The 6 best road trips in Pakistan

03.09.2023 - 17:17 / lonelyplanet.com

With its incredible range of spectacular scenery, Pakistan offers some truly epic road trips. With a rented car and driver – or your own wheels – you can drive the world’s most dramatic mountain highway, follow historic invasion and trade routes, drift between Sufi shrines and desert forts, or follow the mighty Indus River from the high mountains to the Arabian Sea. 

En route, you can stop at roadside dhabas (truckstop restaurants) for tea and kebabs, chat with the drivers of Pakistan’s psychedelic freight trucks, and pause overnight in remote mountain valleys beyond the reach of scheduled transportation. The scope for adventure is almost unlimited.

However, the days of driving an old van through Iran and Afghanistan to Pakistan are long gone. Not many foreign tourists drive their own cars through Pakistan these days, but there are other options. Hardcore cyclists can pedal the Karakoram Highway through some of Asia’s best roadside scenery, and motorcycle hire is also an option for experienced riders. 

This said, given the unpredictable traffic and changeable security situation in some parts of the country, hiring a car and driver is still the most common, and safest, way to get around under your own steam. To get you inspired, here are our favorite road trip routes through Pakistan. 

Best road trip for world-class mountain scenery

Gilgit–Sost; 180km (112 miles); allow 4 days

Pakistan’s most spectacular road trip is without doubt the stunning Karakoram Highway – often abbreviated to KKH. This rugged route through the far north of the country might just be the most scenic road in Asia, if not the world – it really is that good! The full route runs from just north of Islamabad to Kashgar in China’s politically troubled Xinjiang region, via the 4690m-high Khunjerab Pass, but most travelers focus on the scenic, politically stable and logistically straightforward section between Gilgit and the Chinese border.

From Gilgit, the route follows the Hunza River around hulking Rakaposhi peak (7788m), revealing amazing views of the upper slopes at Nagar and Minapin. From here, it’s a short drive into the fabled Hunza Valley, Pakistan’s answer to Shangri-La. Break the trip here at Karimabad, with its incredible valley views and medieval fort, and budget some time for hiking or the detour up a side valley for views of the epic Hopar Glacier.

Heading north from Hunza, you’ll soon hit the surreal, turquoise waters of Attabad Lake, which formed in 2010 after a massive landslide blocked the valley. The highway threads its way through a series of lakeshore tunnels before reaching more dramatic scenery around Gulmit and Passu. On this section of road, the spectacular witch-hat peaks of the Karakoram Range