Assalam-u-Alykum Dear Pak Wheel Members!
After a very long time gap, again I started tour to explore my beautiful country and also to accomplish my dream visits pending at my end. Due to some domestic reasons, COVID-19, my sons Hifz-e-Quran Duration (Starts in 2019) and above all sudden death of my Beloved Mother, (May Allah Rest her in Peace and ranks high in Jannah (Ameen), routine life was stopped, disturbed everything due to this incident, but as everyone knows, life’s never stop, so with passage of time, things become stabled and we moved on further. Alhamdullillah, by the Grace of Almighty, my Son completed his HIFZ-E-QURAN in August 2022 and joins his educational activities again, and we recall our plans to discover our beautiful country by own.
In start of this year Jan 2023, we did a short trip of 4 to 5 days from Lahore – Murree – Nathiagali – Galiyat – Abbotabad – Khanpur Dam – Lahore.
This was also among my plans route therefore completed it first.
After that, I planned to complete another incomplete tour of Kashmir, which I planned 2 or 3 times but due to heavy rains and land-sliding’s or some time panic situations from India side, I cancelled it and moved on alternate sites. As I believe that visit Kashmir during July – August before Moonsoon starts to explore the original beauty because of greenery & scenic sites everywhere. So this time, stick to my plan and like every time selected my own route, to approach Kashmir with following details as under:-
From Lahore on my own ride Honda City 2007 with family. Accompanied with MAP WALI BAJI G (Google Maps) 
which I downloaded offline for my rout, which helps a lot during the whole trip till back home.
Selected route was other than average rout to approach Kashmir i.e. Rawalakot – Muzafferabad – Kashmir,
My Route was
Lahore – Mangla Dam (via GT ROAD) – Chakswari – Kotli – Tata Pani – Hajira – Khai Gala – Bonjosa Lake – Sudhan Gali – Muzzaferabad – Dhani – KundalShai – Neelum – Sharda – Kel – Taobat – Naran – Babusar Top.
Total Days:July 11th 2023 to July 16th, 2023. (6-Days)
Ride: Honda City 2007.
Persons: Family of 04 with Kids 8yrs Baby Girl & 16 yrs Boy coupled with Elder Sister this time.
Cameras for Coverage:Samsung A31, Samsung A20s, Redmi Note8 Pro, Samsung ST200F (16M) , Cannon DSLR D1300.
Total Traveling: 1713 Km.
Total Fuel Consumed: 108 Liters. (Total Hilly Track with Steep Curves)
Average / KM:15.86/Liter Approx.
Day-1:
July 11th, 2023, Lahore to Mangla Dam, Chakswari, Kotli, Hajira, Bonjusa Lake, Sughan Gali.
Roads Used: N5 till Dina, Mangla Road, Kotli Road, Hajira Khai Gala Road, Bagh Highway
Total Travel: 487 KM
We Start Travel in morning after Fajre Prayer at 5 am, used canal road till Lahore Ring Road, and then take Kala Shah Kaku Bypass then N5 till Dina-Jehlum. Then take Dina Bypass and moved towards Mangla Dam using Mangla Road and reached Mangla Dam at 8 am, with one stop on our way at Ghani Filling Station, Lala Musa. Peaceful Mahool at DAM, nice weather, shared some information with kids about DAM, takes some pictures and then moved on after spending 1 hour approx. there.
Used Chakswari Kotli Road, the purpose of using this road was to get maximum Scenic sites round the way till Kashmir, which was later appreciated by locals at Hajira saying that “you selected a best route to enjoy scenic sites till entering Kashmir”. It was really a very beautiful road along with natural beauty but most important, road is full of steep curves, narrow specially after Hajira till Khaigala, but carpeted, if you love to drive then it’s perfect road for you, and after Hajira you will feel just like a road mentioned in some book pictures narrating nature’s beauty. You will only face a patch of 10 to 15 kilometers after Tata Pani which is not constructed yet, but is ready to be carpeted; rest route is perfect for driving lovers.
Our target was to reach Bonjosa Lake in daylight to enjoy some time there and we get there by 3 PM. We covered this track by enjoying the whole road journey taking different shots with family from place to place so it did long to reach uptil Bonjosa Lake. Weather was pleasant at Bonjosa which clearly reflects the weather of Kashmir, we spent 2 to 3 hours there and finally left for Sudhan Galli for night stay.
Now we join Bagh Highway for Sudhan Galli and continue our journey towards destination, road was beautiful, weather was pleasant but one thing I noted that no sign boards, due to which it was very difficult to be guided towards right way, as offline map works but not as perfect like online map, so this creates unnecessary delays which effects your overall journey. Road until Sudhan Galli was perfect with some manageable patches, but a kilometer before Sudhan Galli, we face two points where major land sliding cause swear damage to road, and I manage to pass through that area with extra caution. In evening near about 7:30 pm we reached at Sudhan Galli, and booked Dream Land Guest House. In this whole tour, I did not booked my hotels in advance just for a practice, therefore we stayed in hotels by visiting every hotel first, then bargain on rent with them and then get room for stay. This hotel was perfect for families stay, was almost full, just 2 or 3 rooms were empty, so I visited, bargain it and booked it for Night Stay. They give us Two Rooms, with common washroom; every facility was there, WIFI, Hot Water, Restaurant etc. Hotel Details are as under:
Dream Land Guest House
Room Rent = 4000/- (Per Room)
Contact= Sardar Bilal – 0347-1554807, Sardar M. Fayaz Khan = 0346-5140537.
