3 Days in HUNZA VALLEY, Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan - Paradise on Earth
Hunza is famous for its beauty, the richness of its cuisine, and its people. Officially, Hunza Nagar, this valley is located in the north of Pakistan, bordering China's Xinjiang province. Hunza is a must-see for anyone traveling to Pakistan, and I am no different; I honestly fell in love with this place the moment I got to it.
Timestamps ⏩ 00:00 Intro of this Hunza Vlog 01:24 Going to Hunza Valley 01:40 Viewpoint before the Sikandrabad City 02:25 Rakaposhi Peak 02:42 Hunza Serena Inn 03:43 Day 01 in Hunza Valley 05:44 Hunza Valley Walking Tour 06:29 Karimabad Hunza Valley 07:18 Baltit Fort Hunza Valley 08:40 Day 02 in Hunza Valley 10:12 Altit Fort Hunza Valley 12:54 Duiker - The sunset and sunrise point in Hunza Valley 13:55 Day 03 in Hunza Valley 14:15 Hunza River 14:50 Attabad Lake Hunza 16:10 Passu Peaks 16:23 Passu Glacier 16:31 Hussaini Suspension Bridge 16:49 Osho Maraka Restaurant Serena
⏩ Getting to Hunza From Islamabad There is no airport in Hunza, and the nearest airport is in Gilgit, some 2.5-3 hours away. It is a small airport with flights from Islamabad, but the planes are small due to small runway and flights are subject to weather, they get canceled a lot. From Gilgit, it takes 3 hours to take a local minivan that will bring you to Aliabad. From here you will need to find a way to your own accommodation.
⏩ Where To Stay In Hunza? I stayed in a beautiful hotel with the best views any hotel has to offer. Hunza Serena Inn was absolutely divine. It is a small property with beautiful gardens all around, and the best pet is the views of the entire Hunza Valley valley and Baltit fort from the gardens or porticos outside the rooms.
⏩ Food in Hunza I wonder if you’ve heard of the Hunza diet. The food here is to die for. People in Hunza, on average, have the longest life expectancy in Pakistan, and most of them are fit as a fiddle. The food here is preservative-free, locally sourced, and organic. They also use a lot of apricot oil and local herbs.
⏩ Some local dishes not to miss: Chap shuro stuffed bread Chummus apricot drink Balay soup Buckwheat pancakes Savoury Tumuru Tea Mumtoo dumplings
⏩ Best Time To Visit Hunza Valley Hunza is beautiful Throughout the year, but it gets freezing here in winter. Spring comes here around March, April time. It is also called the blossom season due to Blossoming off cherry and apricot trees. The entire Valley is covered in blossoms; it is magical. It does get a bit cold here in the evenings, so come prepared for that if you’re coming for blossom season. I visited right at the end of March and got extremely lucky with my beautiful weather. The peak season is from May to September, when the valley is lush green. It is also the busiest time to visit.
Best Things To Do In Hunza Valley ⏩ Baltit Fort Entrance – PKR 600 (local) PKR 1200 (foreign) Baltit Fort is one of the best-placed forts in the entire world. It overlooks the entire Hunza valley. It sits on top of Karimabad, the most touristy village in Hunza under the might Ulter peaks. The fort is more than 800 years old. It showcases the old culture of The Valley and its Mir’s. Mir is the title of the ruler of Hunza valley, and the current Mir is closely associated with the fort, which was donated by the family as a place for local interest.
⏩ Altit Fort Entrance – PKR 600 (local) PKR 1200 (foreign) The second most important place to see in Hunza, this fort is even older than Baltit Fort. To see it in all its glory perched atop a mountain, head to the Sacred rock carvings of Hunza (more about that below). The fort is located in the village is Altit, and it took us about 20 minutes by car to get there from Karimabad.
