Gilgit-Baltistan: Hunza, Skardu and the High Valleys
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- Type:administered area
- Population:1.2M (2011)
- Area:72,971 km²
- Capital:Gilgit
Introduction
Gilgit-Baltistan is a mountainous region in the far north, where three of the world's great ranges meet — the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush and the western Himalaya. It is a land of deep river valleys walled by snow peaks, of glaciers, high lakes and terraced villages, and of ancient trading communities strung along the old routes to Central Asia and China. For many visitors it is the most spectacular and welcoming country they travel through, and the reason they came at all.
Overview
The great summits and glaciers of the north — K2, the Baltoro and the eight-thousanders — belong to K2 and the Karakoram; this page is the living country of valleys beneath them. At their feet open the living valleys — apricot orchards, old stone forts, turquoise lakes and high wildflower plateaus — home to the Wakhi, Balti and Shina peoples whose hospitality is the north's quiet signature. For many travellers it is Pakistan at its most spectacular and most welcoming.
Discover Gilgit-Baltistan
The Hunza valley is the postcard of the north: a green shelf of terraced fields and apricot orchards set beneath the sheer 7,788-metre wall of Rakaposhi, its main village of Karimabad rising in tiers to two remarkable old forts. The seven-hundred-year-old Baltit Fort, restored and open to visitors, looks down the whole valley from its perch, and the older Altit Fort clings to a crag above the river below it. Spring brings a famous flush of apricot and cherry blossom across the terraces, and autumn turns the poplars and orchards to gold. Downstream, the valley delivers one of the north's most startling sights — the vivid turquoise Attabad Lake, formed within living memory when a landslide dammed the river, now crossed by the highway and dotted with boats beneath the spire-like Passu Cones.
Ways to Experience This Destination
The apricot-terraced valley below Rakaposhi, the old forts of Baltit and Altit, and the turquoise of Attabad Lake.
The Indus valley gateway — Shigar and Khaplu forts, the Kachura lakes and the cold-desert dunes.
The wildflower plateau above 4,000 metres, and the coloured lakes and meadows of Naltar and Phander.
The Wakhi, Balti and Shina valleys, their orchards and festivals, and the north's famous hospitality.
Frequently asked questions
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