Pakistan Travel Guide for Women

Pakistan holds five of the world's fourteen peaks above 8,000 metres, including K2, and more than a hundred above 7,000, which is a greater concentration than anywhere outside the Himalaya proper. It also holds the Indus valley civilisation, the Mughal capital at Lahore, a thousand kilometres of Arabian Sea coast, and a travel advisory heavy enough that most people never find out any of it. Both of those facts are true at the same time, and the only useful thing a guide can do is tell you precisely which parts of the country the advisory covers and which it does not, rather than gesturing at the whole.

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So that is what this page does first. The UK Foreign Office advises against travel to substantial parts of Pakistan, in two grades, and names the districts individually. It also leaves the places most visitors actually want, Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi and the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan, outside any restriction. Getting the line between those two groups exactly right is the difference between a trip and a serious mistake, and the detail below is reproduced from the advisory rather than summarised from memory.

Read this page alongside the FCDO's own, because an advisory read three weeks ago is not a checked advisory, and Pakistan's changes more than most.

Is Pakistan Safe for Women Travelers

UK FCDO: Pakistan carries both grades of warning over substantial parts of the country, and the lists are specific enough to plan around rather than vague enough to frighten. ALL TRAVEL is advised against to twenty-one districts of KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, which the FCDO names individually: Bajaur, Bannu, Buner, Charsadda, Dera Ismail Khan, Hangu, Karak, Khyber, Kohat, Kurram, Lakki Marwat, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Mohmand, Orakzai, PESHAWAR INCLUDING THE CITY, SWAT, Tank, North Waziristan, and Upper and Lower South Waziristan. Also to the whole of BALOCHISTAN PROVINCE; to the N45 HIGHWAY from the north of the Mardan ring road to the edge of Chitral; to the KARAKORAM HIGHWAY between Mansehra and Chilas; and to within 10 miles of the Line of Control in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. ALL BUT ESSENTIAL TRAVEL is advised against to Malakand, Mardan, Nowshera, Shangla and Swabi in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; to AZAD JAMMU AND KASHMIR as a whole; to ALL OF SINDH PROVINCE NORTH OF AND INCLUDING THE CITY OF NAWABSHAH; to Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab; and to within 5 miles of the border with India except at official crossings. TWO CONSEQUENCES THAT CATCH PEOPLE OUT. PESHAWAR AND SWAT ARE BOTH IN THE ALL-TRAVEL LIST, so the Khyber Pass and the Swat valley are not available whatever a tour operator says. AND MOHENJO-DARO IS INSIDE THE SINDH ZONE: Pakistan's most famous archaeological site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site sits in Larkana district, roughly 300km north of Nawabshah, so it falls under the all-but-essential advice even though the advisory never names it. That determination is geographic and it is not close.

What is NOT advised against, which is the half most summaries leave out. LAHORE, ISLAMABAD, RAWALPINDI, KARACHI, MULTAN and the rest of PUNJAB and SOUTHERN SINDH carry no advise-against at all, and neither does GILGIT-BALTISTAN, which is the mountain region most visitors actually come for. The FCDO has specific advice for several of these and specific advice is not a prohibition: for Lahore it notes a widespread police presence alongside recent terrorist attacks on public places and security forces, and says to avoid religious events, public events and large crowds; for Islamabad it says to exercise caution in the outlying districts I-8, I-9, I-10 and I-11 and areas further west, and names the Red Mosque, Aabpara Market in G-6 and the Islamabad Press Club as protest focal points; for Karachi it records that criminal and political violence is common including armed carjacking, robbery, kidnap and murder, that major hotels and the financial district are GENERALLY SEEN AS MORE STABLE, and that eight areas carry a greater risk based on past activity: Lyari, Malir, Quaidabad, Orangi Town, Baldia Town, New Karachi Town, Surjani Town and Gulistan-e-Jouhar. In southern Punjab the advice is to take local security advice in advance.

