Pakistan holidays

Pakistan is one of the world's most-spectacular mountain countries and one of its most-underappreciated travel destinations — the Karakoram Highway connects the Hunza Valley's apricot-tree villages and 7,000m peaks to the Khunjerab Pass on the Chinese border; the Mughal-Lahore heritage (the Walled City UNESCO, Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort) is the finest Mughal architecture outside India; Karachi delivers a fast-evolving modern megacity contrast; and the Indus Valley civilisations (Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa) hold the world's earliest urban heritage. Security concerns of the 2000s-2010s have eased substantially for traveller-frequented areas; tourism is now actively encouraged by the government.

A serious 10-14 day Pakistan trip focuses on the north: Lahore (2-3 nights — Walled City UNESCO walking tour, Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Fort, Wazir Khan Mosque, the Wagah border ceremony with India) → fly to Islamabad and Rawalpindi (1-2 nights — the Faisal Mosque, the Margalla Hills) → fly to Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan (1 night — the gateway to the Karakoram, Shangrila Resort's upper lake) → drive or fly to Hunza Valley (3-4 nights — Karimabad, Baltit Fort, Attabad Lake, optional jeep day-trip to Khunjerab Pass at the Chinese border) → return to Islamabad. Extended itineraries add the Kalash Valley (Indigenous non-Muslim communities in the Hindu Kush, Bumburet/Rumbur villages, 3-4 nights), Mohenjo-Daro and Sindh province, or the Cholistan Desert.