Why Entrada
Why travel to Pakistan with Entrada Travels
The questions you actually have before booking.
Not why we are wonderful. What you are weighing up at eleven at night in London, Houston or Dubai, with a browser full of contradictory advice and nobody to ask.
Is Pakistan safe for tourists?
It is the first thing almost everyone asks, and it deserves a real answer rather than a reassuring one.
The regions we operate in, Gilgit-Baltistan, the Kaghan valley and Azad Kashmir, are established tourist areas with heavy domestic visitor traffic through the summer. Fairy Meadows, Hunza and Skardu see thousands of Pakistani families every season. The trails are well trodden, the jeep operators are licensed, and the routes are fixed and known.
What genuinely warrants caution in the north is not what most people imagine. It is the roads, the altitude and the weather. A landslide closing the Karakoram Highway, a flight to Skardu cancelled for three days, a guest pushing too hard on the base camp day. Those are the real risks, and they are the ones we plan around.
Your own government's travel advisory is worth reading and worth taking seriously, including the parts about regions we deliberately do not operate in. We would rather you booked after reading it than instead of.
What we actually carry
- Wilderness-first-aid trained trip leads
- Licensed local jeep operators only
- A road contingency for every mountain flight
- Evacuation plan agreed per departure
- Slack days built into high-altitude routes
- 24/7 contact for family back home
- Getting here
Getting here
One or two stops, usually via Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Istanbul. Expect 18 to 22 hours from the East Coast and closer to 24 from the West.
- Entry
Entry
US and Canadian passport holders apply online through Pakistan's official e-visa portal. NICOP and Pakistan Origin Card holders travel visa-free.
- When to come
When to come
July and August line up with school holidays and are our busiest weeks, and those departures fill months ahead. Autumn is quieter and still fully open, and the long flight is far easier to justify against the light you get.
- Worth knowing
Worth knowing
Travellers from the US are the largest group we host: foreign visitors, overseas Pakistani families, singles, couples and groups of friends alike. Coming this far, most guests add days rather than rush, and we routinely combine two valleys into one trip so the flight is worth it.
The four seasons in Gilgit-Baltistan
- SpringLate March into April
- Cherry blossom through the valleys, before the high passes open.
- SummerMid May to early September
- The valleys green up from mid May, the high passes and base camp treks open through summer, and the apricot harvest runs from July into August.
- AutumnMid September to the last week of October
- The best autumn in Gilgit-Baltistan: the valleys turn gold and the air is at its clearest of the year.
- WinterDecember to March
- Skiing and snowboarding, winter snow treks and the valleys at their emptiest. The high passes close, so winter trips run in the lower valleys and are built to order rather than to a published itinerary.
Visa rules and airline routings change. Treat this as a starting point and confirm current requirements on Pakistan's official visa portal before you book flights. We will happily talk it through first.
Ask us from USA & CanadaBooking, payment and your deposit
Committing money to a trip on the other side of the world is the point where most people hesitate. Here is exactly how it works.
- 1
Confirm your place
A 50% advance of the trip price confirms the booking and locks the rate you were quoted. Hotels, permits and domestic flights are secured on the strength of it, which is why it is half rather than a token amount.
- 2
Settle the balance
The remaining 50% is payable 21 days before departure. We send one statement showing exactly what is covered and what you will pay on the road.
- 3
Travel
Permits, community charges, jeep transfers and guiding are already inside the price. There is nothing to settle at a checkpost.
The Open Deposit
If your plans fall through, your deposit does not die with them.
Life gets in the way. A visa runs late, work moves, someone gets ill. Your advance stays on file and keeps its value against any future Entrada trip, with no expiry date on it.
- 50% advance per traveller, paid once at booking
- No expiry date, ever
- One use per traveller
- Moves to any Entrada trip you like
Terms in full
- 1.The advance is 50% of the trip price, charged per traveller and payable once per booking.
- 2.The Open Deposit may be used one time per traveller. Once it has moved to a new booking it is committed to that trip.
- 3.The advance is not refundable as cash. It keeps its value against a future Entrada trip instead.
- 4.Where a permit, domestic flight or hotel has already been paid on your behalf and cannot be recovered, that amount is deducted before the rest carries forward.