On terrorism the wording is the strong form and the geography is specific. The FCDO states that terrorists are VERY LIKELY to try to carry out attacks and that there is a HIGH THREAT of terrorism and sectarian violence THROUGHOUT Pakistan. It names the groups operating: Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan, Tehreek-e Jihad Pakistan, Balochistan separatists, Islamic State Khorasan Province and al-Qaida. It records that they MAINLY TARGET GOVERNMENT SECURITY FORCES, that areas of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Peshawar, and Quetta, suffer regular attacks, and that attacks have also taken place in KARACHI, ISLAMABAD AND LAHORE and other major cities. A number of attacks have targeted CHINESE NATIONALS specifically, and some have targeted people of East Asian appearance more generally. ON KIDNAP it is equally direct: there is a threat throughout the country, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan; terrorist groups are UNLIKELY TO PRIORITISE the kidnap of westerners and any such kidnap would likely be OPPORTUNISTIC; and British nationals including tourists are seen as legitimate targets. It also states that the British government does not make substantive concessions to hostage takers.

What the advisory says and does not say about women travelling here. Pakistan has no dedicated sexual assault section of the kind the FCDO writes for Turkey, Egypt or Sri Lanka, which is an absence of published data rather than an absence of risk and should be read that way. What it does carry is a DRESS CODE instruction stated as a requirement rather than a suggestion: Pakistan is an Islamic country, both men and women should cover shoulders and legs in public, and women should cover their heads when entering mosques and holy places AND IN RURAL AREAS. That last clause is the one visitors miss, and it covers most of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Kaghan valley. A shalwar kameez bought locally is the most comfortable and least conspicuous solution and costs very little. TWO MORE LAWS WORTH KNOWING. It is illegal for unmarried couples to live together, although the FCDO notes the hotel-room rule does not generally apply to visiting foreign nationals, particularly in tourist areas. And ALWAYS CARRY PHOTO ID, because you may be asked for it and you might be detained until you can produce valid identification.

British nationals of Pakistani origin face a specific and documented criminal risk. The FCDO records that they HAVE BEEN TARGETED BY CRIMINALS INCLUDING KIDNAPPERS, because they are often perceived as wealthier than locals. Given how much of the British Pakistani community traces its families to Mirpur in Azad Kashmir and to central Punjab, this affects a large share of the people most likely to make this trip, and it is a reason to be discreet about plans, itineraries and money with anyone outside the family rather than a reason not to go.

The photography rules here are enforced and British nationals have been arrested under them. Do not photograph military establishments, airports, or ANY infrastructure including BRIDGES AND DAMS, and do not photograph from an aircraft. The FCDO records that British nationals have been ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF SPYING, and advises checking with officials if you are unsure. This is more restrictive than it sounds on a trip north, because the Karakoram Highway is a sequence of bridges and the region's most photographed features include reservoirs and dams. It also asks that you not photograph people without permission, which in practice matters most in conservative rural areas and with women.

What this adds up to in practice, stated plainly. Pakistan is not a country to travel around casually or improvise in, and it is a country where a well-planned trip to specific places is reasonable and increasingly common. The realistic shape of a first visit is Lahore, Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan, arranged with a reputable operator, with the permission requirements handled before departure rather than at a checkpoint. The things that most reduce risk are not dramatic: go with a plan someone local has checked, avoid crowds and anything political, dress conservatively and cover your head in rural areas, carry photo identification at all times, do not photograph infrastructure, do not travel on the roads at night, and build slack into the schedule because weather and security both close routes at short notice.

And one framing that deserves saying. The terrorism threat is real and is overwhelmingly directed at Pakistani security forces rather than at visitors, which is the advisory's own assessment. That does not make an indiscriminate attack impossible, and the FCDO names Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore among the cities where attacks have occurred. It does mean the honest risk picture for a visitor is closer to "avoid being near a target" than to "you are a target", with the exception of the documented criminal interest in British nationals of Pakistani origin above.

Best Time to Visit Pakistan

The country has two seasons that barely overlap, and which one you want depends entirely on whether you are going north.

For the plains, October to March. Lahore, Islamabad, Multan and Karachi are pleasant to hot in that window and genuinely punishing from May to August, when Punjab and Sindh reach the mid forties. Islamabad and Lahore are at their best in October and November and again in February and March. Note that Lahore and much of Punjab suffer severe winter smog from roughly November to January, with air quality among the worst recorded anywhere, so a respirator-grade mask is a real packing item rather than a precaution.

For the mountains, late May to early October, and for the Babusar Pass road specifically, July to September. Gilgit-Baltistan is snowbound in winter, Babusar closes, and the high valleys are inaccessible. Hunza in late October has the autumn colour it is famous for and the passes begin to shut behind it. Spring blossom in Hunza is April. The high trekking season is June to September.

