Asalam O Aleakum Dear PakWheelers,
I am finally back from a 4 days trip to Neelum Valley (17-10-13 to 20-10-13). Trip details are as follows:
Day 1: Left Kohat at 07:00 am sharp. Reached Islamabad in 3 hours and then took Murree Expressway to Muzaffarabad and reached Keran in evening and stayed at Valley Trackers resort which was formally owned by AJK Govt. The place is very nice and rent was Rs. 2,500/- per room with 2 beds. Extra mattress are provided for Rs. 150/night but they did`t charge us for that. An adjacent AJK Govt. rest house was completely booked and their rent was Rs. 1,600 per room per night. I heard a lot about this place that the river is LOC and i was expecting Army there but there was no army and place was quite and calm except the roaring Neelum River.
Day 2: Left for Kel early morning. Reached Kel in 6 hours. Rented a room in AJK Govt. rest house. Rent was Rs. 1600. This place was also quite nice with large open parking space in from of rest house. We went to Kel bazar which is quite small with 40-50 shops. Did some sight seeing etc.
Day 3: We rented a jeep from Kel bazar to Toabat/Tao Bhat for Rs. 5000. Reached Toabat in 3hrs. It was an adventures journey with very worse road condition. Lush green mountains and greenish waters of Neelum river were amazing. We spend the day there did some sight seeing. I tried to catch some trout but no luck! We left for Kel at 03:00 pm and reached Kel at 06:00 pm.
Day 4: Left for Arrang Kel at 06:30 am. Hiking was tough. Reached Arrang Kel in 1-1/2 hr. Did some sight seeing, took some pictures and then back to the rest house at 11:00 am. Left for Kohat at 12:00 pm and reached Muzaffarabad at 08:00 pm. Stayed at Royal Continental Hotel. This place was again very nice and hotel service was quite good.
Day 5: Left Muzaffarabad at 11:00 am and reached Kohat at 07:00 pm.