- 5.It covers Entrada trip costs. International flights, visas and insurance bought from third parties sit outside it.
- 6.It is held in the named traveller's name and cannot be passed to another person.
- 7.If Entrada cancels a departure this policy does not apply. You choose a full refund or a transfer, whichever you prefer.
- 8.Prices are fixed once the balance is settled 21 days before departure. Moving to a different trip or a different season may change the price.
- 9.Quoted rates assume two travellers sharing. Groups larger than two are quoted separately.
Advance amounts and payment dates are confirmed in writing on your booking statement, which is the document that governs your trip.
International rate
Why our package prices are shown in US dollars
Every package price on this website is shown in US dollars at our international rate. It covers costs that are genuinely higher on a non-resident booking, and we would rather set those out than leave you guessing.
What it covers
- Entry to forts, museums and heritage sites is charged at a higher non-resident rate.
- Trekking and restricted-area permits are priced differently for foreign nationals.
- Azad Kashmir is not open to foreign passport holders at all: those trips are for Pakistani nationals and overseas Pakistanis on a CNIC, NICOP or Pakistani passport.
- Some domestic airfares and hotel tariffs carry a non-resident rate.
- International card, transfer and remittance fees on payment.
- Currency movement between the day we quote and the day you travel.
Holding NICOP or a Pakistan Origin Card? You are quoted at local rates wherever you are booking from, because you pay resident prices on the ground. Tell us at the enquiry stage.
Terms in full
- 1.All package prices on this website are shown in US dollars at our international rate. It is already included in the figure you see, so there is nothing added later.
- 2.It applies to the Entrada trip price only, not to costs you settle directly on the ground.
- 3.Holders of a NICOP or a Pakistan Origin Card are quoted at local rates regardless of where they are booking from. Tell us at the enquiry stage and we will quote on that basis.
- 4.The published package figure is a fixed US dollar price, not a live currency conversion.
- 5.The US dollar rate confirmed on your booking statement is the one that governs your trip.
The practical detail, written out properly
Six things that decide whether a trip north goes smoothly. Open whichever ones apply to you.
Fairy Meadows sits at 3,300 m and base camp days push towards 4,000 m. That is high enough to matter. Our itineraries build in a night at altitude before any long walk, which is why the Fairy Meadows trip holds two nights on the meadow rather than turning around. Drink more water than feels necessary, walk slower than you want to, and tell your guide the moment you feel unwell rather than at dinner.
Food is halal by default across the north; there is no need to ask. Vegetarian eating is straightforward, vegan is workable with notice. Mosques are everywhere and drivers stop for prayer without being asked. If you are travelling during Ramadan tell us at the enquiry stage. It changes meal timings, driving hours and which kitchens are open, and we plan the days differently.
Solo women and all-women groups travel with us regularly. Women-only departures run with a female tour leader and women-only rooms. On mixed departures, rooming is never shared across genders. Dress is modest rather than strict. Long sleeves and loose trousers are comfortable and unremarkable. In the northern valleys you will find people markedly relaxed compared to what visitors expect.
Expect to be offline for stretches. Fairy Meadows has no reliable signal on most networks; parts of Baltistan and upper Hunza are patchy. Foreign SIMs generally do not roam usefully, so buy a local SIM in Islamabad or Lahore, which needs your passport. Tell family at home which days you will be unreachable so silence is not alarming.
Babusar Pass is typically open late June to early September. Landslides close roads at short notice; flights to Skardu and Gilgit cancel on cloud. This is normal rather than exceptional, and it is the main reason we ask for a day of flex where the itinerary allows. Your guide makes the call on the ground and we carry the cost of the reroute.
The north runs on cash. ATMs exist in Gilgit, Skardu and Chilas but treat them as unreliable and draw what you need in Islamabad or Lahore. Cards work in city hotels and almost nowhere on the road. Travel insurance is not included in any package, so arrange your own and make sure trekking to roughly 4,000 m is covered rather than excluded as mountaineering.
Ask the awkward question first
Whether your father can manage the jeep track. Whether a week is enough. Whether you should come at all this year. We would rather have that conversation than take a booking that turns out to be wrong.