The mountains and the monsoon are the two environmental facts. The monsoon runs from late June to early October and the FCDO records that flooding can affect ALL PROVINCES, with roads and bridges damaged or destroyed; the 2022 floods put roughly a third of the country under water. Landslides and road blockages are a particular risk in hilly and mountainous regions, the advice includes taking extreme care crossing swollen rivers, and the Pakistan Meteorological Department and the National Disaster Management Authority are the sources to watch. Pakistan is also seismically active: the 2005 Kashmir earthquake killed more than 70,000 people. AND THE PRACTICAL POINT FOR AN ITINERARY is that monsoon season and the Babusar Pass window overlap, so the one time the compliant road north is open is also the time landslides are most likely, which is the strongest argument for building slack into a northern trip.

So the awkward truth about timing a northern trip is that the only months when the compliant road is open are the monsoon months when landslides are most likely. There is no way to arrange that away. Plan the north for late August or September, keep two or three spare days before any international flight, and have a flight option in reserve knowing it may be cancelled too.

Gilgit-Baltistan, and How to Get There Legitimately

This is the reason most people come, and the access question is the single most important practical section on this page.

Gilgit-Baltistan is not advised against and its main road in is, and reading the boundary precisely is what makes the trip possible. The FCDO advises against ALL travel on the Karakoram Highway "between Mansehra and Chilas via Battagram, Besham City, Dasu and Sazin UP TO THE JUNCTION WITH THE N15". That is the standard route north from Islamabad, so the obvious drive is not available. BUT THE PROHIBITION ENDS AT THE N15, which means the N15 over the BABUSAR PASS, approached through the Kaghan valley and Naran, is NOT advised against and is a compliant road approach to Gilgit-Baltistan. The catch is seasonal: the FCDO notes Babusar is liable to close with snowfall, which in practice limits it to roughly July to September, and it separately warns that all sections of the Karakoram Highway north of Battagram up to the Chinese border have experienced landslides and that the road should not be driven at night because it is narrow with steep drops. THE ALTERNATIVE IS TO FLY AND THE FCDO IS LUKEWARM ABOUT IT: flights to Gilgit and Skardu "may be unreliable and may change at short notice", and flights to and from the mountainous north are frequently delayed or cancelled by weather, so alternative routes should be planned. A GUIDE THAT SAID ONLY "FLY" WOULD BE WRONG AND ONE THAT SAID "DRIVE THE KARAKORAM HIGHWAY" WOULD SEND YOU INTO AN ADVISE-AGAINST-ALL-TRAVEL ZONE. The honest answer is Babusar in late summer, or a flight with slack in the itinerary, and a plan for what happens if neither works.

Three Gilgit-Baltistan requirements that are not advisory holds and will change your trip. ALL FOREIGN NATIONALS MUST REGISTER with the local authorities when visiting the region. A permit may be needed for mountaineering or trekking, PARTICULARLY FOR MOUNTAINS OVER 6,000 METRES, and the FCDO says the permission process CAN TAKE UP TO TWO MONTHS and is best organised through a travel company. And the clause that costs the most if ignored: THE VALIDITY OF YOUR TRAVEL INSURANCE MAY BE AFFECTED IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE CORRECT PERMITS. Trekking without the paperwork is therefore not a technicality, it is potentially an uninsured helicopter rescue in the highest concentration of 7,000m peaks on earth. The FCDO also says to use reputable trekking agencies, stay on established routes, always walk in groups and NOT TREK ALONE, and notes that the terrain is remote and difficult to police so you should get local security advice before you go.

What is actually up there. The Hunza valley, centred on Karimabad, with the restored Baltit and Altit forts, the Rakaposhi and Ultar peaks overhead, and the apricot and poplar terraces that make the autumn colour famous. Attabad Lake, a startling turquoise reservoir formed by a 2010 landslide that dammed the Hunza river and buried a section of the Karakoram Highway, now crossed by tunnels. Skardu in Baltistan, the gateway to K2 and the Baltoro glacier, with the Katpana cold desert and its dunes against snow peaks, Shangrila and the Shigar valley. Deosai, a plateau above 4,000 metres that is grassland and wildflowers in summer and holds Himalayan brown bears. Fairy Meadows below the Nanga Parbat north face, reached by a jeep track with a reputation and then a walk. And the Khunjerab Pass at 4,693 metres on the Chinese border, the highest paved border crossing in the world, which is within 10 miles of China and therefore inside a prohibited border band for foreign nationals except at the official crossing.

