Trip to Azad Kashmir (Rawalakot and Neelum Valley)

[quaidian]

Previously I was planning a family trip to Murree in Eid holidays but when I heard that traffic and hotel situation is worst during Eid holidays so I have changed my plan. Now I am planning to visit Azad Kashmir specially Rawalakot and Neelum Valley region.

I know there are different threads already running either for Rawalakot or Neelum Valley but as I am making plan to cover both so want information regrading this. As I would be coming from Lahore so I would prefer entering to Rawalakot first from Rawalapindi-Kahota side. It would be great if you can answer the following questions:

1- What is road condition from Riawalpindi-Kahota to Rawalakot - a couple of years back when I went with my office staff road was under construction
2- How much time it would take to reach Rawalakot from Lahore (I want to reach there early morning)?
3- Is it good season to visit this region?
4- In Rawalakot I know the following places:
(a) Banjosa Lake
(b) Toli Pir
(c) Lasdanna
(d) Poonch River
(e) Tatta Pani
Any suggestions which places are worth seeing and which should better be dropped (as I want to cover this in same day or max half of next day) to save reaching and visiting time for Neelum Velley
5- What is route from Rawalakot to Neelum Valley and how much would it take to reach there?
6- What are road condition if moving from Rawalakot to Neelum Valley?
7- I would be with my family on my Vitz 2004 - is it good car for this trip?
8- Which places from Neelum Valley should I cover in 1 to 1.5 days?

I hope experts here would help me to plan a good trip for my family as we are going for such a trip for the first time so I want good information in advance to avoid issues after reaching there. Any suggestions/recommendations would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[waseem14pk]

you want to cover all areas in 1.5 days ???. I am afraid it is not possible

[Skill]

i have also been searching for the maximum information for a 3,4 days tour and i am being informed that there is one way, exiting toli pir via sudhan gali, which is further above than toli pir to enter bagh but the road is only for 4x4 vehicles,even according to my short knowledge road ahead of toli pir for sudhan gali is washed away(gurus can explain it better), the other way is from rawalakot to bagh to muzafarabad,some worth visiting places in betwen bagh and mzfd like ganga choti.

[asifcae]

1-road is good u can rach rawalakot easily on vitz..
2- 7-8 hrs
3- season is good
4- i think u shud drop poonch river and tatta pani
5- not sure abt that route road condition.
8- nelum valley kay liay 1.5 dayz is toooooooo less u can go uptill keran on vitz. agay its jeep track

[MBILALNAWAZ]

sir ge excellent time to visit rawalakot.from islamabad it takes 3hr to reach rawalakot.better stay in gulf in hotel the one located in khaigala not in main rawlalakot city(both have the same owner) its near banjousa lake as well as toli peer and provides quite good services.when i was returning to karachi on 30th june road was v good atleast than wat u saw three years back.i hope u knw the route as far as neelum valley is concernd thats quite away from rawalakot its near muzafrabad.vitz is ok for the visit.road for neelum valley is hmmm i guess the same which goes to muzafrabad from rawalakot some 8 to 10 km of it is v poor other than that its excellent.takes around 4 hr to reach muzafrabad from rawalakot.

[aesiege]

You cannot visit Tatta pani and Poonch river in such short time as u will have to use Mangla Mirpur to Kotli road for this.

You can visit Banjosa and Tolipeer.

From Rawlakot, there are 2 routes for Muzaffarabad:

1- Rawlakot - Bagh - Sudhan Gali - Chikkar - Hattian Bala - Muzaffarabad

2- Rawlakot - Dhalkot Bridge - Kohala - Muzaffarabad

Both roads are not in perfect conditions and there are quite a few bad patches. But vehicles are easily moving on both roads and hiaces are the public transport mode.

Then there are longer routes to reach Muzaffarabad like through Kotli Sattian and even Murree but i think u won't prefer those.

1.5 days are not even minimum requirement for Neelum Valley.

Better visit Muzaffarabad and Pir Chinasi. Even if u go for Keran then it will be touch & go stuff and no enjoyment at all.

