up to Duikar, the highest village in Hunza, and the viewpoint known as Eagle's Nest. Rakaposhi, Diran, Ultar Sar and the spire of Lady Finger stand in a line across the valley and turn gold, then pink, then grey.
- Early morning flight Islamabad to Gilgit, roughly 1 hour
- Met at Gilgit Airport, then the drive to Hunza, approximately 100 km and 2.5 to 3 hours on the Karakoram Highway
- Photo stop at the Rakaposhi viewpoint at Ghulmet on the way up
- Check in at Karimabad or Duikar and take a proper breakfast
- Altit Fort, its 11th century tower, the restored royal garden and the old village
- Baltit Fort, a short uphill walk from the bazaar through the old cobbled lanes
- Free time in Karimabad bazaar for dried apricots, gemstones and Hunza walnut cake
- Drive up to Duikar for sunset at Eagle's Nest, roughly 10 km and 40 minutes above Karimabad
- Dinner and overnight in Karimabad or Duikar
Altitude: Gilgit, 1,500m or 4,920 ft. Karimabad, 2,450m or 8,040 ft. Eagle's Nest at Duikar, 2,800m or 9,190 ft
After breakfast you head north into Gojal, upper Hunza, where the language changes from Burushaski to Wakhi and the mountains close in. Attabad Lake comes first, an unnaturally blue stretch of water that did not exist before 4 January 2010, when a landslide came down on Attabad village, killed twenty people and dammed the Hunza river. The water rose for five months, drowned Shishkat, Ayeenabad and parts of Gulmit, and cut Gojal off from the rest of Pakistan. The lake is now 21 km long and up to 109 m deep, and the old Karakoram Highway is still down there under the surface.
Above Gulmit you climb to Ondra Poygah, a viewpoint on a ridge that once carried a watchtower guarding the valley. Attabad Lake sits on one side and the Passu Cones on the other, and it is the best single panorama on the whole tour. Then the Passu Cones themselves, properly called Tupopdan, which means sun drenched mountain in Wakhi: a 6,106 metre wall of sharpened rock teeth you will recognise before you see it.
Just before Passu the road drops you at the Hussaini suspension bridge, a plank and cable crossing over the Hunza river with gaps wide enough to concentrate the mind. Until the road came, it was how people actually got to work. You do not have to cross it. Most people do anyway. Food today is not an afterthought either: yak steak at the Yak Grill in Passu, and apricot cake at Glacier Breeze in Gulmit.
- Breakfast and check out from the Karimabad hotel
- Drive to Attabad Lake, approximately 30 km and 45 minutes, with viewpoint and jetty stops
- Optional boating and jet skiing at Attabad Lake, payable directly
- Continue to Gulmit, the old summer capital of the Mirs, and walk up to the Ondra Poygah viewpoint
- Photo stops at the Passu Cones and along the Karakoram Highway through Gojal
- The Hussaini suspension bridge, ticket included
- Yak steak at the Yak Grill in Passu, and apricot cake at Glacier Breeze in Gulmit
- Check in and overnight in Gulmit or Passu
Altitude: Attabad Lake, 2,559m or 8,396 ft. Gulmit, 2,500m or 8,200 ft. Passu, 2,540m or 8,330 ft. Tupopdan, the Passu Cones, 6,106m or 20,033 ft
The headline day. You leave early and drive the last stretch of the Karakoram Highway through Sost, Pakistan's dry port and the last town before the border, then past the checkpost at Dih into Khunjerab National Park. The park was created in 1975, largely on the advice of the zoologist George Schaller, to protect the Marco Polo sheep. It covers 2,269 square kilometres, making it Pakistan's third largest national park, and it runs up to the Taxkorgan reserve on the Chinese side. Beyond the gate the valley opens into high pasture and the road climbs in long, empty sweeps. This is ibex and snow leopard country, and it is not unusual to see yaks and marmots from the vehicle.
