Had a wonderful road trip to Naltar, Hunza, and Minimarg on the aforementioned dates. Here are the details:
Jun 1:
Although I live in Islamabad, and went to Abbottabad in the afternoon on May 31 to overnight at a cousin's place who also joined me with his family for the trip, the actual trip started from Abbottabad in the morning on June 1. Left Abbottabad around 8 : 30 am and after several long and short stops in Mansehra (tea), Chattar Plain (lunch), Besham, and Dubair, reached Pattan around Maghreb for overnight stay. The actual drive time from Abbottabad to Pattan is around 5 hrs.
[Pics on p. 1]
Jun 2:
Left Pattan around 9 am and after a long journey involving several long and short stops, reached Gilgit around 8 pm. The major stops were at Barseen (for tea), at Summer Nullah (for lunch), at Gunar Farm (for tea) and several other short stops. Overnighted at Gilgit.
[Pics on p. 1-2]
Jun 3:
Left Gilgit for Naltar valley at around 9 : 30 am. Reached Naltar valley in a couple of hours, this also involved a few click-stops. After enjoying the beauty of Naltar valley for a couple of hours, we left for a lake a little uphill from the valley. After a drive of about a couple of hours more, which also involved several stops, we reached the beautiful lake. After spending some time there and having a snacks lunch, we drove from the Naltar valley to Karimabad, Hunza. With a couple of hours stop at the Rakaposhi viewpoint hotel for an early dinner, we reached Karimabad at around 10 pm and overnighted there at Hunza View Hotel. The road from Gilgit to Hunza is in excellent condition but the road from Gilgit to Naltar valley and to the lakes is only jeepable.
[Pics on p. 2-5]
Jun 4:
We visited Baltit Fort in the morning and then went to the beautiful Attabad Lake. Had a wonderful boat-ride in Attabad Lake and came back to Karimabad for lunch. Even though we had initially planned to spend two nights in Hunza, but because there was no light in whole of Hunza valley, we thought we should proceed to Gilgit for the night. We reached Gilgit around Maghreb, after having a tea stop at the Rakaposhi viewpoint once again. Overnighted at Gilgit.
[Pics on p. 6]
Jun 5:
Went to the NLI Bazaar in Gilgit in the morning and left Gilgit for Astore at around 11 am. Reached Astore around 2 pm, had some snacks and tea as lunch and left for Minimarg via the Burzil Pass. With several small stops for pics on the way and one longer tea break at Chillum Chowki, we reached Minimarg before Maghreb. Spent the night in Minimarg.
[Pics on p. 6-7]
Jun 6:
Started off from Minimarg around 9 am and went to Domel on a 45 minutes jeep track. Had tea on the banks of the small but beautiful Rainbow Lake, which is an artificial lake built for providing hydropower to a battalion headquarters of the army battalion stationed there. We left Domel at around 11 am and reached back Minimarg around 12 noon. Had to stop for a few minutes for a road block there and proceeded towards Astore. We reached Astore around 3 pm and left for Chilas around 4 : 15 pm. Our journey was interrupted because of a mud slide for about half an hour. Since we had 4x4s, we were the first to cross the mud slide after clearance, otherwise it could have taken us even longer. Anyway, we reached Chilas after Maghreb, around 8 : 15 I guess. Some people had blocked the main road in protest against something there, so we had to take a detour inside the Chilas city to reach Shangrila Hotel on the other side of the road block for overnight stay.
[Pics on p. 9-11]
Jun 7:
Started from Chilas round 9 : 30 am and reached Pattan around 1 : 30 pm at a leisurely pace without any major stops. Had lunch in Pattan and left for Abbottabad around 3 : 30 pm. We reached Abbottabad around 9 pm with a couple of tea and prayer stops. I came back to Islamabad the next day after spending the night at my cousin?s place in Abbottabad.
[Pics on p. 12]
On road conditions:
The road from Abbottabad to Thakot is in excellent condition. The road from Thakot to Dassu is the worst part of the KKH. The patch from Dassu to Chilas is in relatively better condition. From Chilas to Raikot it is not in a very bad shape except for the landslide prone dusty part near Thatta Pani. From Raikot to Gilgit and all the way up to Hunza, it is an excellent road, of course, with the exception of a few bad patches. The road from Gilgit to Naltar valley and the lake is not good for non-4x4 cars. Please don?t take your non-4x4 cars there or you will regret your decision. The road to Astore is in okay condition. Non-4x4s can travel on that road, but its narrow, slide-prone and had some bad patches. The road to Minimarg is only for 4x4s not as much because of the road condition but because of the steep incline and the altitude where engines find it hard to breathe. From Minimarg to Domail, it's a jeep-track, not a road as such.
On Overnight Stays:
Since I was traveling with the military families (my cousins'), we stayed in military accommodations throughout the trip, except for the nights in Hunza and Chilas.
OK so I'll let the pics speak from here onwards. Please feel free to ask any questions if you?re planning a trip up north as well.
Naltar Lake
Attabad Lake
Burzil Pass
Rainbow Lake