Abbotabad, Naran, Kaghan: First Time Travelling: Guidance Needed

[syedaliimam]

Thanks Farhan. Much appreciated.
Yes I will consider PTDC.

Where else do you visited in Naran?

[farhannk]

well we have been to naran before as well and have visited saifullah malook in our past trips.. so this time we did not go any where from naran .. had spend 2 nights at ptdc naran and came back to islamabad. I planned for Khunjrab but due to cold weather at naran I cancelled moving further up.

[shazia_sh_h]

Good plan ... you are asking about rafting with parents? Rafting is amazing activity but only for young and healthy persons. I suggest you must visit Shogran, it is good peaceful place, sri paye track is little difficult. Before Shogran spend some good time at Kewai. For Saif ul malook you have to hire Jeep.
And if you are a good driver than easily can visit upto Babusar top, in between you can spend good time at Lulusar lake. or 2 din guzarne ka pata bhi nahe chale ga

[syedaliimam]

Lol, actually not with parents.
I checked with one of the people, there might be less water for rafting in September. So it is 50/50 chance.

[shazia_sh_h]

We did in last August... it was an amazing experience. you must try.

[syedaliimam]

Sure. Thanks.

[umairzafar]

Lalazar is great place at least for me but you should not take your parents with you. The jeep ride will become uncomfortable for them.

River rafting is also a good activity which is around 30 min drive from Naran towards babusar top.

Just keep in mind Arcadian Riverside is located away from the main area

[syedaliimam]

Yes correct. Actually we are not taking our parents to any such place which includes jeep ride or a far away place. They will stay in hotel.

[syedaliimam]

Regarding PTDC. How is the service there? Like ambiance, food, washroom, warm water availability etc.

[farhannk]

warm water 24 hrs.. washrooms are clean.. there are different type of rooms and cottages.. I stayed in standard room.. clean washroom and excellent service...

[syedaliimam]

Thanks a lot.

[drnuman1]

Ali my suggestion is that don’t opt Hassan Abdal and hazara route, boring, hot , rushy and dusty rout you may instead via nathia Gali , stay there st least one night green,cool ,scenic and very much peaceful place, leave next day early morning toward abbotabad 1 hour drive > mansehra >Balakot stay kaghan one night and next day leave for naran

[bright.jupiter]

1. Hazara expressway is better.

2. Arcadian Riverside is no doubt a fine place, You can stop there for lunch on your route to Naran but staying there for two days is waste of time if your total plan consists of 5 days.
   stay at Naran, It will save your time if you are planning to visit Saif ul Malook, Lalazar (Worth visiting), and Babusar. However if you prefer perfectly calm place and absolutely no activity then Arcadian Riverside is the place to stay.
   As you are going off season, staying at PTDC is not a good idea as their rates remain same all year round. You can find very good hotel at very low rates during september. Even without staying there you can use their restaurant and can roam around. The food and service at PTDC restaurant is still the best in Naran.

As with the old parents confirm the time and availibility of hot water, as there is no gas, and they used to burn wood in a geyser. Also check for electricity timing before check in as some hotels dont run their generator all the time.

1. while coming back you can come from Balakot-Garhi habib ullah-Muzaffarabad- Bhurban. The climb is steep from Khohala to Bhurban and you can face traffic jam at Dewal sharif. Or you can go to Naran via this route or come back via expressway. I prefer coming back via Hazara expressway

[syedaliimam]

Thanks a lot.

Sure, I will take Hazara expressway.
Yes our activity will be somehow less as we always avoid crowdy places.
Thank you for the details.

[irfandadkhan67]

Dear @aliimam786110,
Hazara Interchange will lead you upto Havailiyan and you will reach Abbot Abad in 30 to 45 minutes.
Must visit Babusar Top and on the way you will see Lulusar Lake.
You can also visit Lalazar (Jeep Route).
Before that you can also visit Shogran, Siri Paya (Jeep Track) worth watching.
You can reach Babusar Top easily on your car. I have traveled many a times on 660cc.
In this June 2018 I went to Deosai with all my family 25persons with youngest one of 3 months
Have a safe journey

[jehanzeb.malik]

Hi. I am from Islamabad. For last 6 years I have visited Naran 2-3 times every year. In total I must have visited Naran around 15 times now. I like to drive so for me drive is more important than destination.

