Getting around
Getting Around Pakistan: Flights, Road and Rail
Pakistan stretches from the Arabian Sea to the world's highest mountains, and the distances are real: a trip that takes in the southern cities and the northern valleys covers a lot of ground. The good news is that the main options are straightforward — a domestic flight network linking the big cities, comfortable long-distance coaches on a growing motorway system, and a historic railway down the spine of the country — with only the mountain north demanding careful thought about how and when to travel.
Updated 2026-08-20
Flying, and the Mountain Airports
The quickest way to cross the country is by air. A national carrier and several private airlines connect the major cities — Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Multan and Quetta — many times a day, turning what would be long overland hauls into short hops, and for a trip combining the south and the north a couple of internal flights save days.
The mountain flights are a special case. Services from Islamabad up to Skardu, Gilgit and Chitral fly through the peaks and are spectacular, but they are entirely weather-dependent and are cancelled at short notice when cloud closes the valleys. The rule every experienced traveller follows is to build spare days into any northern itinerary and treat the long road as the fallback, so a grounded flight costs a buffer day rather than the trip.
The Roads: Motorways, Coaches and the North
Overland, the country has transformed in recent years with a network of modern motorways linking the main cities, and the comfortable long-distance coach services that run them are the standard way to travel between, say, Lahore and Islamabad — air-conditioned, reliable and inexpensive, with assigned seats and regular departures. For intercity travel across the plains, they are often quicker and easier than flying once airport time is counted.
The north is a different world. Beyond the motorways, the roads climb into the mountains, culminating in the Karakoram Highway, and travel slows to a winding mountain pace. Most visitors tour the north not by public bus but by hired vehicle with a driver, and the high side-valleys need a sturdy jeep rather than an ordinary car. Hiring a car with a driver for a stretch of the trip, rather than self-driving in unfamiliar mountain conditions, is the normal and sensible choice.
Trains and the Indus Line
Pakistan has a historic railway, its main line running the length of the country up the Indus plain from Karachi through Lahore to Rawalpindi and on toward Peshawar. It is slower than flying or the motorway coaches, but for travellers with time it is an atmospheric way to watch the landscape change, and the overnight sleeper services turn a long daytime journey into a night's rest.
The network is a plains system — it does not reach the mountain valleys — so it is best thought of as a way to link the southern and central cities rather than to get you north. Booking a sleeper berth ahead is worthwhile on the busy long-distance trains, and the higher classes are comfortable and a genuine experience in their own right.
Getting Around in the Cities
Within the big cities, ride-hailing apps have become the easiest option for visitors: they give a fixed, agreed price without the negotiation a street rickshaw or taxi involves, and they spare you guessing local rates. The auto-rickshaw is still the workhorse for short hops through traffic, and agreeing the fare before setting off is the only thing to remember if you flag one down.
Several cities have also built dedicated mass-transit lines that cut through the traffic: Lahore runs a metrobus and an elevated urban rail line, Islamabad and Rawalpindi are joined by a cross-city metrobus, and Karachi has its own bus-rapid-transit corridors. These are cheap, frequent and useful along the routes they serve, and a good way to cover a busy city axis without sitting in gridlock.