[quaidian]

Thanks for the information friends. Your responses are very helpful and now it is making sense how to arrange the trip. By the way I have three days in total Eid 2nd, 3rd and 4th day.

Day1: As per your suggestions, I should be reaching Rawalakot early morning. Take hotel and rest for couple of hours and then move to see Banjosa Lake and from there directly go to Toli Peer and in evening come back to Rawalakot (is it possible to do in same day on own car?).

Day2: Leave for Muzaffarabad early morning of day 2 and reach there till 9 AM (which route from the two is preferred? and how much would it take in reality to reach Muzaffarabad? own car OK for this route?). Which places can be seen this day (any plan for this day?).

Day3: On day 3 will see some more places in Neelum valley (please suggest which one?) and come back to Rawalakot before night (can we travel in these areas in dark?)

On day 4, leave for Lahore after Fajr.
Is it workable plan or just imagination I hope now some experts can easily help to tune this plan to make it really practical and memorable for my whole family. It should at least cover a few excellent locations so need some more time of you on this subject. Thanks in advance!

[quaidian]

Thanks for the information friends. Your responses are very helpful and now it is making sense how to arrange the trip. By the way I have three days in total Eid 2nd, 3rd and 4th day.

Day1: As per your suggestions, I should be reaching Rawalakot early morning. Take hotel and rest for couple of hours and then move to see Banjosa Lake and from there directly go to Toli Peer and in evening come back to Rawalakot (is it possible to do in same day on own car?).

Day2: Leave for Muzaffarabad early morning of day 2 and reach there till 9 AM (which route from the two is preferred? and how much would it take in reality to reach Muzaffarabad? own car OK for this route?). Which places can be seen this day (any plan for this day?).

Day3: On day 3 will see some more places in Neelum valley (please suggest which one?) and come back to Rawalakot before night (can we travel in these areas in dark?)

On day 4, leave for Lahore after Fajr.
Is it workable plan or just imagination I hope now some experts can easily help to tune this plan to make it really practical and memorable for my whole family. It should at least cover a few excellent locations so need some more time of you on this subject. Thanks in advance!

[asifcae]

Thanks for the information friends. Your responses are very helpful and now it is making sense how to arrange the trip. By the way I have three days in total Eid 2nd, 3rd and 4th day.

Day1: As per your suggestions, I should be reaching Rawalakot early morning. Take hotel and rest for couple of hours and then move to see Banjosa Lake and from there directly go to Toli Peer and in evening come back to Rawalakot (is it possible to do in same day on own car?).

Day2: Leave for Muzaffarabad early morning of day 2 and reach there till 9 AM (which route from the two is preferred? and how much would it take in reality to reach Muzaffarabad? own car OK for this route?). Which places can be seen this day (any plan for this day?).

Day3: On day 3 will see some more places in Neelum valley (please suggest which one?) and come back to Rawalakot before night (can we travel in these areas in dark?)

On day 4, leave for Lahore after Fajr.
Is it workable plan or just imagination I hope now some experts can easily help to tune this plan to make it really practical and memorable for my whole family. It should at least cover a few excellent locations so need some more time of you on this subject. Thanks in advance!

this is much beeter plan. although i think day 1 is tooo hectic.......

yar on day 2 u can visit pir chinnasi and red fort in Muzafarabad.

the next two dayz u shud be in kutton and keran in neelum valley.....

i think it will be enuf for u and trying to do more wil make it very hectic for u.

keeping in mind u have to return to lahore also

[aesiege]

Use Dhalkot - Kohala route.

On day 2, if u manage to reach Muzaffarabad by 9 then u can easily visit Pir Chinasi by 1-2 pm and reach Keran by evening.

Spend Day 3 in Neelum Valley and by night come back to Muzaffarabad.

Day 4 back to Lahore in 8-9 hours.