At the top, at 4,693 metres, is Khunjerab Pass, the highest paved international border crossing in the world. It is 75 km from Sost, 270 km from Gilgit and 870 km from Islamabad, and it marks the northern end of the Karakoram Highway, which took two decades to build and cost the lives of several hundred Pakistani and Chinese workers before it was completed in 1979 and opened to the public in 1986. There is a Pakistani gate, a Chinese gate, a stone marker and an enormous amount of sky.
Coming back down, the day is not finished. You stop at the Batura glacier viewpoint, looking onto a river of ice around 57 km long and one of the longest outside the polar regions, and at the Passu glacier viewpoint, where the ice comes close enough to the road to make the scale obvious.
- Early breakfast and departure from Gulmit or Passu
- Drive through Sost and into Khunjerab National Park via the Dih checkpost, park entry fee included
- Reach Khunjerab Pass at 4,693m, approximately 110 km and 3 to 3.5 hours from Passu
- Time at the border marker for photographs. We keep this stop short because of the altitude
- Descend and stop at the Batura glacier viewpoint
- Stop at the Passu glacier viewpoint
- Return to your hotel in Gulmit or Passu for dinner and overnight
Altitude: Sost, 2,800m or 9,190 ft. Dih checkpost, 3,200m or 10,500 ft. Khunjerab Pass, 4,693m or 15,397 ft
A gentler morning. A 2 km climb on an unpaved track above Hussaini village brings you to Borith Lake, a small saline lake sitting in a hollow between the Passu and Ghulkin glaciers at 2,600 metres. Ducks, geese and other waterfowl stop here on the spring and autumn migrations between Siberia and the subcontinent, which is why you will often see birdwatchers with tripods on the shore before breakfast. It is quiet in a way the highway never is.
After lunch you turn south and drive the Karakoram Highway back down through Gojal and Hunza to Gilgit, with the day's light behind you and stops wherever the view demands one. Evening in Gilgit, close to the airport for the morning flight.
- Breakfast and check out
- Drive to Borith Lake and free time at the lake
- Optional short walk from Borith towards the Passu glacier snout
- Afternoon drive Passu to Gilgit, approximately 145 km and 3.5 to 4.5 hours with stops
- Photo stops at Attabad Lake, the Rakaposhi viewpoint and the Gilgit river confluence as time allows
- Check in at your Gilgit hotel, dinner and overnight
Altitude: Borith Lake, 2,600m or 8,500 ft. Gilgit, 1,500m or 4,920 ft
Breakfast, a short transfer, and the flight back over the mountains you have spent four days underneath.
- Breakfast at the hotel and check out
- Transfer to Gilgit Airport
- Flight Gilgit to Islamabad, roughly 1 hour
- Arrival in Islamabad, tour concludes
Altitude: Gilgit, 1,500m or 4,920 ft
What Is Included
- Return air tickets, Islamabad to Gilgit to Islamabad
- Airport transfers in Gilgit
- Private vehicle for the entire tour, with 4x4 wherever the route requires it
- One night hotel accommodation in Karimabad or Duikar
- Two nights hotel accommodation in Gulmit or Passu
- One night hotel accommodation in Gilgit
- Breakfast and dinner throughout the tour
- Entry tickets for Altit Fort and Baltit Fort
- Khunjerab National Park entry fees
- Hussaini suspension bridge tickets
- All other entry tickets and Gilgit-Baltistan tourism fees on the listed programme
- All toll taxes and fuel
- All applicable government taxes
What Is Not Included
- Lunches throughout the tour
- Boating, jet skiing and any other optional activity at Attabad Lake or elsewhere
- Any activity or excursion not listed in the itinerary
- Personal travel and medical insurance
- Medical evacuation, rescue or helicopter charges in an emergency
- Personal expenses such as laundry, calls, drinks, shopping and snacks not on the menu
- Any additional cost arising from flight cancellation, weather, landslides, road closures or security conditions, including an extra night on a road return
- Tips and gratuities for the guide and driver
- Anything not specifically listed under What Is Included
Good to Know
Easy. This is a sightseeing and cultural tour rather than a trek. The longest walk on the whole trip is the short climb up to Baltit Fort and a stroll around Karimabad bazaar, and everything else is reached by vehicle.
