Area guides / Balochistan / Makran Coast
Area guide
Makran Coast
Hingol, Kund Malir, Ormara and Gwadar on the coastal highway
Region
Balochistan
When to go
October to March. The desert coast is punishing in summer, and the monsoon makes sea crossings to Astola rough.
Getting there
Drive west from Karachi: Hingol is about 190 km, Kund Malir about 150 km, Ormara about 360 km and Gwadar 11-12 hours. Or fly Karachi-Gwadar. Travel with local arrangements and check conditions before setting out.
Spots
4 key places
Overview
About Makran Coast
The Makran Coastal Highway (N-10) runs 653 km along the Arabian Sea from Karachi to Gwadar, through Ormara and Pasni. Along it lie Hingol, Pakistan's largest national park, the beach at Kund Malir, the tombolo bay of Ormara, Astola Island off Pasni and Gwadar's hammerhead peninsula.
Drive west from Karachi: Hingol is about 190 km, Kund Malir about 150 km, Ormara about 360 km and Gwadar 11-12 hours. Or fly Karachi-Gwadar. Travel with local arrangements and check conditions before setting out.
Hingol and Hinglaj
Hingol National Park covers about 6,100 km² across Gwadar, Lasbela and Awaran districts. Inside it, the cave shrine of Hinglaj Mata is one of the most sacred Hindu sites in Pakistan, with its main yatra in spring.
West along the coast
Ormara and Pasni are working fishing towns and natural halts on the long run west; boats to Astola Island leave from Pasni in calm weather. Fuel up in Karachi and carry water: services are sparse between towns.
Field Guides
All places →
Hingol National Park
Hingol is the largest national park in Pakistan by some measures and one of its most surreal landscapes, a vast expanse of Balochistan coast and badlands where the Hingol River meets the Arabian Sea. It is a land of wind-carved mud mountains, the towering natural rock sculpture known as the Princess of Hope, the mud volcanoes of Chandragup sacred to Hindu pilgrims, and a wildlife refuge for the Sindh ibex, urial, chinkara gazelle, and even rumours of the elusive Balochistan leopard. The Makran Coastal Highway runs straight through its heart.
Kund Malir
Kund Malir is where the Makran Coastal Highway meets the Arabian Sea, golden sand, rock outcrops, and the sense that the desert has run out of land.
Ormara Beach
Ormara is a fishing town and naval base on the Makran Coastal Highway, built around a spectacular geography: a wide crescent bay backed by a tombolo, a natural sand bridge connecting the mainland to the flat-topped Ormara Head (Koh-e-Mehdi) that juts into the Arabian Sea. Seen from the highway viewpoints above town, the turquoise bay curving against pale desert hills is one of the most striking sights on the entire Makran coast. The beaches are clean and largely empty, the headland is an important green-turtle nesting site, and Ormara makes a natural overnight break on the long coastal drive between Karachi and Gwadar.
Astola Island
Astola Island, Jezira Haft Talar, the 'Island of the Seven Hills', is the largest offshore island in Pakistan, a windswept, uninhabited tableland of golden cliffs rising from the Arabian Sea about 40 km off the Makran coast near Pasni. Reached only by boat, it is a place of dramatic sea cliffs, clear water teeming with fish, coral patches, and one of the country's most important nesting sites for green and hawksbill turtles. Declared Pakistan's first Marine Protected Area, it is a raw, pristine destination for camping, snorkelling, and seabird watching.
Gwadar & the Hammerhead
Gwadar is a deep-water port city on the Makran coast of Balochistan, wrapped around a dramatic hammerhead peninsula where two crescent bays meet a flat-topped massif called the Koh-e-Batil. Once a sleepy fishing town, and, until 1958, an overseas possession of the Sultanate of Oman, Gwadar is now the centrepiece of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and one of the most strategically watched ports in the Indian Ocean. For the traveller, the draw is the raw coastal geography: the twin bays of the peninsula, the Hammerhead cliffs, long golden beaches, and the surreal mud-volcano and desert landscapes of the surrounding Makran.
Resorts
All resorts →GreenPak stays in this area are listed on the region guide.
