Hunza Valley Cherry Blossom Tour

Trip highlights

• Blossom under a 7,788 m peak

  Apricot and cherry across the valley floor at Ghulmet and Minapin with Rakaposhi straight above it. There is nowhere else that stages spring quite like this.

• An itinerary that follows the bloom

  Flowering runs up the valley with altitude, so we decide on the ground which valleys get the days — Nagar early in the window, Gojal late.

• Sunrise from the Eagle's Nest

  2,800 metres above Karimabad, with Rakaposhi, Diran, Golden Peak and the Ultar spires going pink in order.

• Two seasons, three hours apart

  The Khunjerab Pass at 4,693 metres is still under snow in April, on the same trip as blossom at 2,000 metres.

At a glance

• 10 days, late March to AprilDates track the bloom, which moves a week either way with the spring.
• Khunjerab Pass, 4,693 mThe highest paved border crossing in the world. Snow on it in April.
• Blossom in three valleysNagar, central Hunza and Gojal bloom up to a week apart.
• Hotels throughoutTwin share with en-suite. No camping on this trip.
• Maximum 14One minibus, and 4x4s where the side valleys need them.
• Sunrise at DuikarRakaposhi, Diran and the Ultar wall from the Eagle's Nest.
• Karakoram Highway both waysOr fly Gilgit if the weather allows and you would rather.

Day by day

1. 1Day 1Arrive Islamabad

   Met at the airport and driven to the hotel. Dinner and a briefing, including the honest version of where the bloom is this week — by the time you land we know, and the plan for the middle of the trip firms up here.

2. 2Day 2Islamabad to Chilas on the Karakoram Highway

   

   The long first driving day: out of the Potohar plateau, through Besham and up the Indus gorge onto the Karakoram Highway proper. Eight to nine hours with stops. The scenery earns it from about Besham onwards — the river below the road the whole way, and the point where the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush meet marked by a sign nobody believes until they see the rivers.

3. 3Day 3Chilas to Nagar and Karimabad — into the blossom

   

   Five hours up the KKH past Nanga Parbat and the Rakaposhi viewpoint, and this is usually where the blossom starts. Ghulmet and Minapin in Nagar bloom first, being lower, and the valley floor below Rakaposhi in full apricot is the photograph people come for. On to Karimabad for three nights.

4. 4Day 4Karimabad — Baltit, Altit and the old town

   

   Baltit Fort above the town, seven hundred years old and restored properly; Altit Fort below it, older still, with the royal garden and the lanes of Altit village around it. The apricot orchards through Altit and Ganish are among the densest in the valley. An easy day on foot with a lot of climbing up and down stone lanes.

5. 5Day 5Sunrise at Duikar, and a side valley

   Up to the Eagle's Nest at Duikar before first light, which is cold and worth it: Rakaposhi at 7,788 metres, Diran, Golden Peak and the Ultar spires lighting in sequence over the valley with the blossom still in shadow below. The rest of the day in a side valley — Hoper and its glacier, or the Hopar–Nagar road — depending on where the bloom is best that week.

6. 6Day 6The Khunjerab Pass — 4,693 m

   

   Three to four hours up through Gojal to the Chinese border at Khunjerab, the highest paved frontier crossing in the world. In April there is deep snow at the top and often a marmot or two out of hibernation. The contrast is the point: blossom at 2,000 metres in the morning, a snowfield at 4,693 in the afternoon. Back to Gulmit or Karimabad for the night.

7. 7Day 7Upper Hunza — Attabad, Passu and Gulmit

   

   Gojal at its own pace: Attabad Lake, which is fifteen years old and was a landslide before that, the Hussaini suspension bridge for anyone who fancies it, the Passu Cones, and Gulmit village. Upper Hunza blooms last, so in a late season this is the day the blossom is at its best.

8. 8Day 8Hunza to Naran, or fly from Gilgit

   

   Back down the Karakoram Highway. The drive to Naran is long and good; alternatively the Gilgit–Islamabad flight is fifty minutes when it runs, and we will put you on it if the weather holds and you would rather have the day.

9. 9Day 9Naran to Islamabad

   Down the Kaghan valley and back into the plains, five to six hours. An afternoon in Islamabad — Faisal Mosque, the Margalla hills or the Saidpur lanes — and a last dinner.

10. 10Day 10Departure

    Transfer to Islamabad International. A day room at the hotel if your flight is in the evening.

Good to know

**When the blossom actually happens**

Late March to the third week of April, and it is a moving target. Flowering runs up the valley with altitude: lower Hunza and Nagar — Ghulmet, Minapin, around 1,900 to 2,000 metres — go first; Karimabad and Altit at 2,400 metres follow three to five days later; Gulmit and upper Hunza can be a week behind that. A warm spring pulls the whole sequence forward by a week or more, a cold one pushes it back.

What that means for you: nobody can promise a specific valley in full bloom on a specific date, and any operator who does is guessing. What we do instead is hold the shape of the itinerary and decide on the ground which valleys get the days. Early in the window we weight Nagar; late in it we weight Gojal. Booking the middle of the window — the first ten days of April — gives you the best odds of catching something at peak somewhere.

**Apricot, not cherry**

Most of what you will photograph is apricot. Hunza is an apricot valley — it is the staple, dried on the flat roofs every September — and the apricot bloom is white and far more abundant than the cherry, which is pinker and comes slightly later. The tour has the name it has because that is what people search for, but the valley floor in early April is apricot.

**Weather and what to bring**

Spring in Hunza is warm in the sun and cold out of it, and April nights in Karimabad drop near freezing. The Khunjerab day is genuinely cold — snow underfoot, wind, and 4,693 metres. Layers, a proper jacket, gloves and sunglasses. Heating in valley hotels is limited and often a gas heater in the room rather than central.

**Altitude**

Not an issue on this trip. You sleep at 2,400 metres at the highest and the only significant height is the hour or so at Khunjerab, which is a drive-up. People occasionally feel the pass; nobody gets ill from it on this itinerary.

**Getting there**

We drive the Karakoram Highway both ways as standard, because the flight to Gilgit cancels often in spring and stranding a group at either end is worse than a long drive. If the forecast is good we will offer the flight for one leg. Do not book a same-day international connection at the end.

Questions about this trip

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