Skardu Travel Guide and Review
Posted on Mar 27th, 2010 | 24 commentsAfter a small yet a memorable trip to Skardu and adjoining areas, I plan to write this mini-travel guide to Skardu, for those who haven’t yet been to this most amazing and wonderful place in the world.
About Skardu:
Skardu is a small town in the Baltistan Region of Pakistan. The popular languages are Balti and Urdu, spoken by the natives, who are very friendly, peaceful and welcoming people. Contrary to what some might think, Skardu (up till now) has been a very safe place and you should feel free to travel with friends and family anytime you want.
Type of tourism you should expect:
The area of Skardu is blessed with some of the most beautiful and unadulterated mountain scenery in the world. If you love natural scenery, this is the place to be. The city and its resorts are calm and quite places so there’s almost no night life in those areas.
Travelling to Skardu:
there are two ways to arrive to Skardu. One is by Road and other is by Air. If you are feeling really really adventurous and want to enjoy a scenic ride, you can take the Pakistan Tourism Buses to Skardu. I should warn you that people who have travelled by Road, do not think it was one the best decisions they made. The ride is around 20 to 24 hours long, mostly on a single track road. In bad weather conditions, it’s definitely not recommended as there have been cases of major accidents, so avoid it.
If you plan to travel by air, there’s a daily flight to Skardu from Islamabad on PIA. You will be required to buy the tickets from a PIA office and confirm them, 24 hours prior to the flight. They require you to get your seats confirmed because flights to Skardu are usually cancelled due to bad weather. The same procedure applies when you wish to travel back to Islamabad. You will have to get your tickets confirmed (stamped) from the PIA office in Skardu. Remember, if you do not get your tickets stamped, you won’t be allowed to board on the flight (at least that’s what I am told by the PIA staff).
If you do not live in Islamabad, this means that you will have be in Islamabad a day earlier than your flight to get it confirmed. In other case, you can send your tickets over to someone you know in Islamabad or Rawalpindi to get your tickets stamped.
More flight information
The PIA flight 451 flies to Skardu from Islamabad daily at 10:00 am (usually). It’s a 45 minutes flight, hich is well worth the price you pay. During the flight, if you are sitting on the right side, you will see some of the most beautiful mountain ranges from Nanga Parbat, Raka Poshi and also a distant view of the K2, the queen of all mountains.
The flight lands around 10:45 am at Skardu airport. The airport is a very basic one with no modern airport facilities. You will have to pull your luggage from a carrier van! From there onwards, you can travel towards your hotel/resort of your choice. This same flight then leaves for Islamabad again at 12:30 pm (approx)
The Shangrila Resort:
We stayed at the Shangrila resort in Skardu. The resort, which is the best available accommodation in the area is built around a lake called Lower Kachura. (our driver told us that kachura means, lots of water). The Shangrila resort, as they call it, is truly heaven on earth. Okay that might be exaggerating, but yes, it is a good place, very scenic, peaceful, and unique. Where else will you find living in a resort, surrounded a mountains, and a natural lake in middle. The manager, Mr. Ishtiaq is a nice friendly guy and so is the other staff. There was this one guy, Shahab, who was a cook/waiter/boat rider told us that he was the under 17 squash champion of Pakistan!
Excursions
Upper Kachura Lake
Upper Kachura lake is a fifteen minutes drive from Shangrila resort. Then there is 10 minutes walk to the lake side. You will be mesmerized by the beauty of what you will find there. A beautiful lake, ice blue in color, surrounded by a range mountains covered with snow. You can have tea and trout fish in a small hotel there. You can also choose to take a boat ride in the lake
Shigar Valley:
Shigar valley is an old establishment. The thing to see there is the Shigar Fort, which is now been operated by Sareena Hotels. You can actually book a room and stay in the rooms , build about 500 years ago. The food is okay and the service is passable.
Satpara Lake:
Satpara Lake is for me, the most amazing, unforgettable, and beautiful place. Similar to Kachura Lakes, it is surrounded by the mountain ranges, but multiply the effect by 10 times and that’s how beautiful Satpara Lake is. When we went there, it was getting cold, so we didn’t went for the boating. Just stood there, and embraced the freezing cold breeze coming straight from the glaciers.
Things to remember when going to Skardu:
1. Check the weather in advance. If it’s cloudy/rainy, expect delayed flights and you could be stuck there for some days.
2. Best months to be there are towards end of March till August
3. Keep warm clothes, it gets really chilly out there even in day time
4. Take a nice cool camera. It’s a heaven for photographers
5. Do not take infants along due to rough weather conditions
6. Take medicine, supplies and also a tea maker if you are a tea addict like me. The hotels close by 10 ish, which is kind of mid-day for most Karachites.
