Kalash Valley Tour

At a glance

• 8 days, Islamabad to IslamabadTwo full days in the Kalash valleys, with the flight to Chitral and back at either end.
• Easy — no trekkingHotels and jeeps throughout. Nothing more strenuous than walking around a village.
• Chitral & the Kalash valleysBumburet, Rumbur and Birir, roughly an hour from Chitral town.
• Hotels and guest housesThree and four star in Islamabad and Chitral; simpler and family-run in the valleys.
• Festival departuresChilam Joshi in mid-May, Uchal in late August, Choimus in December. Also runs outside festival weeks.
• Small groupsThe valleys are small and the festivals are crowded; we keep parties correspondingly modest.

Day by day

1. 1Day 1Arrival in Islamabad

   

   Your guide meets you at Islamabad International Airport and transfers you to the hotel. Most international flights land in the morning, which leaves the afternoon free — Islamabad is a planned capital built from 1961, green and unusually orderly, and there is time for the Faisal Mosque beneath the Margalla Hills or the view down over the city from Daman-e-Koh if you are not too tired to want it. We brief the group in the evening once everyone has arrived: what the week looks like, what the flight depends on, and how to behave in the valleys.

2. 2Day 2Fly to Chitral over the Hindu Kush

   

   The flight to Chitral is an hour and one of the best short flights anywhere — the aircraft threads the Hindu Kush with Tirich Mir, 7,708 metres and the highest peak in the range, standing off the wing in clear weather. It is also entirely weather-dependent. If it does not go we drive instead, through Mardan, Malakand, Bathkhela and Dir and under the Lowari Tunnel, which is a long day and a genuinely interesting one. Either way the afternoon is yours in Chitral town.

3. 3Day 3Chitral town

   

   Chitral sits on the west bank of the Kunar River at the foot of Tirich Mir, and it was the seat of its own princely state until 1969. We visit the fort on the riverbank, the Shahi Masjid beside it, and the museum, which is the best introduction to Kalasha material culture you will get before meeting anyone — grave effigies, wooden figures, and the beadwork explained rather than merely photographed. The old bazaar is worth an hour. If the light is good we go up to the viewpoint above town at the end of the day.

4. 4Day 4Jeep to the Kalash valleys

   

   An early start to see the sun come up over the Hindu Kush, then breakfast and the jeep road into the valleys — about fifty kilometres to Rumbur and most of a morning, on a track cut into the side of a gorge that is the only reason these valleys stayed distinct as long as they did. We arrive around lunch. The afternoon is deliberately unstructured: walking through the village, sitting with people, and letting the place register before anyone starts asking questions about it.

5. 5Day 5A full day in the valleys

   

   The day is shaped by whether you have come for a festival. On a festival departure — Chilam Joshi in May, Uchal in August, Choimus in December — this is the day of it, and the dancing runs for hours in the open ground at the centre of the village. Outside those weeks it is a quieter and in some ways better day: the three valleys, the temples and the graveyards, the water mills, and long conversations through your guide. Evening is a bonfire and, more often than not, more dancing.

6. 6Day 6Back to Chitral

   

   The jeep road out, back down the gorge to Chitral, arriving in time for lunch. The afternoon is free. Most people spend part of it in the bazaar buying the beadwork and woven bands that are made in the valleys, which is the one form of tourist spending that goes directly to the households that made the thing.

7. 7Day 7Fly back to Islamabad

   

   The mountain flight again, in the other direction, landing in Islamabad around lunchtime — or the road, if the weather has other ideas, in which case we arrive in the evening. This is why the itinerary has a spare afternoon in it rather than a connecting international flight. What is left of the day is yours in the capital.

8. 8Day 8Departure

   

   Breakfast, and a transfer to Islamabad International Airport in good time for your flight. If you have a late departure we are glad to arrange a day room, and if the north has not finished with you, Hunza and Skardu are both an easy extension from here.

Good to know

The flight to Chitral is weather-dependent and cancellations are common enough that the itinerary is built to absorb one. The road alternative is included, not an extra, and it is the reason day seven returns to Islamabad rather than connecting straight to an international flight. Do not book a homeward flight for the evening of day seven.

The Kalasha are a community of about five thousand people, not an exhibit. Ask before photographing anyone, accept a no, and expect your guide to say so if a moment is not one to photograph. During festivals the valleys are busy and the dancing is a religious observance rather than a performance laid on for visitors. Alcohol is made and drunk locally as part of Kalasha practice; it is not for guests to buy or hand out.

Dress modestly. Chitral is conservative and the valleys are visited by Pakistani tourists as well as foreign ones, and standing out less makes the whole trip easier — see our guide to solo female travel for what that means in practice.

Altitude is not a concern on this trip. Chitral is about 1,500 metres and the valleys are not much higher.

Questions about this trip

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