So you’ve booked your ticket to Pakistan and now you’re wondering where you should spend most of your time in this great country? Well, look no further. Here we explore the best of Skardu. One region in North Pakistan that you will want to visit. Check out this quick video which encapsulates the best of Skardu, Pakistan tourism.

Skardu sits in North Pakistan, close to the border of India. The frequently Himalayan locations of Leh and Ladakh, India, are just over the other side of the border.

The way our site is structured is we have two elements. Travel Stories (blog posts) and Travel Adventures (YouTube videos) Most Travel Adventures will be accompanied by a Travel Story. For the Pakistan travel series, here is the page so you can soak up all the content when researching the best of Pakistan tourism.

In this article, we’re going to break down what there is to see in Skardu and how you should break up your time whilst travelling to Skardu, Pakistan, as well as some costs derived from first-hand experience. You could read trip advisor instead-but come on. This is way more fun plus, you can see our entire trip over on YouTube or over on our site under Travel Adventures, so that’s proof we did it; let’s get started!

How to Travel to Skardu

So first, how do we travel to Skardu? There are two options, fly or bus. We took the flight despite having to fly an airline that has been banned in Europe, the flight was extraordinary, and the views, well, you can see them for yourself in this video. We didn’t take the bus and trust me, we are not those sort of travellers who look down on long-time buses. We’ve taken some long bus rides across Nepal. China, Mozambique, Pakistan, Vietnam, Argentina, Chile, Peru and more, with many surpassing the ten-hour mark!

So we decided to fly from Islamabad to Skardu instead of taking the bus because road closures and unforeseen incidents are expected. The north of Pakistan is not as well travelled as it should be; therefore, the conditions can be volatile at best. Some days there are no landslides. On other days you’re stuck for hours. You don’t know, so for the sake of $50 USD, we decided to hop onto a PIA flight with the journey time cut to 1 hour as opposed to 16 hours plus (on a good day) with the bus! See for yourself here.

Once you arrive at Skardu International Airport, you’ll want to take time to soak in the scenery. The airport is stunning with fabulous 360-degree mountain views, we’ve been fortunate enough to travel to Patagonia, and Skardu international airport blew us away. Little did we know that we were just getting started in what would be one of the best weeks of our lives. Travelling-wise anyway.

The beauty of Pakistan is mind-blowing.

Upon leaving the airport, you won’t be inundated with airport taxis as is the norm on many a backpacking adventure. Instead, you will have had to organise with your hotel a pickup. The good news is that many hotels offer free airport pickup; you need to remember to confirm with them. If you don’t, then don’t worry too much. Friendly Pakistanis will stir up a conversation with you, and you’ll be on your way to the many tourist attractions of Skardu in no time!

How to Enjoy The Best of Skardu?

Now the question is, how can you enjoy the best of Skardu and visit the numerous tourist attractions in Skardu? Well, there is only one way, by a jeep, or more specifically, a Toyota Prado. At the moment of writing, it is the only way of exploring Skardu, at least for the future, due to the quality of the roads. There’s no tarmac here!. Please don’t even think about hiring a car here; Skardu is not the place. The roads are in terrible condition, and a 4×4 with a driver is needed if you want to get out and explore the beautiful area of Skardu. If you’re going to hit the lakes of Shangri-La Lake, Upper Kachura Lake and Satpara, then a regular car will be fine. However, if you want to head to Manthoka waterfall, Basho Valley, Safaranga Desert, Marsur Rock, Shigar Fort, Katpanah Desert, Deosai Plains, Blind Lake, Soq Valley, Khaplu and the gorgeous surrounding areas of Machlu Valley, Sailing and Sogha Lake then you will need a 4×4. Don’t worry. I’ll explain each Skardu tourist attraction in more detail.

There’s a lot to see in Skardu and Pakistan.

So, driver costs will be around 6,000 PKR to 8,000 PKR per day, including driver hire and fuel. For Basho valley, that rate increases to 10,000 PKR due to the massive distance (3 hours each way) and if you wish to travel to Khaplu and back, that rate balloons to 15,000 PKR, so maybe don’t do that. Watch this video and read the accompanying blog post about our calamitous journey to Khaplu if you want more details. Also, for Deosai plains (one of the best camping destinations in the world), the costs will be at a minimum of 15,000 PKR but more likely 20,000 PKR as you’ll want to drive through Deosai plains and end up in Astore, where you can explore Rama Meadows. Breathtaking, but we’ll talk more about that in future!

Back to travelling around Skardu and enjoying the best of Skardu tourism. Please note that each destination will have its separate blog post, so be sure to read up on those if you’d like more in-depth information on any of the Skardu tourism attractions. It’ll also include a behind-the-scenes look at our travel videos based on that particular location.

