Hunza in autumn: exactly when the colours peak and where to stand

The colour peaks in upper Hunza (Passu and Gulmit) around the middle of October and in Karimabad and Altit during the last week of October, with Nagar and lower Hunza holding on into the first days of November. If you can only come for five days, make them 18 to 25 October and sleep two nights in Gulmit and three in Karimabad.

I was born in Hunza and I have walked these orchards every autumn of my life. Visitors always ask me for a date, and the honest answer is that the valley does not turn on one day; it turns from the top down, roughly a week per village, and the best trip follows the colour downhill. Below is the calendar I use for my own guests, the places I take them to stand, and the things that go wrong when people trust a social-media photo instead of a local.

Why Hunza turns the way it does

The colour here comes from poplars, apricots, cherries, apples, walnuts and a few mulberries, planted along the irrigation channels and terraced fields. Poplars go pure yellow first; apricot and cherry leaves move through orange to deep red; walnuts turn a dull gold last. Because every village sits at a slightly different height and faces the sun differently, the same tree can be two weeks apart between Passu (about 2,500 m) and Aliabad (about 2,100 m). Cold nights are what trigger the change, which is why an early frost brings the whole thing forward and a warm October drags it out.

The week-by-week calendar

Late September. The first yellow appears in the highest villages: Sost, Passu and the hamlets along the Batura and Passu glaciers. It is early and patchy, but the skies are the clearest of the year and the crowds have not arrived.

1 to 10 October. Passu and Gulmit are turning fast; Ghulkin and Hussaini are a few days behind. Karimabad is still mostly green with a few early poplars.

11 to 20 October. Peak in upper Hunza. Gulmit and Passu are at their best around mid-October (Northern Discover, when to visit Hunza). Dawn's photographers put the valley's window at "October 15 to mid-November" (Dawn, 27 September 2024). This is the week to be in Gojal.

21 to 31 October. Peak in central Hunza. Karimabad, Altit and Ganish are at their most intense in the last week of October (Northern Discover); the terraces below Baltit Fort are red and gold at the same time. Across the river in Nagar, Hoper and the villages below the Hoper glacier follow a few days later.

1 to 10 November. Lower Hunza (Aliabad, Murtazabad, Nasirabad) and Nagar finish the season, and the Gilgit side of Rakaposhi holds colour into the second week. The leaves on the poplars begin to drop, and on a windy day a village can lose half its colour overnight.

These are my working dates from many years of watching; a frost in the first week of October can shift everything forward by a week, and a warm month pushes it back. Ask us the week before you fly and we will tell you exactly which village is peaking [confirm locally: the current week's colour report before quoting dates to guests].

Where to stand: my viewpoints, in order of the season

Passu, from the Karakoram Highway and the Passu bridge. The Passu Cones (Tupopdan) rise straight out of the yellow poplars. Stand on the KKH south of the village in the late afternoon when the light comes down the valley, or walk down to the suspension bridge over the Hunza River for the view back up.

Gulmit and the Ondra Poygah stairway. Gulmit's old polo ground and the terraces behind it are good at any hour. The stone stairway up to the Ondra fort (around 1,500 steps) gives you Attabad Lake, Ghulkin, the Passu Cones and the glaciers in one frame (Hunza Explorers, autumn in Hunza).

Attabad Lake, from the water. Take a boat in the morning when the surface is flat; the colour along the shore doubles in the reflection.

Duikar (Eagle's Nest), for sunrise. Drive up in the dark and stand on the ridge above the hotel. The first light hits Rakaposhi, Diran and Golden Peak while the valley floor is still in shadow, then the colour below switches on as the sun reaches it. Thirty minutes, then breakfast.

Baltit Fort and the lanes of Karimabad. From the fort's roof you look straight down the terraces to the river. Go in the last week of October, mid-morning, when the sun has cleared the eastern ridge.

Altit Fort and the royal garden. The garden below the fort is the single best spot in central Hunza for red apricot leaves against the old stone; Dawn's writer singled it out for autumn (Dawn). Late afternoon.

Ganish village. One of the oldest settlements in Hunza, with a panoramic view of four peaks and the first light on Rakaposhi (Dawn). Quieter than Karimabad and ten minutes away.

Hoper valley, Nagar. The walk down to the Hoper (Bualtar) glacier passes through orchards that peak a few days after Karimabad; the contrast of black glacier ice and gold poplar is unlike anything on the Hunza side.

Rakaposhi viewpoint, on the KKH near Ghulmet. The classic roadside stop; the trees around it turn in the last days of October. [owner: add a local detail here]

A five-day plan that follows the colour

Day 1, fly or drive to Gilgit and continue to Gulmit (about three hours). Day 2, Passu in the morning, the Ondra stairway and Attabad boat in the afternoon. Day 3, move down to Karimabad via the Hussaini bridge, spend the evening in Altit. Day 4, Duikar at dawn, Baltit Fort and Ganish by day, Hoper in Nagar in the afternoon. Day 5, Rakaposhi viewpoint on the way back to Gilgit. This is more or less the Hunza half of our 13-day Gilgit-Baltistan Autumn Tour, which then crosses to Skardu, where Khaplu and Shigar turn in early October and the Kachura lakes peak in the middle of the month (Gilgit-Baltistan Discoveries). If you want Lahore and the plains as well, our 13-day Ultimate Pakistan Tour does the same autumn weeks from Islamabad. Trekkers who want the glaciers rather than the orchards should look at the Snow Lake / Biafo-Hispar La trek, which ends in late August, before the colour starts.

Want this week by week with hotels and buffer days? Download our free Pakistan Trip Planner 2027.

What goes wrong, and how to avoid it

Booking too late. October and April are the two months that sell out first; the better Karimabad hotels are often gone months ahead (Northern Discover). Reserve as soon as you know your dates.

Trusting the Babusar Pass. It closes with the first heavy snow, which in 2023 came on 14 October (PakWheels, October 2023). For an autumn trip, plan to come in by the Karakoram Highway via Chilas, or fly to Gilgit or Skardu and keep a buffer day for weather.

Expecting warm days. Karimabad in October is around 14 °C by day and 3 °C at night; upper Hunza is 3 to 5 °C colder (Northern Discover). You need a down jacket, a hat and gloves at Duikar before sunrise.

Chasing one photograph. The aerial shots of a whole valley in gold are taken from drones in a two- or three-day window. Come for the week, not the day, and you will get your own version of it.

Weekends in Karimabad. Domestic visitors from Islamabad and Lahore arrive on Friday evenings in October. Spend Saturday and Sunday in Gojal or Nagar and come back to Karimabad on a weekday.

Tell us your dates and we will build the colour into the route: request a custom itinerary.

Photo credits: hero Photo: Asad Ali / Pexels; in-body Photo: ERO SANZA / Pexels, Photo: Hamayoon Riaz / Pexels, Photo: Aakash Ashraf / Pexels. All used under the Pexels licence.