Skardu and Shigar

Skardu sits on a wide valley floor at around 2,200 metres where the Indus braids across sand and boulder flats, ringed by bare mountains, and it is the gateway to the Karakoram: Concordia, K2 and the Baltoro glacier all begin from expeditions that outfit here. Even without trekking, the valley holds enough. Shigar Fort, a seventeenth-century Balti palace of stone and timber, has been restored as a hotel and museum. Upper Kachura and Shangrila lakes sit green among poplars. The cold desert around Sarfaranga has sand dunes at high altitude, an unlikely landscape sitting under snow peaks. Deosai, the high plateau, is reached from here in summer when the pass opens.

What you actually see

• Shigar Fort - a restored Balti stone and timber palace, museum and hotel.
• Upper Kachura and Shangrila lakes - green lakes among poplars below the peaks.
• Sarfaranga cold desert - high-altitude sand dunes beneath snow mountains.
• Katpana and the Indus flats - braided river channels and sand on the valley floor.

When to go

May to September; the passes and the Deosai plateau are snowbound outside that window. Flights from Islamabad are frequently cancelled by weather, and the road alternative takes the better part of two days.

Honest expectations

Getting in is the main uncertainty: the flight is weather-dependent and cancelled often, and the road up the Indus is long, rough and prone to landslides. Altitude affects people arriving directly by air. Accommodation ranges from very basic to a couple of restored heritage hotels with little in between. Trekking beyond the valley needs permits, guides and porters arranged in advance.

Nearby

Deosai plateau lies south; Hunza is a long day's drive northwest.