One of our most family friendly trips. It is graded Easy, everything is reached by vehicle, and children and older travellers do it comfortably. The one thing to plan around is the altitude on Day 03, when you go from roughly 2,500m to 4,693m and back in a single day, which is why we keep the stop at the pass short. Anyone with a heart, lung or blood pressure condition should speak to a doctor before booking.
Islamabad to Gilgit flights operate under visual flight rules and are weather dependent, so cancellation is a real possibility, particularly outside the summer months. Our contingency is a road return on the Karakoram Highway, which is 16 to 18 hours and may need an extra overnight at additional cost. Keep a buffer day at both ends of your trip and do not book an onward international flight for the same day.
Khunjerab Pass is usually open from around May to November and closed by snow in winter. It can also close at short notice for weather or maintenance. If it is shut on your dates we will tell you before you travel and replace the day with an alternative programme in upper Hunza.
Carry your original CNIC, and your passport if you have one. There are security checkposts at Sost and inside Khunjerab National Park, and the border area requires identification. Foreign nationals should contact us in advance so we can confirm current requirements.
Bring layers. Karimabad in June can be pleasant while Khunjerab is at freezing on the same trip. A warm jacket, comfortable walking shoes, sunglasses, sunscreen and a power bank cover most of it. We send a full checklist once your booking is confirmed.
There are ATMs in Gilgit and Karimabad but not reliably beyond Aliabad, and card payment is rare in Gojal. Carry cash for shopping, tips and optional activities.
Hunza is worth visiting for the food alone, and the route is built around it. Walnut cake in Karimabad, dense and dark and not too sweet, served with tumuro tea. Apricot cake at Glacier Breeze in Gulmit, with a glacier for a backdrop. Yak steak, burgers and karahi at the Yak Grill in Passu. Chapshuro, a flat pan baked bread stuffed with minced meat, onion and local herbs, sometimes called the Hunza pizza. Tumuro is a wild thyme tea served everywhere and is very good for a mild altitude headache. Ask also for harissa, mamtu, giyaling and diram fitti, and take home dried apricots, mulberries, walnuts and apricot kernel oil.
Hunza was a princely state for more than nine hundred years, ruled by the Mirs from Altit and later Baltit, until it was dissolved in 1974. Central Hunza around Karimabad speaks Burushaski, a language with no known relatives anywhere in the world. North of Attabad, in Gojal, the language shifts to Wakhi, carried across from the Pamirs, and around Gilgit you are in Shina country. Ganish village near Karimabad, the oldest settlement in the valley and its original Silk Route trading post, has centuries old wooden mosques and watchtowers around a communal pond and has won UNESCO Asia Pacific conservation awards. Dress modestly, ask before photographing people, and you will be received with real warmth.
Landslides, road repair and weather can change the order of the programme. Your guide will rearrange the days to protect the key sights, and that decision is made on safety grounds.
Personal travel and medical insurance is strongly recommended and remains the responsibility of each traveller.
Frequently Asked Questions
About one hour. It is one of the most scenic short flights anywhere, passing close to Nanga Parbat on a clear morning.
4,693 metres, or 15,397 feet. It is the highest paved international border crossing in the world.
The pass, sometimes written Khunjrab Pass or Khunjerab Top, is 75 km from Sost, roughly 110 km from Passu, 270 km from Gilgit and 870 km from Islamabad. From your hotel in Passu or Gulmit it is a 3 to 3.5 hour drive each way, which is why we give it a full day.
No. It is normally open from around May to November and closes with the winter snow. It can also shut at short notice for weather or maintenance, and if that happens on your dates we will replace the day with an alternative programme in upper Hunza.
PKR 270,000 per person, all inclusive from Islamabad. That covers return flights, all transfers, a private vehicle with 4x4 where needed, four nights of hotels, breakfast and dinner throughout, fort tickets, Khunjerab National Park fees, Hussaini bridge tickets, tolls and fuel. Lunches, optional activities such as boating, insurance and tips are not included.