• Hazara Expressway is planned to go till Mansehra. It has been completed till Lora Chowk (just at the start of Havelian), and that is where you will get off the expressway. The road is new (no pot holes).
  Note1: This road is not motorway, there are no nets on the side of the road (like motorway) to stop people and animals from getting on the road
  Note2: The partition is missing in some places on the road to facilitate motorway police to move to the other side of the road. Which some locals also use. So be careful and drive in the middle lane. Although it seems obvious here. But it looks exactly like motorway, and traveling on motorway for past 5-6 hours you'll get used to the safety of motorway. You'll need to be cautious on this road.
  Note3: There is NH police with speed cameras on this road, so don't go over speed limit.

• Staying in Abbottabad is a good idea but a better option is staying in deManchi Balakot. Its about 1 hour and 45 minutes ahead of Abbottabad. In Balakot, you'll be staying near water and mountains rather than in city. Balakot is colder than Abbottabad (Abbottabad will be roughly same temperature as Lahore). If you stay in Balakot, after breakfast you'll directly get up on Naran road, whereas if you stay in Abbottabad, you'll have to first drive to Balakot (too much traffic). It would be cheaper to stay in Balakot. Balakot's rooms are almost half the price of Abbottabad's deManchi.

• Arcadian is a good choice in hotel selection. But note that Naran is at-least an hours drive from this Hotel. So you'll be wasting at-least 2 hours of your time for just a round trip to Naran. You need to calculate the places that you want to visit, how much time does it take to get to those places and how much time do you intend to spend at those locations. Lets say you plan to visit Babusar Pass on day 2. A round trip from Arcadian Hotel to Babusar and back can take at-least take you 6 hours (not including time of stopping at any scenic points). If you stay in Naran, you'll be saving these two hours and will be able to spend more time at scenic spots in your route. There are good hotels in Naran, on Naran-Saiful-Malook road. In Pine Park Hotel in Naran, you'll be able to get a very good room for as low as 3-4k per night in mid September. Or maybe even less if you bargain. There are other hotel options as-well. I would suggest not to opt for PTDC if you stay in Naran. Although it is scenic and has grounds, the rooms are just ok-ish. We stayed in their VIP cottages (which comes with a personal butler/helper). Although butler helped a-lot (on our request he arranged for bonfire and bbq), the beds were not very good. They were clean but I got back pain due to old and thin mattress. The plumbing in washrooms was loose and sand and soil was coming in water. And you get warn water only in early morning as they use wood fire to heat the water in boilers. Millennium Inn, Hotel Maisonette and Hotel deManchi are some of the best quality hotels in Naran. They also have electric water heaters in washrooms.

• Saif-ul-Malook is accessible by jeep. The ride can be a bit bumpy. If the elders join you to the lake, make them sit in the front seat with driver, as you move a-lot sitting in the back seat.

• Babusar Top and Babusar Pass are the same place. The road to Babusar is of same quality as from Balakot to Naran. There are a few hairpin turns (10-15), where a little caution is required. Otherwise the road is great. But I would suggest you drive in your car to Babusar pass if you know how to slow down your car using down-shift instead of brakes. Constantly using brakes will make the disc rotor very hot. In that case car brakes will start working poorly or stop working. If you feel like the brakes are not giving the same instantaneous response as it does usually, either start driving slow for some while (if the road is relatively straight), or stop on the road side for a while (if you are going downhill). Do not put water on the rims/tires, as they will get deformed.

