Book in Hunza (Karimabad)

Hunza runs along the Karakoram Highway for about eighty kilometres, and where you stay changes the trip. Karimabad is the tourist centre, terraced above the valley with Baltit Fort at the top, guesthouses on the slope and a Rakaposhi view from most rooms. Aliabad below it is the commercial town with the banks, fuel and cheaper hotels but no view. Duikar, twenty minutes above Karimabad, is where people go for sunrise. Gulmit and Passu, an hour north past Attabad Lake, are quieter and closer to the Passu Cones.

Rooms in Karimabad run Rs 6,000 to Rs 14,000 for a guesthouse with a valley view and Rs 18,000 to Rs 30,000 at the established hotels on the ridge. Aliabad sits a third lower. Gulmit and Passu guesthouses are Rs 5,000 to Rs 12,000. April blossom week, the July and August peak and the late-October autumn window all book out three to four weeks ahead, and Karimabad has limited stock, so alternatives sit thirty minutes away rather than around the corner.