K2 base camp and the Baltoro are expedition territory rather than trekking in the Nepali sense: no lodges, no villages past Askole, full camping support, and a permit regime. Treat anything above 6,000 metres as a two-month lead time on paperwork.

Lahore, Islamabad and the Punjab

Lahore is the cultural capital and the best single argument for coming to Pakistan. The Badshahi Mosque at the top of this page, completed in 1673, was the largest mosque in the world for three centuries and still holds a hundred thousand people. Beside it is Lahore Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the mirrored Sheesh Mahal and the Picture Wall. The Wazir Khan Mosque in the walled city is the finest tilework in South Asia, and the Shalimar Gardens, also UNESCO listed, are the Mughal garden at its most complete. Then there is the food, which Lahoris will tell you is the real reason and may be right, and the Wagah border ceremony east of the city, which is the daily flag-lowering pantomime with India and is extraordinary theatre.

Islamabad is the opposite of everything else in Pakistan and is useful for exactly that reason: a planned city from the 1960s laid out in lettered and numbered sectors, green, quiet, orderly and slightly unreal. The Faisal Mosque is the architectural set piece, a vast white tent form against the Margalla Hills. The hills themselves are the city's best feature, with trails up to Pir Sohawa and monkeys on the road. Taxila, a UNESCO site of Gandharan Buddhist monasteries and stupas, is an hour away, and Rawalpindi, the old garrison city next door, has the bazaars Islamabad lacks entirely.

Multan, in southern Punjab, is the city of saints: a dense cluster of Sufi shrines including the tombs of Shah Rukn-e-Alam and Bahauddin Zakariya, their domes faced in blue tile. The advisory asks for local security advice in advance for southern Punjab and does not advise against it.

Karachi and the Coast

Karachi is one of the largest cities in the world and nothing about it is tidy. Around 20 million people, the country's port and financial centre, and a street-level energy that Lahore's heritage and Islamabad's order do not prepare you for. The Mazar-e-Quaid, Jinnah's white marble mausoleum, is the civic set piece; Empress Market and the colonial Saddar district are the walkable history; Clifton and Seaview are where the city goes to the beach, as in the photograph below. Mohatta Palace is the museum worth the time.

The advisory's Karachi section is the most detailed city entry it writes for Pakistan and is quoted in the safety section above: criminal and political violence is common, major hotels and the financial district are described as generally more stable, and eight named areas carry higher risk. Strikes called by religious and political parties cause significant disruption and can turn violent, and there is a noted risk after Friday prayers. Plan movements, use hotel cars, and do not walk at night.

West along the coast is Balochistan and the advisory is absolute about it: all travel advised against to the entire province, which removes Gwadar, the Hingol national park and the Makran coastal highway from any itinerary. There is no reading of the advisory that permits them.

Top Regions and What Each One Requires

Punjab, Lahore and Islamabad. Modest clothing with shoulders and legs covered, a scarf for mosques, and a respirator-grade mask if you come between November and January, because Lahore's smog is a health issue rather than a nuisance. Photo identification on you at all times.

Gilgit-Baltistan. Genuine mountain kit even in summer, because the valleys are at 2,000 to 2,500 metres and the passes far higher: layers, a windproof shell, warm hat and gloves for Khunjerab or Deosai in August. A head covering for rural areas, which is most of the region. Registration with local authorities, permits arranged two months out for anything high, and insurance that names trekking and helicopter rescue and is valid because the permits are in order.

Sindh and Karachi. Hot-weather modest clothing, strong sun protection, and arranged transport rather than hailed. Note the advisory's northern Sindh boundary at Nawabshah before planning anything inland.

The Kaghan valley and Naran. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, so advance permission applies even though it is not advised against. Mountain layers, and the Babusar road only in its summer window.

Not covered by this guide as destinations, for the advisory reasons mapped above: Peshawar, the Khyber Pass, the Swat valley, all of Balochistan including Quetta and Gwadar, Azad Kashmir, northern Sindh including Mohenjo-daro, and Chitral with the Kalash valleys, whose district is not itself advised against but whose only road access is.