⏩ Attabad Lake This is the latest addition to the beauty of Hunza. Barely 30 minutes away, it is a must-visit even for a few hours. Before 2010, this was a sleepy valley. It had a cute village called Ainabad, which had fields and a few houses. People would pass by without thinking much of the place, but in Jan 2010, a massive landslide caused the water of Hunza River to get stuck, and the water level rose, people evacuated, and this turned into Atabad lake.
⏩ Passu Peaks and Khunjerab Pass The Passu Cones, Passu Glacier as well as Bhorit Lake, Sost, Hussaini Hanging Bridge, and Khunjerab Pass can all be done in a single day as a day trip. Khunjerab Pass is the highest land border crossing globally, and it also has the highest ATM machine in the world on the Pakistani side. It is a friendly border.
Welcome from Hunza, the most gorgeous valley in Pakistan.
I've always wanted to come here and I've always wanted to come here in the blossom season
and boy I've been lucky. This is an amazing place and I've got great weather.
This is the north most area of Pakistan, this entire valley and it has its own unique culture,
its own cuisine. Have you heard of Hunza diet? If you haven't, check it out, it's really amazing.
So if you want to find more information on how to get here and all that you need to check the
link in the description. I'm going to show you around this gorgeous place and also check out
the video for Khunjerab Pass because there's quite a lot of stuff that you can do around
as well as in Hunza valley. So without wasting a lot of time I'm gonna take you through Hunza.
Look at that! I just can't get over how amazing this place is honestly.
So let's go without wasting more time. So getting to Hunza requires a little bit of planning. The
nearest airport is Gilgit or you can just come by road from Islamabad but I was coming from Skardu.
It took me a full day and night but it was an interesting day and night. You can check the
link above for the full story. When you're going to Hunza, I would recommend stopping at this point.
This is just before the city of Sikandarabad. Look at that view of Raqqa Poshi. Honestly, it's much
better than the viewpoint itself. It's spectacular but the viewpoint has been ruined by overdevelopment
but the main reason for stopping here is something else. The ancient silk route. Now this wasn't the
actual big silk route. It was a minor artery and it fell into disrepair after the Karakoram highway
was built but such an amazing thing to watch how people built this and how this was used for
trading for centuries. Your trip to Hunza starts way before Hunza. This is the Raqqa Poshi viewpoint.
I'm really tired after a long day so I'm gonna get some sleep and I'll catch you later.
Good morning from Hunza. I had a wonderful night's sleep and I'm going for my breakfast
but before, look at the blossoms and the view. Oh my god, I love this place already.
So beautiful. Look at that. Wow. So I'm gonna go get some breakfast and then we'll talk more about
Hunza. Breakfast with Raqqa Poshi. Hunza has something amazing prepared on display today.
I'm standing in the garden and I can see an avalanche right on top of Altar Peaks.
This little thing is the Baltit Fort and it's coming for it. Let's see if it gets there
but the whole thing is amazing. Let's see more of it. Look, it's come. Wow.
This is unbelievable. I wasn't ready for this at all. Oh my god, it's like tiny wind pieces. Oh my god.
Look at the fort. It's almost disappeared and then
look at the peaks that have cleared up. Oh my god, I wish you could see
all these teeny tiny pieces of snow coming my way and this wind. Wow.
The best time to visit Hunza Valley in my opinion is from mid-April to mid-May and if you go
around mid-April you will get to see the beautiful blossom season with great weather
and not a lot of tourists around. There's nowhere in the entire Hunza that offers such beautiful
uninterrupted views of the entire valley as Serena in Hunza. I loved, loved, loved staying at this
place. All right, I am in Karimabad now and this is the time to explore Hunza. The first stop is
Baltit Fort. These are the streets of Karimabad and this place is steep. Pace yourself. Let's go further.
Don't forget to pack some sturdy shoes with good grip. You will definitely need that in Hunza.
I'm at the Baltit Fort now and this has to be the best ticket center in the entire world.
