Travel itinerary Sahiwal to Khunjrab pass

[chdemon]

Salam all,
i am going on a tour from sahiwal to khunjrab pass. i have a week, my own car and i am travelling alone. so please guide me best places to stay and if some reference numbers of hotels that would be lovely to have.

Day1: Sahiwal to Mansehra plus (or may be mansehra, i plan to reach thakot) but i dont know if i will be able to reach or not. Drive wise i have gone till mansehra last time easily and was fit to drive more, but age is a ***** so.. cant say if i can do it or not.
Day2: Mansehra to Chillas (night stay) as i want to travel in day light to enjoy the views.
Day 3: Chillas to gilgit
Day 4: Gilgit to hunza
Day 5: Hunza to khujrab
Day 6: Hunza to mansehra
Day 7: mansehra to sahiwal

Please suggest me or guide me as many of you have already gone there and know pros and cons of area.

i dont have more than 7 days, and i am not looking for stays like stay 1 day to see the beauty.

hotels to stay, petrol pumps, internet facility, round about expenses. what should i take with me, cash/ card. if both what would be percentage of both, like how much cash should i take and where should i use card ?

[mumbojumbo]

Salam.

So on day 3 you can easily go to Hunza from Chilas. Plenty of stay options in Hunza and I would suggest either go to Eagle Nest or stay in one of the hotels along the Attababd lake. Infact I would not recommend staying in Chilas. The place is very hot and does not have many stay options. You can go till Jaglot which is a couple of hours drive from Chilas and has plenty of stay options.

Day 4, Hunza to Khunjerab and back to Gilgit. Leave early in the morning at around 6:30-7 am. You will reach Khunjerab by 10:30 to 11 am. Your stay will not be more than 15-20 mins since it will be too cold. So by 12 or 12:30 pm you'll probably be on your way back. You'll love the Passu cones. And by 4 you will be in Hunza and you can easily make it to Gilgit by 6:30 pm. The road is absolutely fine and you can easily drive even during the night.

Day 5, Gilgit to Besham

Day 6, Besham to Lahore or in your case Sahiwal.

Very tightly packed trip with loads of driving. Why are you going alone?

It will be around 2500 km round trip and the petrol bill will be around 60k assuming your car will give you an overall average of 12 km/L. So you'll need more or less 200 L of fuel which is around 60k. (Rough calculations). Then there are toll charges on motorway. I don't recall any toll taxes collected on KKH once you enter GB. But there will be a Khunjerab National Park entrance fee. Don't remember how much was it since I went a few years ago.
Petrol pumps are plenty in GB and no need to worry about fuel.
You can keep both cash and card with you. The hotels won't be that expensive since it's off season. Eagle nest has a wonderful view of Hunza valley so that's my recommendation. It's autumn and so expect to see a lot of yellow instead of green. It will be very cold in Hunza and Khunjerab and you might see slight snow at Khunjerab as well.

Don't go alone. Take a friend with you. Add another day for Hunza. You'll love it.
Enjoy your trip!

[chdemon]

Very tightly packed trip with loads of driving. Why are you going alone?

w alakum salam brother,

thank you brother for guiding me, really appreciate it. friends have different times off from offices and i have missed every time due to this. so i thought to go alone. kinda fed up of routine, want some quiet time. ye i understand it will be lot of driving :). its actually trip planned when i wrote this thread and today insha Allah after Jumma i am going. planned trip would have someone with me, but it is unplanned totally. got few days off and decided to go. Car is Yaris 1.5 CVT.

You can go till Jaglot which is a couple of hours drive from Chilas and has plenty of stay options.

ok sounds a good advice, i will try to go to jaglot, if i could reach in one go. if not then i will stay a bit earlier on some petrol station for rest and then can go towards jaglot. i called eagle nest, they charging 9000 per night for single room, i will try to find out some in lesser budget. i have not been there, so no idea why they charging 9000 and what will be other hotel's cost.

[mumbojumbo]

Hmm

If you leave today after jummah then yes you will reach Mansehra by evening. But I suggest you leave early tomorrow at 5 am. You will be able to easily reach Besham by around 4-5 pm. From Besham you can even reach Hunza if you start early.
Mansehra to Jaglot is doable but if you are not able to reach Jaglot before nightfall then stay options include Chilas and Raikot Sirai (right on the Raikot bridge).

Eagle Nest hotel has high rates but there are a few other hotels around that spot where you will be able to get a room for a lot less. When you reach Hunza just go straight for Eagle nest point (the road is narrow with a lot of twists and turns as you are climbing a hill but nothing to worry about. Your Yaris will do it without any problems)
There are plenty of hotels there. There is High Rock, walnut resort, Hunza panorama, Hunza roof, fairyland, Noor's lodge (we stayed here. It was newly built back then and we were the first customers. 3 rooms for 9000 Rs back then)
Going alone is not advisable...
Telenor has okish signals ahead of Gilgit. You can buy S-Com sim from Gilgit as well.

[mumbojumbo]

If you want quiet time then go to Khanispur or Tolipeer or Gangachoti.
You are basically going to put yourself in torture because you do not have a second driver with you. Trust me friend this won't be easy...you should tour for a good time and not do it as a punishment

[mumbojumbo]

Hunza panorama
0311 5589839

High Rock Hunza
05813 457179

Fairyland
0342 0058728

0345 9180302
Noor lodge

GB tourist police help line
05811 930055

1422

[chdemon]

question bro, if i reach evening mansehra, can i travel at night towards jaglot ? i dont know road conditions thats why i ask, because i have long stamina of driving and can drive way longer than mansehra.

[mumbojumbo]

No that's not advisable at all. You can go till Besham which is around 110 kms from Mansehra. It has plenty of stay options and road is drivable during the night as well.
From Sahiwal till Besham it's around 650 kms and most of it is motorway so you can easily do it in 9-10 hours with breaks.

[chdemon]

ok got your point, will stick to besham maximum and then will rest there. thank you for guiding me. jazak Allah

[mumbojumbo]

And from Besham straight to Hunza tomorrow. That's around 420 kms but due to it being a twisty mountain road (KKH) and heavy traffic, travel time shall be around 10-12 hours with breaks.

[mumbojumbo]

Keep posting here during and after your tour.
InshaAllah you'll have a great time. Don't forget to take warm clothes and a heavy jacket.

[chdemon]

i am trying to take my cousin with me and he is scared as **** lol... hates mountains journey lol... in sha Allah will update

[mumbojumbo]

I hope he comes along. Would be a trip of a life time for him!

[chdemon]

i changed my tour to just babusar top, babusar top is still open and functional. all good here. though road is so bad after balakot.

[mumbojumbo]

Go to Hunza. Take the KKH on the way back.

[elainewchatman]

It's smart that you've adjusted the route a bit given the road conditions. Babusar Top should still be a really nice trip. Just be careful on that road after Balakot like you said. Hope you have a great time taking in the views - be sure to share some photos when you're back. Enjoy the rest of your short break!

[chdemon]

i did not packed much. thought it would be short tour. i went till babusir only. it was awesome. but damn it was scary as none was there after naran. very very scary i must say. lol. only few people after miles and miles. naran was almost all closed. only 1-2 hotels were open. i enjoyed very much. sadly i went for a short tour otherwise i would have loved to cross babusir and went to hunza.

[mumbojumbo]

Wonderful

[elainewchatman]

Glad to hear you enjoyed Babusar Top despite the short trip! That road after Naran does sound pretty empty and sketchy. At least you got to see some beautiful scenery. Maybe next time you can plan a longer trip to explore more of the area. Did you get any good photos from up top?

[mumbojumbo]

We need photos...!!