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Is Pakistan Safe For Travel? Here's The Truth.

After years of firsthand experience—and running tours in Pakistan—here’s my answer, including advice on where it is and isn’t safe to travel, safety tips for travel in Pakistan, and more.

 destination. You want to travel to Pakistan, but you’re still wondering: is Pakistan safe?                                                                                 

    You’ve seen photos of epic mountains and jaw-dropping shrines. Heard tales of boundless hospitality. Read articles saying Pakistan is the next best travel

                                                                                                                                                  Your family and friends might be dubious, telling you Pakistan isn’t safe, but listen to me, not them. I’ve independently traveled all across Pakistan for months. Clearly I’m not dead; that, at the very least, proves you’re not guaranteed to be blasted to bits upon arrival.

YES YES YES

PAKISTAN is  the most safest place on planet earth for the tourist with great hospitality and life changing sereinty landscapes. I have traveled through Pakistan for more than a year in total, visiting the country for the first time in 2016. I organize both Pakistan women’s tours and Pakistan motorcycle tours and have been to all provinces, traveled both solo and with friends, moderate two Facebook groups related to travel in Pakistan, and have more experience with traveling in Pakistan than most other travel bloggers who’ve been there… combined. Read on for my firsthand thoughts on whether Pakistan is safe.

Is it safe to go trekking in Pakistan?

Yes, it’s generally safe to trek in Pakistan! Pakistan is heaven for mountain lovers. Hardcore mountaineers and casual trekkers alike flock to its mountain ranges every year.

However, trekking in Pakistan isn’t like trekking in more developed countries. Trails are not well marked, maps are not readily available, and you won’t find the teahouse to teahouse kind of trekking you see in countries like Nepal. Proper healthcare is often a long journey away, which means you need to be well-prepared in the event of an accident.

It’s highly recommended to hire local guides if doing any overnight/long treks in Pakistan. They know the mountains better than anyone else, and will prevent you from getting lost or ending up somewhere dangerous.

If you don’t want to hire a local guide, I recommend basing yourself in a village and doing day treks from there. Some ideal bases for day treks are Kalam in Swat Valley, Gulmit or Karimabad in Hunza, and Skardu in the east.

Is traveling to Northern Pakistan the best choice?

lthough Pakistan is not a popular place to visit for many tourists (due to some instability and exaggerated media attention) I found it a wonderfully warm culture (same as the weather :P). The people are beautiful with amazing hospitality - it's the people that make the place wonderful. They will try to inebriate you with copious amounts of Chai, food and love and will not stop until you are begging them to (mind you I enjoyed all of it!)

It's an exceptional experience, and especially if you go with a local, who can take you around.

When I went, I was in Karachi (I fondly call it K-Town) and found that it was a very large and cosmopolitan city with plenty of modern amenities. You can get anything you get in the West and a lot more!

Pakistan is not what media exaggerates about. I never felt this much hospitality ever in my life. People of Pakistan are very friendly towards foreigners.

I lived with a Pakistani family and they cooked me my favourite Pakistani food - Biryani.

Their food such as Chicken Tikka, Chicken Handi, and Lassi are very tasty.

Media always exaggerates how unsafe it is and there is too much terrorism, but trust me, when I was there, army and security was everywhere. Even they were guarding the colony. I never felt as safe as that.

I went to Lahore, Islamabad, and Gujranwala.

Still, as per my personal experience, I would never recommend you to go anywhere without a local, because people will stare at you.

Before I give you my experience, I need to give some background to put it into context:

I was born and grew up in an all White community. Apart from my brothers and parents, I didn't have regular exposure to any other ethnic group. Normally, you'll find the majority of South Asians tend to live in cities like Birmingham, Bradford, London not in the heart of the Welsh valleys :) As I’m writing this on my Christmas visit back home with my family, many years have passed, and we’re still the only non-White people here!

It may sound odd, but growing up I found other Pakistanis intriguing (in a nice way). The first time my parents took us to visit family friends in Birmingham my eyes popped. I was a kid and I've never seen so many non-White people walking on the streets before, and they weren't wearing western clothes, they were wearing beautiful saris and shalwar kameez. Lots of South Asian food and clothes shops, it's like I stepped into the subcontinent (sadly minus the awesome weather!).

The Pakistani family we visited wore traditional clothes, where as we always wore western clothes. My mother & I never covered our heads, but when we visited them I had to wear a head scarf (dupatta). They only spoke in Urdu (the mother couldn't speak English but husband & kids could), which was fine as I could speak the language, but we mainly spoke English in our home. Their family prayed and went regularly to mosque. My parents did neither, and I have no knowledge of Islam. We celebrated Christmas & Easter, they did neither. Our family friends were White (apart from some of my dad's friends whom he made when studying & working abroad). Over the years, I've observed that a lot of South Asians in the U.K. tend to stick amongst their own ethnic groups. Of those I've met, they’re genuinely very kind people, but at times the older generation women are a little conservative/judgemental on us not being traditional. Because my parents integrated with Western culture, that is reflected in me, and I’m viewed as a “coconut” (brown on the outside, white on the inside).