I’ll also mention that most tourist attractions are free, as is usual with travel, some people may ask for ticket fees, but we didn’t encounter that in Pakistan. The ones with ticket fees are Shangri-la-la Lake at 1,000PKR per person. Buddha Rock at 30PKR per person and Manthoka waterfall at 30 PKR per person. When visiting, travelling to, and backpacking around Skardu in Pakistan, the main cost will be hiring a Prado to take you across Skardu and enable you to enjoy the best of Skardu in Pakistan.

The Best of Skardu Travel Itinerary

Day One

On your first day of backpacking Pakistan, well, the Skardu region. You will explore two of the best lakes in Pakistan. Shangri-La Lake and Upper Kachura Lake. Both lakes have their feel and culture, we preferred Upper Kachura due to what happened there, but the Beauty of Shangri-la Lake can not be denied. You will also explore Soq Valley this day, another gem we didn’t even know about until an hour after jumping off the plane. Visit Soq Valley; beautiful doesn’t even describe it. You can also camp there if you’d like. Make sure to pick up a cup of Chai for 30PKR while you’re in awe of majestic landscapes staring you in the face!

Day Two

We initially had this day set up to visit Hussainbad Waterfall on route to Marsur Rock, a site you’ll want to check out if you’re fit and able to. Think Lion King. Yep, Norway isn’t the only location in the world with a tourist attraction that emulates Pride Rock!

Day Three

Shigar valley, Quadbiking and Blind Lake.

This is going to be a fun day. You’ll glide east of Skardu and witness the majestic Thorgu valley in all its natural beauty, whilst picking up some drinks on the way, then float upwards across the Safaranga desert where you can partake in quad-biking before reaching Shigar Fort. On the way back, you’ll witness Blind Lake, perhaps the hidden gem of Pakistan tourism! I should add that you can do paragliding in the Safaranga Desert? We couldn’t do it. Unfortunately, the pilot was out of town (currently, only one company offers this), but the views would be incredible! We have plenty of YouTube Pakistan travel vlogs for this day, so check them out!

Day Four

This day will blow you away like most days in truth when you’re backpacking Pakistan. We started by visiting Satpara lake, which many people often save for the drive down to Deosai, but we had a free morning and thought we would Satpara lake with a visit to Buddha Rock instead. Totally worth it. In fact, Satpara lake might be a good choice for a picnic spot in Skardu! We ended this beautiful day in Pakistan at Katpanah Desert, and wow, that place did not disappoint once the sun went down. The best star gazing in our lives, and we’ve witnessed a desert or two for comparison purposes.

Day Five

Khaplu. I won’t say more about Khaplu as we have tons of content about what there is to see and do in Khaplu which you can check out and decide for yourself. Spoiler alert: put Khaplu on your list when compiling your backpacking Pakistan Itinerary!

Day Six

This day was unexpected. We started by visiting the mosques of the Himalayas. Chaqchan Mosque is breathtaking! We then drove through Sailing, witnessing countless new forests on the way. We explored Machlu Valley to gaze at Masherbrum peak in this unexplored region of Pakistan and were asked to speak at a local school. We also visited the inspiring Sogha Lake, which, dare I say it, is more beautiful than Shangri-la lake. We ended the day with a visit to Manthoka waterfall which was also full of surprises, before returning to Skardu. I told you to visit Khaplu, and this day perfectly encapsulates why upon should.

Day Seven

Back in Skardu, after our two days of exploring Khaplu. The morning started with another visit to Satpara lake, and we had it all to ourselves. We then made our way into Deosasi Plains en route to Astore. Deosai plains reminded as of the Peak District in England. What do you think?

Day Eight

We rose bright and early after spending the night camping at Deosai Plains, where we heard brown bears roar and witnessed another magical night of stargazing. On our way to Astore, we drove past Sheosar lake: Pakistan has many lakes, right?

That is our Skardu itinerary where I feel we witness the best of Skardu Tourism. Now, if there were one more element that I would have liked to have added, then without a doubt, we would have visited Basho Valley in Skardu. Unfortunately, we had time constraints, but then we were naive and didn’t think things would go wrong; we’re called calamity travels for a reason! In hindsight, we could have visited the gorgeous Basho Valley as we met some friendly locals who invited us to travel with them to that part of Pakistan. In truth, we didn’t expect such an onslaught of calamities to create a perfect storm which gave us multiple extra days where we could have been backpacking Pakistan but were holed up in a hostel in Karimabad, Pakistan instead. Ah well. Anyway, please google the images of Basho Valley in Skardu and thank me later.

Toodles