Best places to visit in Pakistan
Pakistan runs from the Karakoram and Himalaya in the north to the Indus plains and the Arabian Sea. This guide lists the places most trips are built around, with the tours on Wonderlist that go there.
- 10 packages listed now
- 3 agencies
1. Hunza Valley
Hunza lies on the Karakoram Highway in Gilgit-Baltistan, with the valley floor at about 2,438 metres. Attabad Lake formed in January 2010 when a landslide blocked the Hunza River. Further north the highway crosses into China at the Khunjerab Pass, 4,693 metres up.
2. Skardu and the Deosai plains
Skardu is the base for Shangrila and the Kachura lakes and for the Deosai plains, an alpine plateau between Skardu and Astore at an average of 4,114 metres, protected as Deosai National Park.
3. Fairy Meadows
Fairy Meadows, locally called Joot, is grassland at about 3,300 metres near a base camp of Nanga Parbat in Diamer District. It was declared a national park in 1995 and has been part of Nanga Parbat National Park since 2021.
4. Naran and the Kaghan Valley
The Kaghan Valley runs 155 km from about 650 metres up to the Babusar Pass at around 4,170 metres. Lake Saiful Muluk, near Naran at the north end of the valley, sits at 3,224 metres, above the tree line.
5. Swat Valley
Swat, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is reached by the Swat Motorway. Kalam and Mahodand Lake are in the upper valley and Malam Jabba is one of Pakistan's two ski resorts.
6. Neelum Valley, Azad Kashmir
Neelum is the northernmost and largest district of Azad Kashmir and covers most of the Neelum (Kishanganga) Valley.
7. Chitral and the Kalash valleys
The three Kalasha valleys of Chitral District, surrounded by the Hindu Kush, are home to the Kalash people and their own culture, language and religion. Bumburet is the largest, reached by road from Ayun; Rumbur and Birir are the other two.
8. Murree and the Galyat
Murree, a hill station in the Galyat at an average of 2,291 metres, is the usual short trip from Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
9. Lahore
The Lahore Fort in the Walled City was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. Opposite it stands the Badshahi Mosque, built between 1671 and 1673 by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
10. Islamabad, Taxila and Mohenjo-daro
The Faisal Mosque, the national mosque, stands at the foot of the Margalla Hills in Islamabad. Taxila in Rawalpindi District, founded around 1000 BC, is a World Heritage Site. In Sindh, Mohenjo-daro, built around 2500 BCE by the Indus Valley Civilisation, became the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in South Asia in 1980.
Northern areas tour packages
10 matching packages are listed on Wonderlist now. Open them for the dates, hotels, itinerary and what is included.
Questions
- What are the best places to visit in the northern areas of Pakistan?
- Hunza and Attabad Lake, Skardu and the Deosai plains, Fairy Meadows below Nanga Parbat, Naran and Lake Saiful Muluk, and the Swat and Neelum valleys.
- What are the best places to visit near Islamabad?
- The Faisal Mosque and Margalla Hills in the city, Murree and the Galyat in the hills to the north-east, and the ruins of Taxila in Rawalpindi District.
- Which places in Pakistan are UNESCO World Heritage Sites?
- Among them are the Lahore Fort (1981), Mohenjo-daro (1980) and Taxila. The Deosai plains are on Pakistan's tentative list.
- How high is the Khunjerab Pass?
- 4,693 metres (15,397 ft), on the Karakoram Highway at the border with China.