Pictures 
Large Number of BATS hanging with trees with huge sizes, (saw first time)
Day-2
July 12th, 2023, Sudhan Galli – Ganga Choti – Muzzaferabad – Dhani Fall – Kundal Shai - Neelum.
Roads Used: Neelum Valley Road
Total Travel: 145 KM (Approx.) due to LOC, MAP didn’t calculate exact distance
Next Day, with very healthy breakfast, in pleasant weather, peaceful place, we get ready for our next stop, i.e Ganga Choti, the beautiful place indeed. After checkout from hotel at 8 am, it takes only 20 to 25 minutes to approach till Ganga Choti, carpeted road with few manageable jumps, very steep curves again, and after 20 minutes you gain maximum height of the area. Beautiful place to visit no doubt, take alots of pictures, spent 3 hrs there, and leave for next stop i.e. Dhani Water fall. Make different stopovers on our way to Dhani, take lunch at Pattika after Muzzaferabad, and reached dhani water fall at 2:30 pm. What a place to visit, it’s beautiful to view, beauty of nature, and nice arrangement by management there to capture the whole place into your memories. Enjoyed there for half an hour and then leave to next destination Kundal Shai Water fall.
By entering into Neelum Valley after Neelum Jehlum Hydro Project Bridge, your network will respond improperly and after first MP Check post it become completely off. You have to purchase SCOM sim or otherwise depend on hotel wifi, which is also not speedy. So I bought SCOM sim and 600rs cards for activate a package for internet. Yes it also works slow but something is better than nothing:slight_smile:, so keeping our journey continue towards Kundal Shai, we passed through LOC, a memorable stopover, see peoples on India Side waving hands to Paki Peoples, there is only neelum river in between both countries on that particular area, Road was Yahooooo, so keep continuing towards Kundal Shai Water Fall, and reached there at 6 pm. It’s another beautiful place to visit. Yes road was little bit disturbed but manageable for cars also, and welcomed by a very steep height after first left turn exact after passing bridge of Kundal Shai. After Maghrib, leave for hotel and get stayed at Blue Eye Guest House a little away from main road, (500 meters), but a on a bank of Neelum river, by passing through Hanging Bridge, near MP Checkpost. Meet this guy on KundalShai water fall, so visit his place and found very comfortable for night stay. So locked the deal (Details Below) and get rested in the hotel with noise of running water, and pleasant weather, did dinner at hotel, rooms were airy, staff was very much cooperative, neat and clean rooms with very reasonable rent. Details are as under:-
Blue Eye Guest House
Room Rent = 3000/- (Per Room)
Contact= Raja Asad – 0355-6447358, 0342-5281257, Raja Tahir = 0355-6209505.
Pictures
mi
Day-3
July 13th, 2023, Neelum – Uper Neelum – Dowarian - Sharda.
Roads Used: Neelum Valley Road
Total Travel: 68 KM (Approx.) due to LOC, MAP didn’t calculate exact distance
With very fresh morning, we get breakfast in hotel and get ready for our next destination, moved outside hotel for some random clicks near the river, so take permission from MP Persons, that were outside of hotel, and get some clicks, on the other side, service road leads towards Neelum valley Scenic side, so I drove for a kilometer on that road, which ends at a beautiful junction of 3 hills. From there, it was a track for hiking, so takes some pic there and decided to continue our journey towards sharda from Main road. Weather was hot today, and July 13th was local holiday in Azad Kashmir, they celebrated that day as start of Threek-e-Azadi, which starts from Srinagar with a very heart breaking incidence of 22 martyrs. So every shop/hotel was closed till Sharda. Only few mini marts were open through our way. After joining main road, we face a blockage upto 1 hour due to road construction as they did their work on holiday but as meet one of the local guy who was monitoring the work there, he said we didn’t expected such a number of tourists today as its holiday here so we started work early in morning otherwise such repairing work has been done in night. So “Marta Kiya Na Karta” waited for an hour, but when they saw too much crowd on both side, they decided to stop their work and opened the road. So moving towards Sharda, Athmuqam was next stop. The importance of this stop is because you will not get Fuel after this point through petrol pump, so better take fuel from here. There were two pumps here, PSO and ADMORE, a Local Guy recommends getting fuel from Admore so I did it, and continue towards Dowarian, covering upper neelum again a very beautiful place to visit, covered in some clouds, captured the beauty in cameras and then further moved forward towards Dowarian. Take break at Dowarian Bridge, get into freezing water, enjoyed there for 2 hours and then starts approach towards Sharda.
Here is some useful information for travelers,
From Kundalshai, you will go to Baboon Top, Jeep ride; they will charge 14k for whole day round trip.