What to Pack for Pakistan: Women's Packing List

A shalwar kameez, bought locally in the first day or two. This is the single best piece of advice for Pakistan and it is practical rather than deferential: the national dress is loose, cool, completely modest, costs very little, and makes you dramatically less conspicuous than Western clothing does. Add a dupatta, the long scarf that goes with it, which covers your head for a mosque or a village and doubles as sun protection, a dust filter and a blanket on a bus.

A merino base layer, which does more work here than in almost any country we cover. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women solves the Pakistani problem specifically: you need your arms covered at all times for modesty, and the temperature range on a single trip runs from forty degrees in Multan to below freezing on the Khunjerab Pass. Merino covers you without trapping heat in the plains and is the warm layer in the mountains, and it stays wearable for days where laundry is not an option, which on a northern trip it frequently is not.

A windproof shell. A packable Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket is the right call for Deosai, Khunjerab, the Babusar Pass and any jeep track with an open window, and it handles monsoon rain in the plains.

Proper footwear for the north. A waterproof hiking shoe at minimum, and real boots if Fairy Meadows or any trekking is on the plan: the walk in to Fairy Meadows is a few hours on an exposed path above a drop, and the jeep track before it is worse. For the cities, something closed and comfortable you do not mind ruining.

Sun and altitude. A wide brim UPF 50 sun hat, because ultraviolet at 3,000 metres plus is severe and the dupatta will not cover everything. Sunglasses that seal reasonably well against dust and glare. And take altitude seriously: Deosai, Khunjerab and Babusar are all above 4,000 metres and reached quickly by road from much lower, which is exactly the profile that produces altitude sickness.

A mask for the plains in winter. Not a token one. Lahore's air quality index in December regularly exceeds every published safe threshold, and a properly rated respirator is the difference between a week of headaches and a comfortable one.

A light and a power bank. A rechargeable headlamp for power cuts, which are routine, and for unlit mountain accommodation.

Water. Tap water is not for drinking. An insulated water bottle with a filter or purification tablets, and the bottle doubles as a hot-water bottle in an unheated northern guesthouse, which is a trick worth knowing.

Documents. Your passport and visa plus photocopies carried separately, because you must always carry photo identification and may be detained until you can produce it. Any No Objection Certificates or permits, on paper. And print your permissions rather than relying on a phone, because mobile data and internet are cut without warning during unrest.

Getting Around Pakistan

A car with a driver, arranged through an operator, is the normal and sensible way to move around Pakistan, and for the north it is close to the only way. It is not expensive by international standards, the driver handles checkpoints and knows which roads are open, and it removes the carjacking risk the advisory names for self-drive.

Domestic flights connect Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi frequently and reliably. Flights to Gilgit and Skardu are a different proposition: the FCDO calls them unreliable and subject to short-notice change, and mountain weather cancels them often. Never put a Gilgit or Skardu flight on the day before an international departure.

Trains run the length of the country on the Karachi to Peshawar main line and are slow, cheap and an experience. Note that the northern end of that line reaches advised-against territory, so the usable stretch for a visitor is Karachi to Lahore to Rawalpindi.

Roads. The motorway network between Punjabi cities is genuinely good. Everything in the mountains is not: narrow, unfenced, subject to landslides, and the advisory's instruction is not to drive the Karakoram Highway at night because of the drops. Intercity coaches between major cities are reasonable; local buses are where the advisory's crime warnings concentrate.

Checkpoints are a normal part of travel here and increase the further from a city you go. Carry your identification where you can reach it, expect to be registered and sometimes escorted, and treat an instruction to turn back as final.

Costs: What to Budget for Pakistan

Pakistan is inexpensive and the exceptions are specific. Food, local transport, domestic flights, guesthouses and shalwar kameez are all very cheap. Hotels in Islamabad and Karachi at the international end are priced internationally. What costs real money are the things with fixed overheads: a car and driver for a northern trip, trekking permits and support, and anything involving an expedition peak, where the royalty fees alone are substantial.

