Hunza
A Karakoram valley on the old road to China, where a rebuilt fort looks down on Karimabad and Rakaposhi, at 7,788 metres, closes the view.
- Arrival
- Gilgit · GIL
- To Karimabad
- About two hours by road from Gilgit Airport
- Private jets
- Into Islamabad, then turboprop or road
- Best time
- May to September
The city
Forts above the Karakoram Highway.
Karimabad, the main town of Hunza, sits at about 2,500 metres on the slope below Baltit Fort, with four snow peaks around it: Rakaposhi, Diran, Golden Peak and Ultar. It became a place to visit once the Karakoram Highway was cut through the valley, and the road still leads on north past Attabad Lake to the Khunjerab Pass, at 4,693 metres, on the frontier with China.
The season runs from May to September, when the afternoons are mild and the air dry, with little more than 40 mm of rain in the wettest month. Winter is hard at this height, with daytime temperatures close to freezing from December to February.
- Baltit Fort The seventeenth-century residence of the Mirs of Hunza, abandoned by 1984 and rebuilt to its original plan between 1990 and 1996.
- Altit Fort The fort above Altit, about three kilometres down the valley from Karimabad, restored with the help of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
- Attabad Lake A lake some 30 km long and 120 m deep, formed in January 2010 when a landslide dammed the Hunza River.
Arriving
A short runway in the mountains.
The nearest airport is Gilgit, about two hours' drive from Karimabad. Its runway is short, 1,646 metres, and set across the line of the valley, so only turboprops use it, and only in good visibility. Skardu, re-opened as an international airport in 2021 with runways over 3,600 metres, lies about six hours away by road.
- Tashkent 1 h 15
- Delhi 1 h 30
- Muscat 3 h 05
- Geneva 7 h 35 long-range jet
- Cape Town 12 h 50 long-range jet
When to go
May to September.
A dry mountain climate with long winters. Afternoons climb from about 18 °C in May to 26 °C in July, then fall away quickly after September. Rain is light all year, at most around 40 mm a month in spring.
- 0° J 15
- 1° F 20
- 7° M 33
- 14° A 41
- 18° M 41
- 23° J 13
- 26° J 15
- 25° A 20
- 22° S 13
- 16° O 10
- 9° N 5
- 2° D 13
Where to stay
Below the fort, facing Rakaposhi.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
Flying to Hunza?
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