[quaidian]

Again thanks for the good suggestions. Some final questions:

1- if track is not very good then should I still try using vitz for Rawalakot to Muzaffarabad journey or better use some public/rented local transport?
2- what about hotel booking, should do in advance or can also be managed on spot? also what about rush/prices because of Eid holidays?
3- I think I should stick to places nearby Muzaffarabad and also stay at Muaffarabad because of time limitation (after reaching Muzaffarabad will have 1.5 days max) so places like peer chinasi and other that you will suggest ??? - I think it should be sufficient for starter like me
4- what about travelling in that area in bit dark?

Again thanks in advance for your time to respond!

[asifcae]

night travelling is never an issue and if u can avoid vitz its better ...........

[MBILALNAWAZ]

num1 bro vitz is ok for this trip i belong to rawalakot and my friends have this car there i dont remember any of them complaining.
num2 hotel booking can be done on the spot dont worry about it i havent seen any exyraordinary rush there on eid atleast.
num3 yeah its v wise to stick with places near muzafrabad to keep some time margin.
num4 if u r ok with driving at nite nothing is wrong with the place its a v peacefull area and to be v honest i love driving at nite there on those curvey tree covered mountaneous roads gives u kinda romantic enviorment to relax and think.....

[quaidian]

Asif you are suggesting that from Rawalakot to Muzaffarabad it will be better if avoid taking vitz - OK.

Bilal, good information. Does your answers also applicable to Muzaffarabad mean hotel, travellig, roads condition, rush etc?

[asifcae]

Asif you are suggesting that from Rawalakot to Muzaffarabad it will be better if avoid taking vitz - OK.

Bilal, good information. Does your answers also applicable to Muzaffarabad mean hotel, travellig, roads condition, rush etc?

yes i think vitz ke ground clearance ka kafi masla hai as i am also having 2006 vitz. agar ap nay packing rakhwai hui hai tu phir rola nai ho ga

[irfannaqvi]

Very Good Thread as I am also going with family in same days for 3 to 4 days, it is very informative. Regards.

[quaidian]

Asif, my vitz has bigger tyres and also bigger shock springs so ground clearance is quite good just like any other local car of same category. I was more concerned about broken, muddy and rocky roads where a Lahori city driver can have some problems but if the roads are not that bad then worth trying vitz IMO. I assume Kohala Muzaffarabad is better road as compared to Rawalakot to Dhlalkot to Kohala - am I right?

Three years back me with my colleagues came from Murree to Rawalakot on Coaster and don't ask what kind of route that was and it took 8 hours to reach Rawalakot. I should better say there was no road till Rawalakot after crossing Neelum river. I am unsure which route that was but I am hoping we are not talking about same route

[asifcae]

Asif, my vitz has bigger tyres and also bigger shock springs so ground clearance is quite good just like any other local car of same category. I was more concerned about broken, muddy and rocky roads where a Lahori city driver can have some problems but if the roads are not that bad then worth trying vitz IMO. I assume Kohala Muzaffarabad is better road as compared to Rawalakot to Dhlalkot to Kohala - am I right?

Three years back me with my colleagues came from Murree to Rawalakot on Coaster and don't ask what kind of route that was and it took 8 hours to reach Rawalakot. I should better say there was no road till Rawalakot after crossing Neelum river. I am unsure which route that was but I am hoping we are not talking about same route

go phir tu koi rola nai hai. it wont be a problem for lahori driver as well.

yar muree kohal road is ok lekin pehlay jaisa nai hai .....

wo route bht karab tha us time and i am not current with its condition now coz i havent been there

[quaidian]

Before departing for Muzaffarabad I would check with locals of Rawalakot about road condition and proceed accordingly. The route from Rawalakot - Islamabad - Murree - Kohala - Muaffarabad is about 250 KM and Rawalakot - Dhalkot - Kohala - Muzaffarabad is about 125 KM. In theory the later is better but all depends on road conditions. In any case via Murree is risky because its lengthy and rushy in Eid days so via Dhalkot-Kohala seems good even if it means leave vitz and use local transport

[aesiege]

yaar both Dhalkot and Sudhan Gali routes have bad patches but cars go on both routes daily.

Best of luck !