Budget the north and the plains separately. Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi can be done cheaply and easily; Gilgit-Baltistan arranged properly, with permits, registration, a driver and a guide, is the largest line in most itineraries and is where the money should go, because it is also what makes the trip compliant and safe. Carry cash, because ATMs are reliable in cities and not beyond them, and cards are accepted in city hotels and almost nowhere else.

Where to Stay in Pakistan

Islamabad has the country's most straightforward accommodation, in the F and E sectors and around Blue Area, and is the logical first and last night given it is the gateway to the north.

Lahore has excellent boutique hotels and guesthouses inside and around the walled city, several in restored haveli buildings, which put you within walking distance of the Badshahi Mosque and the fort. That is the one place in Pakistan where staying in the historic centre is both possible and clearly right.

Karachi concentrates its international hotels in Clifton and around the financial district, which is also what the advisory describes as generally more stable, and that alignment is worth taking seriously here.

Gilgit-Baltistan runs on guesthouses and small hotels, with a genuinely good cluster in Karimabad looking at Rakaposhi, several restored historic buildings in Hunza, and simpler options in Skardu and the Shigar valley. Book ahead for the autumn colour.

For a woman travelling alone, the practical advice in Pakistan is to use hotels used by foreign visitors and business travellers rather than the cheapest option, because they have staffed desks, arranged transport and staff who are used to the question. Guesthouses in Hunza are a genuine exception and are often family-run, welcoming and the best part of the trip.

Essential Resources for Women in Pakistan

Emergency numbers: 15 for police nationwide, 1122 for the Rescue 1122 emergency ambulance and fire service across Punjab and several other provinces, and 115 for ambulance in areas Rescue 1122 does not cover. Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa each operate a tourist police or tourist facilitation service, and in Gilgit-Baltistan the authority to deal with is the regional government, which administers the registration and permits. For violence against women, Pakistan operates a national helpline on 1099 alongside provincial women's helplines, and the Punjab Women Protection Authority runs a 24-hour line on 1043 with shelters and legal aid. A written police report is required for any insurance claim.

US State Department travel advisory: the Pakistan advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.

UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/pakistan, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.

Main hospitals: in Islamabad, Shifa International is the hospital used by the diplomatic community; in Lahore, Doctors Hospital and the Shaukat Khanum Memorial for oncology; in Karachi, the Aga Khan University Hospital, which is the best-regarded hospital in the country and is internationally accredited. Outside those three cities, capability falls away quickly. In Gilgit-Baltistan there is effectively no facility for serious trauma: Gilgit and Skardu have district hospitals for ordinary problems, and anything major means an evacuation to Islamabad, which depends on weather and aircraft. That single fact is why insurance covering HELICOPTER RESCUE AND EVACUATION rather than only treatment is non-negotiable for a northern trip, and why the permit position matters so much, since the FCDO warns that insurance validity may be affected without the correct permits.

Official health authority: the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Pakistan's federal health ministry. Insurance must name TREKKING and MOUNTAINEERING at the altitude you intend, and must cover HELICOPTER RESCUE AND EVACUATION, because there is no serious trauma facility in Gilgit-Baltistan and an evacuation to Islamabad is the only option. Confirm the policy is not voided by the absence of a permit

US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Islamabad.

Official tourism authority: the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan, used here as a LABELLED SUBSTITUTE rather than as the national tourism board. Pakistan's national tourism bodies cannot be linked safely: every URL form of tourism.gov.pk fails certificate verification and the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation's domain does not resolve to a working site, so a link to either would give you a browser security warning or a dead page. Gilgit-Baltistan's own government is the authority that actually administers the registration and trekking permits this guide tells you about. The Gilgit-Baltistan government is also where the foreign-national registration requirement and the trekking permit process sit, which is the practical reason this is the body to deal with rather than a national tourism office

Advance permission is required for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and parts of Azad Kashmir. That includes the Kaghan valley and Naran.

Do not photograph bridges, dams, airports or military sites. British nationals have been arrested for it.