• There is only one road on which you can drive your sedan car. And that goes from Balakot to Babusar Pass. The places that come on this road are Kiwai (chai stopover), Paras (chai stopover), Mahandri (chai stopover), Naran, Batakundi (scenic), Jalkhad (scenic + there is a small pyala lake at jalkhad), Besal (scenic + Moon Restaurant for lunch), Lake Lulusar (scenic + you can get challi from here), Gittidas (scenic) and Babusar (scenic). Although you should visit Babusar at-least once, be prepared to be disappointed a bit. There is not much to do and see there. Also it is a very small place that has seen a lot more people in last 2 years. People bring their garbage here and forget to bring it back and leave it there (similar situation at Lake Saif-ul-Malook).

• Lalazar is definitely worth a visit. You wont be disappointed.
  Note1: The Lalazar jeep track is very bumpy, so elderly people should not be taken on that road.
  Note2: If you plan to visit Lalazar, I would suggest to drive in your car to Batakundi, park your car at a restaurant/hotel. Leave your parents there to enjoy scenery and tea. From Batakundi hire a jeep for a round trip to Lalazar. River rafting is usually available after traveling for 10-20 minutes out of Naran towards Batakundi. But I don't think you'll be able to find it in September as they usually pack and leave in end of August as number of visitors decline after school holidays end and the water level in river is also low.

• On your return trip I would suggest to go through Abbottabad, Galliat (you can stay in Nathia Gali as it has good hotels) and Murree to Islamabad. But avoid this route if the weather is good and/or it is a weekend, as you'll probably get stuck in traffic jam. In that case you can return on the same road as you came on or you can go through Balakot-Muzaffarabad-Kohala-(through Khaqan Abbasi Road)-Murree-Islamabad.

• The only suggestion in the end that I want to give is that visit these places in a better season. Although it would be more economical, in September you'll probably see only 1 glacier covered with dust and rocks near Batakundi. There would be less greenery and more brownish mountains in the season that you are planning to visit. Water in the waterfalls will be almost finished. Also you'll see a lot of garbage left behind by visitors.

[naveedyu]

I am so surprised that people like @jehanzeb.malik take out time and help others.
Hats off for you....jehanzeb..

[syedaliimam]

Jahanzeb Malik, thank you very much for such a detailed response. This will be beneficial for other members in the future.

• Yes, my plan is to take Hazara Expressway and I will keep all the points in my mind.
• Sure, will stay in Balakot, as I was also thinking as to what to do in Abbotabad the whole day.
• I am well aware that Arcadian is far away from main Naran. The reason for choosing Arcadian is to spend some quality time with the family. Parents will not go everywhere, so for the comfort of them, I am taking Arcadian as the priority. As far as the time is concerned we will leave early to save some time and be back before evening. We already stayed two times at Arcadian Blue Pines Murree and our experience was great with them. But still, I will look into those hotel's in Naran which you mentioned.
• I understand those points regarding driving.
• I was only thinking of Kiwai, and was unaware of Paras, Mahandri etc. Will definitely stop for a chai and scenic views. Regarding garbage, yes this is a problem with our civic manners and we lack them. Don't worry I am a responsible citizen and I will never do that. Though, I never did that.
• Will try Lalazar, definitely not with elders. Regarding river rafting, I also checked with them, they will not be available then due to the same fact you mentioned.
• I understand that September is off-season, but it was a trip due from a very long time and I have to execute this plan inshaALLAH.

Once again, thank you very much.

[travel4ever]

Keep in mind, in my opinion balakot is warmer and more humid than abbotabad. Balakot (elevation) 3240 feet, abbotabad 3990 feet

[riz7861]

Israr Shah is a driver and guide for Azad Kashmir Neelum Naran Kaghan Trips. He has Toyota Hiace and also has Hiroof for family trips in Kashmir. He will take you to places where no other driver could take you. He has excellent knowledge about Hotels, beautiful spots etc. Charges very reasonable amount. What I found special about him is that he respects his clients extremely well like his own family. His mobile number is 03125477930.

If you want you can tell him that Rizwan from Karachi give you his contact details. Say my salam to him if you are hiring him.