Babusar Pass and the Kaghan Valley

Babusar Pass is the high gate at the top of the Kaghan Valley, in Mansehra District, where the road tops out at 4,173 m before dropping to Chilas and the Karakoram Highway. Below the pass sits a string of lakes and meadows that most people come to Pakistan to see. We run this as a road tour: you sleep in valley towns, take short jeep rides and walks to the lakes, then cross the pass on a clear morning.

You start low in Naran at about 2,409 m, the valley hub where the jeeps and hotels are. From there it is a short, rough jeep ride up to Lake Saiful Muluk at 3,224 m, with Malika Parbat behind it. North of Naran the road climbs past Lulusar Lake at roughly 3,410 m, the source of the Kunhar River, and the pine-and-meadow plateau of Lalazar at about 2,438 m. Then the road bends up to Babusar Top itself, where snow can sit beside the track into July.

Lake Saiful Muluk carries a story worth telling. A Sufi poem by Mian Muhammad Bakhsh tells of an Egyptian prince, Saif-ul-Muluk, whose name means Sword of Kings. He dreamed of a fairy princess, Badi-ul-Jamal, and followed the dream to this lake to find her. People still point to the water and the peaks when they tell it. The pass road is only open for part of the year, roughly mid-June to the end of October, before winter snow closes it for about six months.

Our tour covers the full valley over 4 to 6 days, from Naran up to the lakes and over Babusar Top to the Karakoram Highway near Chilas. It is a driving and short-walking trip, not a trek, which makes it one of the easier ways to stand at over 4,000 m in northern Pakistan. We will be honest about the catch: Naran in July and August is busy, and we plan around the crowds rather than pretend they are not there.

Naran is base camp for the valley. It is a working town of hotels, jeep stands and food stalls along the Kunhar River, and it is where most days start and end. From here a jeep takes you up the rough track to Lake Saiful Muluk at 3,224 m, about 9 km north and reachable only in summer. The water is cold and clear, Malika Parbat stands behind it, and on a calm morning the reflection is the photo everyone wants.

Further north the paved-then-rough road runs past Lulusar Lake at around 3,410 m, a long quiet lake that feeds the Kunhar, and the Lalazar plateau at about 2,438 m, a pine and meadow shelf good for a slow walk. Strong, experienced trekkers sometimes add the hike to Ansoo Lake, a tear-shaped lake reached on a hard day-walk of seven hours or more from Saiful Muluk. Its shape only shows clearly once the snow melts back, roughly between 10 July and 15 August, and the weather up there turns fast. We treat Ansoo as an optional add-on for fit walkers, not a standard day.

Babusar Top is open roughly from mid-June to the end of October. Snow closes the pass for about six months either side of that window, so a winter crossing is not possible. Early summer can still have snow banks at the top; by late summer the track is dry and the high lakes are fully thawed.

Here is the honest part: Naran fills up in July and August, the domestic holiday peak. Hotels charge more, the jeep queues for Saiful Muluk get long, and the road into town can crawl. We work around it by starting early, timing the lake runs for first light, and using shoulder days in June or September where your dates allow. The valley is at its quietest and greenest in mid-June and again in late September.

Most trips start from Islamabad and drive up through the Hazara hills to Balakot and on to Naran along the Kunhar River. From Naran the lakes are reached by jeep, and the run over Babusar Top brings you out at Chilas on the Karakoram Highway. If your plans continue north, this tour links straight onto our Karakoram Highway journey: see the full KKH route at our complete Karakoram Highway tour.

The roads inside the valley are a mix of tarmac and rough jeep track, and the Saiful Muluk and Babusar sections need a 4x4. We arrange the vehicles, drivers and jeep hire so you are not negotiating at the stands yourself.

This is an easy-to-moderate tour built around driving and short walks, not trekking. The main demand is altitude: you reach 3,224 m at Saiful Muluk and 4,173 m at Babusar Top, so some people feel the thin air with a headache or shortness of breath on the high days. We gain height gradually over several days, which helps.

The walks to the lake shores are short and gentle. The one genuinely hard option is the Ansoo Lake hike, a long and strenuous day for experienced, fit trekkers only. Everything else suits anyone in reasonable health who can handle a bumpy jeep ride.

We have run the Kaghan circuit for years and we know its rhythm: when the pass opens, which mornings the lakes are calm, and how to dodge the worst of the Naran crush. Our drivers handle the Saiful Muluk and Babusar tracks every season, our guides can tell the Saiful Muluk legend properly rather than as a one-line caption, and we tell you straight when weather or snow means a plan changes. Small groups, local crews, and a road plan we hold in reserve for the days the pass is slow to clear.