Pakistan Tours with English-speaking guides

Why choose The Vacation Project for Pakistan Tours?

The Vacation Project is a licensed Pakistan tour operator based in Hunza. We are in the heart of the Karakoram mountains. We specialize in small group tours which follow carefully planned itineraries and private tours which are fully personalized. The Vacation Project started its operations in 2009. Over the years, we have operated a large number of cultural and adventure tours across Pakistan. Our itineraries have been tweaked over the years from the feedback we get from our esteemed travellers.

From epic roadtrips that cover idylic Karakoram valleys like Gulmit in the north to the ancient houses of Harappa in the south and cruising along the Arabian Sea, every tour is led by English speaking local guides. Our guests are experts who were born and raised in the regions you'll visit. Our Pakistan tours have been featured in various major publications like the New York Times.

Our Pakistan tours are designed specifically for international travelers who want more than sightseeing, and want to experience the local traditions like making making Bhindi with a family in Sukkur. We take you into local communities to share stories over meals with families, walk you through bazaars where lapis lazuli and handwoven shawls are sold by the artisans who made them, and bring you to festivals like Taghm Festival in Gulmit or the famous Chilam Joshi in the Kalash Valley, and Navroz in Gilgit that most visitors never see. Our Pakistan tour packages are all-inclusive, so don't worry we cover everything: any meals, accommodation, private transport, internal flights, and an experienced guide are all included in the price. You just have to show up!

Our travelers are pleasantly surprised by what they see. Pakistan is home to three of the world's great mountain ranges in Asia which are the Karakoram, the Himalayas, and the Hindu Kush. 5 of the world's 14 mountains above 8,000 meters are in the north of Pakistan, including K2, the second highest mountain on earth. But Pakistan's appeal goes far beyond mountains. You may remember your middle school history teacher mentioning that Pakistan has the Indus Valley Civilization, one of the oldest organized human settlements that are contemporary to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. The people of Indus left behind the remarkable cities of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, which are the earliest planned cities of humankind.

The Mughal Empire built the royal Lahore Fort and the Badshahi Mosque, monuments so iconic and grand that even today they have a way of making visitors fall unusually quiet for a moment (before the cameras come out, of course). But the saga of the Indus is far bigger than any one empire or dynasty. Long before the Mughals, regional powers like the warrior-dynasty of Talpurs in Sindh and the wealthy Abbasi dynasty of Bahawalpur, along with various Nawabs, continued to shape life along Indus. Each empire add their own layer to the region’s identity and culture.

Traveling through what remains today, history doesn’t feel distant but it feels lived in. Our veteran Pakistan guide, Mr. Karim Khan, says that along the Indus, “every few kilometers, the language, the food, and sometimes even the sense of humor changes.” One moment you’re hearing stories of royal Bahawalpur courts and Cholistan desert caravans, and the next you’re being offered chai by a man in Chichawatni who insists you stay just a little longer.

In the Hindukush mountains, the Kalash people, who number in just over 4,000, are still practicing an ancient animistic mountain religion that predates Islam in the region by many centuries. It is a reminder that Pakistan’s cultural tapestry and identity is very diverse, and far older, than most people might think.

Whether you're looking for a Hunza Valley tour, a trek to K2 Base Camp along the Baltoro glacier, or a cultural journey through the Indus Valley, our Pakistan tours are built with years of planning, and full of experiences centered on history, people and places that make this country truly underrated. As featured in The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, and The National, The Vacation Project has been providing curious travelers with the local Pakistani experiences since 2009.