Solo women safety assessment: Pakistan is the most demanding destination in this library to plan and it is not the most dangerous place in it, and the two things get confused constantly. The advisory is heavy and it is also specific, which is what makes a trip possible: the FCDO advises against ALL travel to twenty-one named Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts including Peshawar and Swat, to the whole of Balochistan, to the Karakoram Highway between Mansehra and Chilas, and to within 10 miles of the Line of Control, and against ALL BUT ESSENTIAL travel to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, to all Sindh north of and including Nawabshah, to Dera Ghazi Khan and to five more KP districts. It leaves Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Multan, the rest of Punjab, southern Sindh and ALL OF GILGIT-BALTISTAN outside any restriction. Mohenjo-daro is inside the Sindh zone and is therefore off the table, which the advisory does not say and the geography does. ON TERRORISM the wording is the strong form, very likely to try to attack with a high threat throughout, and the assessment that matters is that groups MAINLY TARGET PAKISTANI SECURITY FORCES, with attacks having also occurred in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore. Kidnap is a threat throughout, concentrated in KP and Balochistan, and the FCDO judges that any kidnap of a westerner would be OPPORTUNISTIC rather than prioritised. THE RISK THAT IS DOCUMENTED AND SPECIFIC IS TO BRITISH NATIONALS OF PAKISTANI ORIGIN, who the advisory records have been targeted by criminal kidnappers as being perceived wealthier than locals, which is worth knowing by a large share of the people most likely to make this trip. WHAT PAKISTAN HAS NO PUBLISHED FIGURES ON IS SEXUAL ASSAULT, and that absence should be read as missing data rather than as reassurance, because the FCDO writes dedicated sections for Turkey, Egypt and Sri Lanka and none here. What it does state as a requirement is the dress code: cover shoulders and legs, and cover your head in mosques, holy places AND IN RURAL AREAS, which is most of the north. A locally bought shalwar kameez and dupatta is the most comfortable and least conspicuous answer. Always carry photo identification, because you may be detained until you can produce it. Do not photograph infrastructure: British nationals have been arrested on suspicion of spying for photographing bridges and dams. THE PERMISSION REGIME IS THE EASIEST THING TO MISS: advance permission from local or federal authorities is required to travel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and several Azad Kashmir districts, No Objection Certificates may be needed, police escorts are sometimes arranged, and this catches the Kaghan valley and the Babusar road. In Gilgit-Baltistan all foreign nationals must register, trekking permits above 6,000m can take two months, and TRAVEL INSURANCE VALIDITY MAY BE AFFECTED WITHOUT THE CORRECT PERMITS, which in a region with no serious trauma hospital is the most expensive clause on the page. The monsoon from late June to early October floods all provinces and brings landslides, and it overlaps the only window the Babusar Pass is open. 15 for police, 1122 for ambulance in Punjab, 1099 for the women's helpline, Shifa in Islamabad and Aga Khan in Karachi, and evacuation cover for anything in the mountains.

Recommended Tours and Experiences

Our Pakistani destination guides, each with its own packing list, safety assessment and emergency numbers. Pakistan's advisory is the heaviest this library covers and every post states precisely where it sits relative to the advised-against areas, including the permit requirements and the compliant road route north, rather than summarising the country.

• Islamabad packing list for women for the planned capital, the Faisal Mosque, the Margalla Hills and the gateway to the north.
• Hunza packing list for women for the Karakoram valley, the Babusar Pass route that is compliant when the main highway is not, and the registration and permit rules.
• Karachi packing list for women for the port city of twenty million, its colonial core, the humidity and the street crime.
• Lahore packing list for women for the Mughal capital, the Walled City, Badshahi Mosque and the winter smog nobody warns you about.
• Multan packing list for women for the city of saints, the Sufi shrines, the blue tilework and heat in the high forties.
• Naran packing list for women for the Kaghan valley, Saiful Muluk and the Babusar Pass as the one compliant road north.
• Skardu packing list for women for the capital of Baltistan, the cold desert, the Deosai plains and the road head for K2.

Reading On

Pakistan's neighbours are covered in depth here and the comparisons are the useful kind. For the Indian Punjab across the Wagah border, forty kilometres from Lahore and sharing its language, food and much of its history, read the Amritsar packing list, and the India travel guide for women for the wider region. For the Himalaya on the Indian side at comparable altitude, the Ladakh packing list and the Spiti Valley packing list cover the same cold-desert mountain travel with the same altitude problem. For the Nepali Himalaya and the trekking-permit culture, read the Everest Base Camp packing list and the Annapurna Circuit packing list. For why merino is the layer that covers your arms in forty degrees and keeps you warm at four thousand metres on the same trip, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.

If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.