Aoa All,By the blessings of Allah, we did a four day trip to Neelum valley (from ISB), covering keran (neelum), Sharda and Kel. Thanks to all the pak wheelers who provided useful information. I know currently number of threads on Neelum are in progress with great pics and info, hence just trying to put my humble share.We went on a hiace, and stayed first night at karen, then second night at sharda, go to kel come back and then third night again at keran, some basic points i want to share is:
1- Road upto karen is kind of ok, but the patch near the dam specially needs careful driving as it is risky, but from karen onwards taking your cars is not recommended at all
2- I guess the moon soon is about to start hence while planing your trip in this weather do consider that rainy season in that areas can cause road slides disrupting your schedule
3- A general point is that the though beauty is found on the road side areas, but for real beauty you have to explore the surroundings, e.g. while in Keran go to upper neelum village (abt 2.5 km road hike), if in Sharda go to Maidaan village (I could not go hence do not know the distance, may be 1.5- hrs), and while in kel go to Arang kel (abt 2.5 hr hike)
4- And in the end, as tourism has started to flourish in that area in recent 2-3 years, please try to keep the valley clean and request others, as this valley is so far in quite pure form, we should keep it such.
Note: The Pics in this thread are primarily taken by Mr. Usman Anwer Sheikh plus some other members