24 Responses to “ “Skardu Travel Guide and Review”
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The pics are so beautiful. Thanx for these and the guide.
plz did u tell me how much i paid 4 the tickets. or tell me the complete amount. so i have a idea how much i spend on the skardu.
sorry 4 my poor English.
tickets from Islamabad to Skardu were for 7,500 roundtrip.
i am exloring PIA website… it seems there no flight avaialble on it… from islamabad to skardu… is it that they dont publisice it on web and only via local offices?
don’t know about the website. But sure the tickets can be bought from the local offices. You need to confirm your ticket one day before the flight as a requirement for skardu flights as they often get canceled.
the information mentioned above is realy true and the area where you travelled is like the heaven
I am planning on honey moon trip to Skardu. I am torn between Shigar fort (rooms and accommodations look more upscale even though it is cheaper) and Shangrila Resort (which I have heard is not very well maintained). What do you recommend? BTW I am planning on going there in June this year. PC Bhurban is backup plan (I went there w family last year and didn’t like it – too commercial). I live in USA. Thanks for the great report.
True, Shangrilla is not well maintained but the location is awesome. On the other hand, Shigar Fort. is well maintained, upscale and a whole different experience, but you would miss the view Shangrilla has. So I would say you can split the trip and consider staying at both
Thanks, many of my questions have already been answered. We want to go with our two kids (2.5 and 5.5 yrs). So is it good time to travel iN April? And will two nights be enough? When did you travel?
We went towards the end of March. April should be fine, but still chilly in the evenings but I think you would enjoy and the kids would too! It’s a good idea however to check the weather forecast too, it’s usually pretty accurate at weather underground. Two nights would be just fine i think.
How far are deosai plains from lets say shigar fort or shangrilla? Also do you have any idea about accomodation charges at both these venues? Will we have to get booking done online?
While we were there, the road to Doesai plains was blocked. From what i recall, the driver said its a 3 hrs drive and I think he said there is no accommodation there. You can take an excursion stay there and come back to your hotel. I heard, it’s the best place of all and definitely worth going. About online, I am not sure about Shigar Fort, but Shangrilla has no online option. You have to call the manager to book. The charges of staying at Shangrilla are from 3000 to 5000 pak rupees, depending upon the type of chalet you book. The food and tea etc are included in the price (which makes it kind of very economical) in my opinion.
Yeah have heard the same about Deosai Plains which is why was planning a trip to Skardu to check it out. Do the hotels provide tranportation also? Like from the airport lets say? Or even for day trips to near-by areas? If not, how reliable is the rent-a-car system? Also, apart from the two beautiful lakes you mentioned, what else would you suggest? Is a 2 nights/3 day trip enough?
yeah Shangrilla provides transportation. the cost was like 1500 to 2000 depending upon the trip for 1 jeep along with driver. 2/3 nights is good enough.
just to add comments about shangrilla per night charges…I have checked their website, they ar ebooking on line now and per night charges are 10 to 15 thousands per night for couple(including three time meals) except for students in groups…
I think if you call them, you should get a better deal. Those must be rack rates.
I have the plan to visit skardu on 28th june 2011 but my ticket was on waitlist which was not confirmed. Now again i am planning for 10th of july 2011. What i have guessed its not easy to get a confirm ation without a strong reference in PIA. Is it the case?.
Further what are the best places to visit in Skardu except DEOSIA that has been disccused by many people.
Is ther shopping oppertunities there like markets etc.
Thanks for such a remarkable guide. I was so confused to plan a good trip and this sure helped a lot to make my decision. Thanks again
I am planning on honey moon trip to Skardu..can u tell me mid of feb weather is fine…and also give me the details of Accommodation Is a 2 nights/3 day trip enough?
Mid feb is not a great time to travel to Skardu. I would recommend waiting till end of April. Yes 2 nights 3 days trip should be fine.
seriously loved your blog. its a great help for all the confused souls out there. me and my fiance are planning for a honeymoon trip to skurdu… i read all the comments, can u plz guide me abt which hotel wud be better for newly weds?shigar fort or the shangrilla resort?
also inform me abt the reliability of the jeep drivers.
i was preferring to go to skardu by road frm ISL as i donot trust the PIA pilots or the planes for such high altitudes.. do u still think that it’s a bad idea?
is there any chance of shopping there??
let me know if there very few number of tourist or is it as much to make one comfortable?! cz i wudnt like to visit a place thats going to make me feel all alone…
and lastly is it really a safe place to visit after all thats going around in our country? :/
thank u
by the way we have planned our trip for june-july!
Thanks for liking my blog. If possible try staying in both the hotels. It’s a different experience altogether. But if you have to choose just one, the shangrila is more suitable for the newly weds in my opinion. The jeep drivers are pretty decent and available from the hotels. You could also find one on your own but it’s better to rely on the ones available and affiliated with the hotel. (though these ones charge tad more). I have no idea about going by road. I still wouldn’t recommend it to a newly wed couple, I heard the roads are really bad. Shopping? there is a bazaar at skardu mostly with shops that sell local specialties, dry fruit, warm clothing etc. Nothing extravagant there. June / July is the busiest season and there would be lots of tourists i believe. I think it’s pretty safe to visit skardu even these days. Have a nice trip.
thank u for replying to my queries
ur blog is truly a great guide…
u said there might be a chance of staying back for one or two days due to unfavorable weather conditions..is it a very thin chance or its going to happen most probably?