Travelling to Pakistan in January, advice or tips

Hi,
I am travelling to Pakistan in January with my wife. We will fly into Islamabad but are wanting to explore the northern areas and possibly go across to Afghanistan. We were thinking of hiring a car to travel around in but not too sure about that yet.
I am wanting any advice from any travellers who have been to Pakistan recently about areas of interest and any other general advice.

Thanks

January in NW Pak is winter, the high passes (Shandur, Lowrie etc) will be snowed in, making places like Chitral unaccesible by vehicles. Temps will be dropping below zero, not really the time for visiting. Afghanistan is off limits to tourists !

Thank you for your advice. I have been told that it is "not advisable" but still allowable to travel to Afghanistan. Do you mean it is "off limits to tourists" via the land border?

Hi,
January is winter time and the weather remains pretty cold in mountain areas of Pakistan. However if you do come in this month then places which is suitable to visit in this month are Islamabad, Taxila, Lahore, Bahawalpur, Multan and Karachi. Afghanistan is not off-limits to tourists, the Afghan embassy in Islamabad still gives out Afghan tourists visas. However you can only fly into Afghanistan from Pakistan as land border is off limits to foreigners.
Hope this helps.

I have a first hand experience pretty recently (in August) where a Polish couple has crossed the border to Afghanistan by road. A special permit is required which could be applied through some agency in Islamabad. Though I've heard that the roads are mostly snowed in and thus, traveling by road becomes quite impossible. If you want, I could try and link you with that Polish couple and you could ask them all the details yourself. They could provide with the name and number of that agency and you contact them yourself.

Lawari pass (to Chitral) is closed in January due to heavy snow though Lawari tunnel opens for traffic twice a week (Saturday/Sunday).
Anyways,am still not sure & believe if foreigners re allowed to go over land (via Torkham-Jalal Abad) to Afghanistan.

Thank you for your advice. I have been told that it is "not advisable" but still allowable to travel to Afghanistan. Do you mean it is "off limits to tourists" via the land border?

The official advice to Australians is 'do not travel':

• http://smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Afghanistan

This has implications for your travel insurance and for the level of help you can expect if you run into difficulties while there. Take further questions on this to the Afghanistan branch.

There are no land crossing points between Afghanistan and Pakistan that are open to foreigners. The Polish couple mentioned above may have managed to find a way around this but that will have required a lot of advance paperwork and some considerable costs, including escorts. Perhaps they are filmmakers, or something similar.

The region in the far north of Pakistan has a porous border with Afghanistan's Nuristan province and locals might cross it, but these locals include militias and extremists. It is dangerous for foreigners to go wandering around this region. Even if you can escape the scrutiny and obstruction presented by the Chitrali police, the weather will prevent you from making the mistake of attempting to cross the border there.

To travel from Pakistan to Afghanistan, fly to Kabul from Islamabad or Peshawar.

Hello,

Thank you for your advice, we will most likely fly over to Kabul from Islamabad. Is it hard or a long process to apply for a Afghan visa from the embassy in Islamabad?
Once again thank you and I hope it would be ok to message you with any other questions regarding Pakistan.

Cheers,
Phillip

Hi,
Thank you for replying to our post. That would be great if you could possibly put my wife and I in touch with the polish couple. we would like to have their views on Afghanistan.
I hope it would be possible to contact you in future for any other questions we might have?
Thank you again

The only option is to fly from Islamabad to Kabul. PIA and Safi Airline flies between Kabul and Islamabad. The Afghan visa process in Islamabad is pretty simple, easy and hassle free and quite straight forwarding. You can obtain the visa in a day time.

Hope this answers your questions above.

The Afghan visa in Islamabad takes tow days.

Yes -- apply at the Afghan embassy in Islamabad in the morning, and pick up the passport the following afternoon. Go early on the first day to get a position in the queue, and expect to leave bags, parcels and phones at the security desk. The Afghan officials inside the embassy speak fluent English, but the guards outside and in the inner holding pen will speak little to no English. I suggest your wife covers her hair for the visit, and carries a scarf in Islamabad even if she doesn't always use it.

In 2009 the cost in Islamabad for a tourist visa for an Australian was USD 30, in 2012 it was USD 50, so it's likely to be more than that today. Take cash, and enough of a mix of notes to pay the exact amount as there is no cashier -- the consular officer puts the money into his pocket. You can easily buy US currency from money exchange offices in Islamabad but insist on clean notes -- most of those passed around in Pakistan end up covered with hand-written messages and stamp marks and are heavily creased.

Post any further questions regarding travel in Afghanistan in the Afghanistan branch.

The border Pakistan to Afghanistan is officially closed, however it's possible to arrange private transportation from Peshawar, with border crossing. Nothing is guarateed, but still it's possible. That's basically what AhsanH @4 said.

Hey,
That Polish couple is in a remote area near India-Nepal border and they rarely have internet facility. They told me they had made all the arrangements, had gotten an NOC from the governments and hired a private company to take them overland to Afghanistan but in the end, they decided to fly there. They said that they heard some conflicting news regarding the area and thus, felt a bit uncomfortable.
You can contact me anytime you want with any of your query and I would reply to the best of my knowledge.

Thanks for coming back with that update, @AhsanH. I think they made the correct choice to fly. The road between the border and Kabul via Jalalabad is not secure:

Jalalabad has been a repeated target for the Taliban in the past year. (BBC report, April 2015)

But it seems the Islamic State is also active in the area now.

• http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32363749

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