Yes, it is one of our most requested honeymoon itineraries. The pace is relaxed, the hotels in Karimabad and Gulmit have some of the best views in Pakistan, and we can arrange a room upgrade, a private vehicle and a quieter version of the programme on request. Tell us at the time of booking.
April for the cherry and apricot blossom, June to August for warm weather and full access to Khunjerab, and October for the autumn colours, which are the reason a lot of photographers come. Each has a different character and all three are worth doing.
Pakistani nationals need their original CNIC and no special permit for the pass itself, and there are checkposts at Sost and at the national park gate. A passport is useful if you have one. Foreign nationals should contact us in advance so we can confirm current requirements.
Not on this tour. You reach the border marker and the gate on the Pakistani side. Crossing into China requires a Chinese visa and separate arrangements, and the crossing is open only on certain days and seasons.
Walnut cake in Karimabad, apricot cake at Gulmit, yak steak in Passu and chapshuro, a meat stuffed bread often called the Hunza pizza. Tumuro tea, made from wild thyme, is served everywhere. The route is built around these stops rather than leaving them to chance.
No. Boating, jet skiing and other optional activities are payable directly on the spot. Everything on the listed programme, including fort tickets, national park fees and Hussaini bridge tickets, is included.
We arrange a road return to Islamabad on the Karakoram Highway, which takes 16 to 18 hours and may require an additional overnight stay at extra cost. This is why we ask you to keep a buffer day and not to book an onward international flight for the same day.
Eagle's Nest is the viewpoint above Duikar, sometimes spelled Duiker, the highest village in Hunza at around 2,800 metres and roughly 40 minutes above Karimabad. Rakaposhi, Diran, Ultar Sar and Lady Finger line up across the valley and turn gold, then pink. It is genuinely one of the great sunsets in Pakistan, and it is built into Day 01.
Send us your dates and group size and we will confirm availability, hold the transport and rooms, and share the booking details. A booking is confirmed once we issue a written confirmation and the advance payment is received. Full terms are on our Terms and Conditions page.
Private, unless a page states otherwise. The group is you and whoever you book with, and the pace, stops and hotels can be adjusted to suit you.
Yes. Every itinerary can be lengthened, shortened or rebalanced. Tell us what matters most to your group and we will build around it.
Yes. We run team trips, offsites and company tours, can invoice against the group booking, and can adjust the programme around a work schedule.
Most are. Each page states the difficulty and any consideration for younger travellers. Tell us the ages at the time of booking so seating, rooming and pace can be planned properly.
No. Travel and health insurance is not included in any of our tours. Travellers arrange their own cover, and we strongly recommend it is arranged before departure, including cover for medical emergencies and evacuation.
Mountain travel depends on weather and road conditions, so the itinerary, timings and order of sightseeing can change. Where a disruption forces extra accommodation, meals, transport or a diversion, those additional costs are payable by the group. This is set out in full in our Terms and Conditions.
Each page lists exactly which meals are included. Where a meal is not listed, it is paid directly by travellers as you go.
Every page carries a What Is Not Included section. As a rule, anything not specifically listed under What Is Included should be considered excluded.
The routes we operate are well travelled and we run them regularly. We follow the guidance of local authorities, adjust plans where conditions require it, and our drivers and guides know these valleys. Ordinary travel precautions apply as they would anywhere.
Some areas require a No Objection Certificate or a permit, and requirements change. Tell us at the time of enquiry if any traveller holds a foreign passport and we will confirm what is needed for that route.
Almost all of them. Everything we run in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is open to foreign passport holders. Our Azad Kashmir trips are the exception: those are open to Pakistani nationals and overseas Pakistanis only, on a CNIC, NICOP or Pakistani passport.
Coverage is patchy in the mountains and drops out entirely in the upper valleys. Expect to be offline for parts of most trips.
Often yes, at additional cost. Ask us when you enquire and we will quote it.
Prefer to talk it through?
Every trip is private and runs on your own dates, at your own pace, with the hotels you choose.
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