Hunza

Some journeys announce themselves slowly. The drive to Hunza is one of them - two days on the Karakoram Highway, the highest paved international road on earth, through Naran and Chilas and Gilgit before the valley finally opens ahead of you. By the time you arrive in Karimabad, you have already crossed rivers, climbed passes, and passed through landscapes that bear no resemblance to one another. The destination is waiting. So is the feeling that you have already begun.

Hunza itself asks to be taken at walking pace. The two forts that anchor Karimabad - Altit and Baltit - are not monuments to be checked off but places to be read slowly, layer by layer, dynasty by dynasty. Altit is the older of the two, its foundations reaching back over nine hundred years, its village below still quietly inhabited. Baltit sits higher, looking out over the valley with the particular authority of a place that governed it for centuries. The evening belongs to Duikar Hill, where the valley spreads below and the light on Rakaposhi and Ultar Sar does what light at altitude does - which is to say, something that photographs cannot fully account for.

The long day comes third. The road north from Karimabad passes the Hussaini Suspension Bridge - one of the more thrillingly precarious crossings in Pakistan, and one that children will either refuse entirely or want to cross twice - before climbing toward the Khunjerab Pass at nearly five thousand metres, where Pakistan ends and China begins. The return brings Passu, with its cathedral glaciers rising directly from the valley floor, and Attabad Lake, the improbable turquoise expanse created by a landslide in 2010, its submerged villages still visible beneath the water on a clear day.

The road south on the final full day stops at Ghulmet for the Rakaposhi viewpoint - the mountain's full eight-thousand-metre sweep visible from the valley floor in a way that few peaks anywhere allow - before descending through Gilgit and climbing again to Babusar Top, where the Karakoram gives way to the green of Kaghan. Naran is the last night, a gentle landing before Islamabad.

Day by day

5 days, each one open below — tap a day to see the plan.

Where you'll stay

A selection of the hotels on this route — the full stay list is confirmed as part of planning.

Rockwood Resort

Naran / Batakundi · Standard package

Manila Heights Hotel

Naran / Batakundi · Standard package

Mountain Feast

Naran / Batakundi · Deluxe package

Park Hotel

Gilgit · Standard package

Avari Xpress

Gilgit · Deluxe package

Hunza Elites

Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan

Qayam Hunza

Hunza · Deluxe package

Food along the way

Hunza

Hunza's food is one of the quiet pleasures of the trip: simple, local, and built around apricots, walnuts, wheat and yoghurt. Try chapshoro (spiced meat baked inside flatbread), mamtu (steamed dumplings), and anything made with the valley's famous apricots, fresh in July and dried year-round. Karimabad's bazaar has small cafés and family-run places serving traditional Hunza dishes, and Cafe de Hunza is known for its walnut cake.

Worth trying: Cafe de Hunza

Chapshoro

Mamtu

Khubani

Naran

Naran is the last night and the easiest place on the route to eat well without planning. The Kunhar River trout is the local speciality - usually fried and served fresh along the main bazaar - and most hotels and roadside restaurants serve dependable karahi and barbecue in the evenings.

Trout Fish

Chicken Karahi and Naan

What this trip costs