Adventure Activities in Gilgit-Baltistan: Paragliding, Rafting, Jeeps and Ice

Hunza is the one place in Gilgit-Baltistan with regular paragliding. Pilots launch from the slopes above Karimabad near Duikar, the Eagle's Nest viewpoint, and visiting pilots have flown here for more than twenty years. At least two operators advertise tandem flights of about 20–25 minutes, one at $150 for foreign visitors. The flying season runs roughly April to October, and calm mornings are best. The provincial government held a one-off international paragliding gala in Hunza in September 2019.

We have found no paragliding-specific rules in Gilgit-Baltistan, and there have been accidents. Fly tandem only, with a pilot who shows you a licence and insurance, and check that your travel insurance covers paragliding: many policies exclude it. If you want to fly, tell us when you plan your Hunza days, and we'll try to fit it around the weather.

The Indus below Skardu runs through the Rondu Gorge to its meeting with the Gilgit River, about 125–150 km of serious white water. International kayak teams paddle it, mostly at low water in autumn and winter; high water stops most runs from June to September. It is not a beginner's trip, and no regular commercial rafting runs on it. The Gilgit-Baltistan Tourism Department regulates rafting and kayaking and requires licensed guides.

The gentle way onto the water here is the zakh, Baltistan's traditional raft: once inflated goatskins lashed under a wooden frame, now inner tubes. In November 2021 a Zakh Rally took 20 teams about 70 km down the Shigar and the Indus from Gulabpur to Skardu, and zakh races were part of the Sarfaranga festival in 2022 and 2023. Ask us before you travel: zakh floats depend on water levels and on the boatmen.

For beginner white-water rafting, Pakistan's established river is the Kunhar at Naran in the Kaghan valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with short guided runs of 20 minutes to a few hours, mostly from May to August.

Attabad Lake, the 21 km lake left by the January 2010 landslide in upper Hunza, has boat rides and jet skis, and a 22-seat jet boat was brought in for it in 2022. In Skardu you can hire rowing boats on Upper Kachura Lake and paddle and rowing boats at the Shangrila jetty on Lower Kachura, and the provincial tourism department lists boating on Satpara Lake. Boating runs from about April to October; the lakes freeze in winter.

There are no fixed prices: blogs report anything from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000, and it is rarely clear whether that's per person or per boat. Agree the price before you step aboard, and wear the life jacket.

Half the region's great journeys are jeep journeys. Deosai, the plateau at about 4,100 m between Skardu and Astore, is open roughly from mid-June to September, home to Himalayan brown bears and marmots. The road from Skardu to Askole, start of the K2 trek, takes six to seven hours up the Shigar and Braldu valleys. The Fairy Meadows road from Raikot Bridge to Tattu is driven only by local jeep drivers. The 56 km road to Shimshal, built by the villagers themselves and opened in 2003, is one of the wildest drives in the north.

The Sarfaranga Cold Desert Jeep Rally is run by the Gilgit-Baltistan government with PakWheels in the cold desert where the Shigar valley meets the Indus, at about 2,300 m. It was held in August 2017, 2018 and 2019 and in October 2022 and 2023; the fifth edition, on 6–8 October 2023, had an 80 km track and more than 100 jeep drivers and motorcyclists, women among them. We have seen no edition in 2024 or 2025, and no date for 2027. Pakistan's bigger rallies are in the plains: the Cholistan Desert Jeep Rally in Punjab every February, and the Jhal Magsi rally in Balochistan in December.

From December to February, Naltar above Gilgit is Pakistan's oldest ski area, run by the Pakistan Air Force, and Malam Jabba in Swat has a chairlift and a hotel; our skiing guide covers both. Upper Hunza has taken to ice hockey: Ghulkin hosted national ice-sports festivals in 2022 and 2024, with men's and women's teams. Natural ice is no longer reliable, though. In January 2026 the Altit rink didn't freeze, and the tournament moved to Sost.

Climbers come for granite. Nangma Valley near Hushe, called the Yosemite of the Karakoram, has big walls such as Amin Brakk (5,850 m) above an easy three-to-four-day trek. On the Baltoro, the Trango Towers hold some of the largest cliffs on earth; Great Trango had its first ski descent in May 2024. Both are expedition objectives, and we run the logistics.

Cyclists ride the Karakoram Highway towards the Khunjerab Pass (4,693 m) on the Chinese border, open to traffic roughly from May to November. The Tour de Khunjerab race ran from Gilgit to the pass in 2018 and 2019.

The Gilgit-Baltistan Tourism Department licenses adventure-sports operators and requires them to provide trained, licensed guides and proper equipment. Restricted-zone treks need a permit and a licensed guide, and national parks charge their own fees. Before you book any activity, check two things: that the operator is licensed, and that your insurance covers that sport at that altitude.