Islamabad to Skardu by Road: The Full Fourteen Hours
Islamabad to Skardu is roughly 690 kilometres and takes about fourteen hours on the Karakoram Highway and the Skardu Road. Most people break it overnight at Chilas. Flights are quicker but cancel for weather; the road does not. A four-by-four and an experienced mountain driver are essential.
Updated 2 July 2026
Road or air
Skardu has an airport and the flight from Islamabad takes about an hour. When it runs, it is the obvious choice. The problem is that it frequently does not run: the approach is weather-dependent and cancellations in both directions are common enough that anyone with a fixed schedule should have a road plan.
The road is fourteen hours and it always works. That reliability is why a large share of our Skardu bookings are people who were flying and had the flight cancelled, or people who decided in advance not to risk it.
A sensible compromise is to fly one way and drive the other, which also means you see the Karakoram Highway once without committing twenty-eight hours to it.
The route
From Islamabad the road runs north on the Hazara Motorway to Abbottabad and Mansehra, then joins the N-35 Karakoram Highway proper. Through Battagram and Besham the road follows the Indus, and this is the slowest and most tiring section — narrow, winding and shared with heavy trucks.
Chilas is roughly nine hours in and is where almost everyone stops. It is not a beautiful town but it has hotels and fuel and it is the right distance to break the journey.
From Chilas the road continues to the Skardu turn-off, then follows the Skardu Road along the Indus gorge for the final stretch. This section has been substantially rebuilt in recent years and is far better than its reputation, but it is still four hours from the junction.
Vehicle and driver
This is a Prado or Land Cruiser journey. We do not send sedans to Skardu, not because a sedan physically cannot do it, but because fourteen hours of mountain road in a low car is an unpleasant way to spend a day and leaves you no margin if the surface is poor.
The driver matters as much as the vehicle. Our Skardu drivers have done the route repeatedly and know where the road narrows, where the landslide-prone sections are, and which stops are worth making. That is not a detail on a road like this.
Book the return leg at the same time. Finding a car in Skardu at short notice for the journey back is difficult and expensive.
What to expect on the way
The Nanga Parbat viewpoint near Raikot Bridge is worth the stop and is on the way rather than a detour. So are the rock carvings at Thalpan near Chilas.
Landslides close the Karakoram Highway from time to time, usually briefly. Delays of a few hours are normal in the wet season; the road is cleared quickly because it is a strategic route.
Carry cash. Card acceptance north of Mansehra is unreliable and ATMs are scarce between Chilas and Skardu.