I'm inside the Baltit Fort. We just had a guided tour. This place is really nice not only because
it's a fort but also because it's a great chance to find out how they used to live here, what the
place used to look like etc. So I'm going to try and show you a little bit more. Our tour has
more pretty and beautiful than day one. So I am in the garden of Serena Hunza and the view here is
just amazing. I actually got to see an avalanche yesterday. I'm going to show you where but first
let me introduce you to some friends I made. This is the run. This is the ever so gorgeous
Rakaposhi and right on top this little thing sticking you know. Where is it? There. That's
the lady finger and then you have altar one and altar two. So this is where I saw the avalanche
yesterday. What an amazing place isn't it? And look at the cherry blossoms. I'm going to explore
that a bit more, show you the valley as well which is right behind me by the way. So that's the entire
valley with the river and I'm going to go explore a bit more of Hunza today. Hunza has a special
place in Pakistan. It has its own unique culture, its own royal family, it has a unique diet which
is completely preservative free and it's amazing and the people of Hunza are known for their long
healthy happy lives. Looking at the view of this gorgeous valley I am not surprised at all.
Next stop Altaid Fort. Just got to Altaid Fort right behind me. I'm super hungry.
Apparently you can get food here so I'm gonna do that and I'll show you the fort.
So I'm ready to explore Altaid Fort. They have the most beautiful garden I've seen in the entire area
with great views so we're gonna explore that a bit as well. Let's go first to the fort.
Altaid Fort is some 11 centuries old and it has withstood many attacks as well as earthquakes.
It's one of the most spectacular structures in the entire Gilgit Baltistan province.
What really intrigued me is this legend attached with the fort that it was built by a prince
to impress his newly wedded wife who was completely unimpressed by the lack of
glamour in the entire area. The fort is still used today for some ceremonies and festivals by locals.
I am at Altaid Fort right on top of it and the view here is no less spectacular.
This fort is actually older than Baltaid Fort but it was restored later.
So this place has the most amazing garden I mean in the whole valley actually and if I
weren't for this gorgeous cap I would feel a little bit like a geisha because this is you know
bloom season and there's so many cherry and apricot blooms around. Oh my god I love this
place I just can't get over it look. It won't be a visit to Hunza if you haven't seen a sunset
over the beautiful golden peaks and for that I'm heading to Duikar now. So right outside Altaid Fort
there's a lady in a shop it's called Cafe Culture Hunza. She takes orders and then she prepares
the food at home and then just gets it to you. So I ordered food from there thinking it's not
gonna be much but it has arrived and look at that. It honestly looks amazing so I'm gonna eat this
and then go up to the golden peaks and see the sunset. While I wait for my green tea
check out the view from here. A mere 30 minutes drive from Hunza is another
spectacular spot that you cannot miss. I'm heading to Atabad lake today.
These are the ancient rock carvings of Hildikesh and they're considered sacred by the people of
Hunza. Another great reason for stopping here on the way to Khunjerab pass or Atabad lake is
the river view. I mean river Hunza is just spectacular here. This is Atabad lake in Hunza.
Well this used to be a village with some 80-90 households but then one fine day
all hell broke loose and this got submerged because of a landslide
and the people had to be taken away but this has become the new attraction here.
Look at the color of the water here it's just spectacular. So I'm gonna spend the day here
and then we're heading to Khunjerab tomorrow so I'll see you guys there.
You can see the Pazu peaks or Pazu cones as they're known here
from Atabad lake but I would highly recommend driving up
so you get a bit close to it because the scenery is absolutely spectacular.
And on the way you can also visit Hussaini hanging bridge which is considered one of the
most dangerous bridges in the entire world actually.
Now it's not possible that I come to Hunza and I don't try local food so I requested the chef
here in Sarina to prepare some you know local stuff so I could try out some of the Hunza diet
here. While I go and finish all of this on my own, I honestly plan to because it looks delicious
the food has been amazing throughout. You guys go like, subscribe, comment let me know how you found
it and I'll see you guys in the next video. Bye!
