Aoa Friends,
Just wanted to share my experience here as I recently came back from Northern Areas. This might help someone who is travelling with Family or friends.
I left Islamabad for Naran early morning at 7 am, as I was travelling with family so I had to stop a couple of times but reached Naran by 2 pm. ( I was travelling on SUV - 4wd)
Naran is a beautiful place but Hotels and food is not that good. You have to look for nice and clean hotel. I found one eco friendly hotel which was 15 kms ahead of Naran named as Kaghan Eco friendly hotel (Bhatta Kundy), it was cheaper thn Naran and Food was real hygenic. (5000 to 7500 depends on your room choice and negotiation skills).
I stayed in Naran for 2 days and left early morning like 6am to Hunza.
On the way passed Babu Sar Top which is 13700 ft high. Nice place but 0 good resturant for tea or pakoras etc as I saw their utensils were washed last time in 1902. Please carry your own stove and tea making necessities.
Road was better and small parts were being repaired aswell. Any car can go as I saw even Mehran moving around 
After babu sar top, my next stay was Shagrilla Hotel in Chilas, had my lunch there, it was jam packed. Left after 1 hour to hunza, reached by 5 pm. Hunza is aprox 2 and half hour extra drive from gilgit. Roads are good as CPEC project has already started, crossed couple of chinese trucks on the way to hunza.
Serena is the best place to stay and its cheap as 7,500 per day including breakfast. You can visit forts, lake and new tunnels created. Food is also good at serena. You can also try Eagle's Nest, and few others new hotels which look better.
Stayed 2 days in Hunza and thn took off for Skardu.
Now there are 2 routes to skardu, one is through Astro- Chilman etc. This is a long route and it will take you some extra hours to reach skardu. Road till Astore and chilman are satisfactory but After chilman till Sadpara, the road is just like an off road track with stones and dust. It will take you extra hours as your car will move real slow because of the road condition. I saw many cars travelling aswell but 4x4 is advised.
I took the other route which is taking off from Korkoram Highway towards Sassi- Shengus - Tungus- Kashura -> Skardu. This is better route as per my experience but you have to see DeoSai planes while you are in Skardu. So i traveled back from the other route of DeoSai plains so I don't miss that part as well.
Stayed there in Skardu, stayed in Concordia hotel, its an avg hotel, but when i was booking them from Islamabad, the tour operators gave me paradise picture about it. You can try Serena(12,500 Rs per day) which is in Shigar or Hotel One (PC frenchise- 8500 Rs per day) which is near Skardu Airport.
From Skardu I drove back to Islamabad in 1 go, Left from Skardu Airport at 1:00 pm after dropping family to catch their flight. Crossed Sapara Lake, Deo Sai, Chilman, Astore and reach Chilas Shangrilla at 11:00 pm near mid night.
Had dinner, rested for 4 hrs and left at 4:00 am towards Naran. Reached there at 8 o clock, nashta break and thn straight to Islamabad.
Please carry some light toolkit for your car just in case as it can be handy. Also don't forget to take your Stove and tea necessities.
( Some guys borrowed my toolkit but when i got it back there was no pliers in it. Please guys don't be an A.hole when you borrow things, make sure you return them all or don't borrow in the 1st place)
I hope this helps.
Regards.