From Dowarian, you will go to Rati Gali Lake, Jeep Ride; they will charge 10 to 12k for whole round trip.
Both lakes have some hiking, either by Foot Corolla or by horse (Khatcher) Ride but it’s a full day job.
Contact Details are Khuwaja Rent A Car Tel: 0355-7139823, 0355-6317818, 0355-6176138.
One more thing, there is no road after 1km passing Dowarian till Sharda – Kel. It’s very disappointing situation, that every year thousands of tourists visit Kashmir, but they didn’t construct road. Yes it’s manageable by Car but you face 3 hours to cover only 40 to 50 kms, and in rainy condition, it’s slippery and dangerous too due to number of land-sliding areas. People also offer following package, if you want to park your vehicle in Dowarian and moved with them on Jeeps.
From Dowarian to Sharda – Kel – Arangkel – Taobat (27000 for day trip) and (30000 with night stay)
Form Sharda – Kel – Arangkel (10000 for day trip) and for Taobat (22000)
So its upto you which offer you found best. After tiring journey from Dowarian to Sharda on total KATCHA ROAD, with lots n lots of rough patches & one main water crossing just 1km before Sharda (it was deep), we reached Sharda at 6 pm. Weather was pleasant, we get hotel, there. They have flat rates all over the Sharda, and have standard rooms, with availability of hot water from 6 to 8am only. Rooms were “OK” but you have not more options so “Guzara Karu Bhai”. After getting room, we take tour outside, and come to know that ArangKel Chair lift is suspended due to some maintenance work and track to Kel is closed due to some landslide. It was disappointing for us, if we know the information earlier at Dowarian, we didn’t move toward Sharda, but “Kiya Karsaktay thay Bhai” take a round of river, there, lunch at bank of river and then slept at hotel by deciding that in morning we will go back to Muzzaferabad from where we will decide to go back to home or not. Hotel Details at Sharda are as under:-
Zaman Guest House
Room Rent = 5000/- (Per Room)
Pictures
Day-4
July 14th, 2023, Sharda – Muzzaferabad – Garhi Habibullah – NARAN .
Roads Used: Neelum-Muzzaferabad Road, Muzzaferabad-Ghari Habibullah Road, N15 till Naran
Total Travel: 250 KM (Approx.) due to LOC, MAP didn’t calculate exact distance
With one another fresh morning, but with broken heart as we did not go further to explore the beauty of Kashmir, we did breakfast at local hotel on riverside, and then take boat ride, and after last entertainment activity at Sharda, we leave the place at 9 am, back toward Muzzaferabad. Again a long KATCHA ROAD was waiting for us, so started with very low pace, reached Dowarian at 11 am, when proper road starts, I offer a short tip of NARAN a special gift offer to my elder sister , which makes all people happy, and this made me happy also , so after reaching Muzzaferabad, I used my previously covered track in 2018, i.e. Muzzaferabad-Garhi Habibullah road, a very scenic and beautiful peaceful road, with very less traffic overall uptil N15. Enjoyed the whole track with different stopovers, did lunch at Balakot at 4:00pm at MAWA Restaurant (Very Good Taste). Leave hotel at 5 pm and reached NARAN at 8:30 pm. After crossing Kaghan, road is completely disturbed now a days due to current rains and especially due to Sukhi Kinari Hydro Project. A very disturbed road along with rough drivers of Vigo and other 4x4, make it very uncomfortable for families to manage. They passed with too much speed, throwing muddy water on cars, so u better think what will happened to those cars with open windows 
. After a curvy journey, we reached after Maghrib, get stayed in Naran International with the help of dearest friend at Naran. It was 3kms before Naran Main Bazar, a very peaceful place, newly built and a lavish hotel with all facilities. As on arrival we noticed, NARAN was completely choked, not a single room was available in other hotels, as per locals, and also we see too much crowd due to weekend, so feel lucky to get room without advance booking with the help of my friend there. Did dinner at Naran bazar, Afghani hotel, (Delicious) and get back to hotel. Hotel details are as under:
Naran International Hotel & Barbecue Delight Restaurant
Room Rent = 15000/- (Per Room)
Pictures
Beautiful Tea Stall Made by Baba G at Saif-ul-Malook Lake At Kainat RestaurantPiyala Jheel Babusar Top Lulusar Lake
Day-6
July 16th, 2023, Naran – Mansehra – Lahore
Roads Used: N15, M15, M1, M2, KalashahKaku Bypass, Ringroad Lahore
**Total Travel: 610 KM **
With one another fresh morning, take breakfast at Dhabba of Baba G, in front of Mount Feast Hotel, Baba g was very kind person, enjoyed the breakfast and leave Naran at 9 am. Take stop at Mansehra Bazar for some shopping purpose at 2 pm, and then join M15 from Qalanderabad Interchange Mansehra for Home Sweet Home. Reached Home at 7 pm Alhamdullillah, with one stop on my way at Mcdonald Bhera Rest Area for some snacks/entertainment and Asar Prayer.
Above all detail is for information/guidance for those who want to travel in these areas in near future.
Be Safe, Be Healthy,
PAKISTAN ZINDABAD
