Skardu

Satpara Lake

High lake above Skardu, rowing, trout, and the road toward Deosai.

Deosai National Park

Land of Giants, bears, flowers, and sky at 4,000 metres.

Upper Kachura Lake

Forest lake below Skardu, quieter than Satpara, ideal for a slow afternoon.

Shigar Fort

Restored Balti fort and apricot orchards on the Shigar River. (Shigar district)

Askole

Askole is the last permanent habitation before the Baltoro Glacier, a small stone village at 3,015 m in the Braldu Valley of Baltistan from which all expeditions to K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and II, and the Concordia trekkers depart on foot. The village's connection to the Karakoram's greatest climbs makes it one of the most significant small settlements in mountain history. (Shigar district)

Baltoro Glacier

The Baltoro Glacier is 62 km of moving ice in the heart of the Karakoram, the highway that carries every climber and trekker toward K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, and Concordia. Walking the Baltoro is not optional for anyone heading to the great peaks; it is the approach, and the approach itself is one of the world's great wilderness journeys. The glacier surface is rugged moraine, loose rock and ice chunks, and the trekking route follows its lateral moraines through an amphitheatre of 8,000 m peaks that changes scale with every kilometre. (Shigar district)

Spring Blossom Festival

Apricot and cherry blossoms wake the orchards of Hunza and Skardu, the first sign of mountain spring.

Water Sports Festival

Boating and competitive events on Sadpara Lake, the warmest weeks at altitude.

Deosai National Park

Deosai is a high-altitude plateau the size of a small country, the 'Land of Giants' of local legend, sitting at an average of around 4,100 m between Skardu and Astore. For roughly eight months a year it lies buried under snow; for the short summer it explodes into one of the largest alpine meadows on Earth, a rolling green expanse stitched with wildflowers, braided streams, and the deep-blue Sheosar Lake. Deosai National Park is the last stronghold of the Himalayan brown bear in Pakistan and home to ibex, golden marmots, red foxes, and over 120 bird species. The overwhelming sense of space is the attraction: an immense, almost treeless tableland under a vast sky, ringed by distant snow peaks.

K2 Base Camp, Concordia & Gondogoro La Trek

The great trek — Baltoro glacier, Concordia, and the foot of K2 itself.

Majestic Beauty of Hunza & Skardu

Two of the great valleys in one journey — Hunza's orchards and Skardu's lakes.

Retreat to Hunza Valley & Skardu Valley