Best Time to Visit Northern Pakistan, Month by Month

Hunza's cherry and apricot blossom is the first draw of the year, usually late March into mid April. It is brief, it moves with the weather, and it books out early. If blossom is the reason for the trip, plan around it rather than hoping to catch it.

At this point the Karakoram Highway is open to Hunza and Gilgit, but the Kaghan Valley to Naran generally is not. Skardu is reachable by road. Babusar Pass is firmly closed.

May opens up steadily. By late May the Naran road usually clears and the season proper begins.

This is the only period when essentially the whole north is accessible — Naran, Lake Saif ul Malook, Babusar Pass, Deosai, the Hunza valley and the Skardu side roads.

It is also peak season, with the traffic and pricing that implies. July and August weekends in Naran and Murree are genuinely congested, and accommodation costs double what it does in June.

The monsoon affects the approach roads more than the destinations. Landslides on the Karakoram Highway are more common in July and August and can add hours to a journey.

Late September and October are, for many people, the best weeks of the year in the north. The crowds have gone, the air is clear, and Hunza's autumn colour in October is the equal of the spring blossom.

Babusar Pass closes first, usually late September. The Naran valley road follows in October. Skardu and Hunza stay reachable longer because the Karakoram Highway is kept open.

Nights are cold by October and heating in valley hotels is inconsistent. Pack accordingly.

Most of the high country is closed. Naran, Babusar and the Deosai Plains are under snow. Hunza and Skardu remain reachable by road when the Karakoram Highway is clear, and winter Hunza is genuinely spectacular, but it is a serious trip rather than a casual one.

This is Murree's season instead. Snowfall between December and February is the whole point, and it is the busiest the hill station gets all year.

For anything in the far north in winter, ring first. Conditions change week to week and we will tell you plainly if the road is not viable.

The two shoulder peaks — blossom in April and colour in October — are the ones that need the most notice. They are short, they move by a week or two each year with the weather, and the good accommodation in Hunza and Skardu is taken months ahead.

Peak summer is easier to book late because there is simply more capacity operating, but you pay for it in traffic and in room rates that roughly double through July and August.

Whatever the month, book the vehicle earlier than the hotel. Four-by-fours are the constrained resource in the north, not beds, and a Prado for a July week is harder to find at short notice than a room in Karimabad.

If your dates are fixed but the destination is not, ring and describe the window rather than the place. There is almost always somewhere in the north that is at its best in any given month between April and October, and it is often not the one people ask for first.