Overview

Just 34km off the Karakoram Highway near Gilgit, Naltar Valley stays surprisingly under-visited for a place this striking — and that’s part of what makes it worth the detour. Split between two villages, Naltar Bala and Naltar Paain, the valley is wrapped in thick pine forest and framed by a string of alpine lakes so vividly colored that first-time visitors often assume the photos have been edited. Locals and guides collectively call the best-known trio the Bashkiri Lakes: Satrangi (Bashkiri I), prized for the shifting colors caused by minerals and algae beneath its surface; Blue Lake (Bashkiri II); and Feroza Lake (Bashkiri III), each with its own shade and mood.

Naltar also happens to be the birthplace of skiing in Pakistan. Its Pakistan Air Force–run ski resort, the country’s oldest, has hosted skiers on its slopes for decades, complete with a 1.5km chairlift — though this tour is built around the valley’s summer face, when the lakes are at their clearest and the forest floor turns green. Wildlife has its own foothold here too: the surrounding Naltar Wildlife Sanctuary is part of the range for snow leopards (Naltar is even where “Lolly,” one of Pakistan’s best-known snow leopard cubs, was documented), along with Himalayan brown bears, ibex, and red fox, though sightings of the more elusive species are rare.

Reaching the lakes themselves means swapping the highway for a 4×4 jeep track that fords glacial streams along the way — part of the adventure rather than a detour from it — with clear-day views of both Nanga Parbat and Rakaposhi opening up from the higher points of the valley.