Dear PW Gurus,
Need your help once again to plan our next trip. This time the target is Fairy Meadows. Below is a raw estimated plan.
Total 10 persons in two cars will leave from Lahore in end June
Day 1: Lahore to Abbotabad (Night Stay)
Day 2: Abbotabad to Chilas (Night Stay) Please advise distance and travel time. The plan is to park our cars at Chilas, I hope there is no problem with that. Right?
It will take 12-14 hours to reach Chilas and distance is irrelevant. Try to start from Abbottabad around 5-6 a.m. and u will avoid bad traffic and rush around Abbottabad and Mansehra. Make brunch stop in Besham. Road conditions in some patches are not good.
Day 3: Chilas to Raikot Bridge and Tatu on Jeep and Trekking till FM (Night Stay): Please advise distance, travel time and Jeep Fare for Chilas to Tatu. Also advise the expenses for renting huts or camps at FM. What would be the eating expenses per person per meal?
Take your cars to Raikot and park there at designated area. Locals have parking arrangements for tourists as hiring their jeeps is compulsory.
It will take around 2 hours till Raikot bridge.
Half hour to get jeeps and load your necessary stuff on jeeps.
1 hour drive till Tatu
3-4 hours trekking till Fairy Meadows.
If possible take your own food. Food is the most expensive item in Fairy Meadows. But they charge more due to effort involved in making all that stuff available at such location. Everything is bought from cities like Gilgit etc. and then transported to Fairy Meadows on foot so that is why is it expensive. Huts may range from 1500-3000 depending on capacity and location. Raikot Sirae has best location in my opinion. Camping can be done in premises of any hotel with nominal fees. Jeep fare is around 5-6K these days for round trip and u will need 2 jeeps for 10 people.
Jeeps will drop u at Tatu and u have to tell them exact time and date u will come back so that they can come to pick u for return journey.
Day 4: Trek to NP Base Camp and return Back to FM (Night Stay) Please advise if this trekking is worth it or shall we plan Beyal Camp. Is Beyal Camp on the same track? What is the diffculty level, distance and travel time of this trekking?
My suggestion is to start trek next day and visit Nanga Parbat basecamp and then camp in Beyal Camp on return. NP basecamp and Beyal camp are on same route. Beyal Camp comes after 60-90 min and then another 4-5 hours till NP basecamp. The view up close of NP from that location is out of this world ..... MUST VISIT !!!
Tatu - Fairy Meadows = a tough trek with rapid change in altitude and climate.
Fairy Meadows - Beyal camp = Nice walk with very little change in altitude
Beyal Camp - NP Base camp = Gets tough towards the end with glacier proximity and final climb till base camp.
Weather in Fairy Meadows is extra chilly as compared to its altitude due to huge ice wall of Nanga Parbat and air blowing down from that snowy peak over the glaciers in the valley.
Day 5: FM to Tatu Trek and Tatu to Chilas on Jeep, take our parked cars and then Chilas to Naran (Night Stay) Please advise what would be the travel time and distance from Chilas to Naran on cars, road conditions in end June. Is it advisable to travel from FM to Naran in one day?
This can be done in one day but for that u will have to come back to Fairy Meadows from NP base camp instead of staying at Beyal Camp. In this case, your total trekking time from FM -FM will be around 10-12 hrs including stays. So this will be a tough day !!!
Fairy Meadows - Tatu = 2.5 hrs
Tatu - Raikot = 1 hr
Raikot - Chilas = 2 hrs
Chilas - Babusar Top = 3-4 hrs
Babusar - Naran = 3-4 hrs
So in total u will have to spend 12-14 hours on the move so start as early as possible to reach Jalkhad atleast before sunset.
Day 6: Naran to Lahore.
In addition to this, if possible, can anyone tell me any estimated cost of this whole trip???
And, if we do all the travelling from Abbotabad onwards on a hired Hiace / Jeeps, how much difference will it make on the overall cost. We dont want to use public transport as we want to enjoy the full route and the liberty to make stops at will.
Take your own cars. Only worry would be the situation in Kohistan and around Babusar region. Just confirm the situation on spot in Chilas and decide accordingly.
Hiace would cost around 4K per day and your own fuel whether u use it on any day or not.
I know that the Gurus have answers to all my questions 
Thanks and Regards
Abdullah
