Best month to visit Skardu
Most people choose to go to Skardu in September. Deosai is not yet frozen, the summer dust has settled, the teams are heading back, and the hot summer afternoons are now bearable.
That is a brief answer. A longer answer would depend on why you are visiting. The Baltoro trek is best done in June, July, or August. The start of January is the best time to do a winter expedition. April is the best time to see the blossoms in the Shigar Valley.
Month by month
January
The average temperature in Skardu hovers around minus 10 to minus 15 degrees in January. It gets even colder outside the city. Water pipes freeze in the city in many uninsulated rooms. The surrounding mountains are vast and covered in snow.
Deosai is closed for the winter. It is not possible to do the Baltoro without fully equipped winter trekking gear. Shigar and Khaplu can be accessed, and they are quiet and different in the snow.
January: the winter mountaineering teams convening in Skardu make their final preparations towards the 8000 meter peaks. It remains one of the world’s toughest challenges to tackle K2 in the winter, which was not completed until February 2021. You can find the teams a couple of weeks before as they gather in the Skardu Bazaar and watch in awe as the pieces of a high-altitude winter expedition start to fall into place. January can also be quite cold and quiet for all the rest of us.
February: even slightly warmer than January, days start to come with more light. The outer edges of the Kachura lakes start to thaw, the blossoms of Shigar can be seen, pruned orchards wait to bloom with spring.
The landscape has yet to transition away from winter. Deosai and Baltoro remain inaccessible.
March: the turn. Snow begins its retreat up the mountains. By the end of the month, the first blossoms of the lower orchards can be seen across Shigar and Khaplu.
Despite the cold nights and treacherous roads to Deosai, this is the best time for the earliest visitors to get decent rates on lodging in Shigar and Khaplu.
If you can choose when you go, April is a great month to visit.
April
Textbooks call April ‘the bloom month’, but for photo-documenting April in Baltistan, Shigar Valley and Khaplu have the best blossoms. Rock walls are barren, but against the starkness of snow-capped peaks, white and pink blossoms are a photographer’s dream.
In May, upper Shigar Valley usually has blossoms first, followed by lower Shigar about a week later. A couple of weeks after that, Khaplu usually has its blossom peak. Lower temperatures or warmer conditions will delay or speed up the season.
The city of Skardu has nice daytime temperatures, but is still fairly cold in April and hasn’t thawed. Flights are available, but still, a lot of them are cancelled.
Shigar Fort sells out for April, so book early.
May
Picture-perfect May is a good month for having a lingering vacation. In the higher valleys, the blossoms will have faded, and the trekking season will not have begun. May is a short month, and the snow that closed the roads during winter will begin to melt.
Temperatures are comfortable in Skardu, and the Kachura Lakes are open to the public. The river is high.
Spring in all of Baltistan is best enjoyed when it can be planned for and without surprises.
This is the last opportunity to avoid the high prices and to experience the domestic season. May is a great month for visa on arrival to Skardu, cheap domestic air fares, warm weather, and fewer tourists.
June
This is the beginning of the season, tentatively beginning for treks in Deosai after the snow and crossing of Baltoro. During this month, the organizations assemble for K2 and the high peaks, and visitors take all the routes to Concordia and K2 Base Camp, because the routes are open to trekkers with permits. June transforms Skardu into a city of thousands, with the Lakes, Katpana Desert, and all tourist spots buzzing.
This is the first full month of the season, evident with all adventure activities and treks fully operational, accommodation filling quickly, and bazaars being alive and experiencing a great influx.
July
This is the peak of trekking and peak season for the high prices. The city records high temperatures in the low to mid thirties; the Deosai plains are now open, with the blooming of wildflowers on the plateaus, and the Sheosar Lake has azure skies for their reflections. Baltoro treks are at full attendance, the camps between Askole and Concordia having the highest number of hikers.
Starting in July, the roads between Gilgit and Skardu begin to experience flooding and landslides due to monsoon spells moving into the Rondu gorge. Roads can even become blocked, and it can take hours or a couple of days to reopen due to the flooding and landslides, leaving travelers trapped on one side.
Higher rates and sold-out hotels make traveling in July even more of a hassle. If you can delay your trip until August, do so.
In August, most accommodations fill up to capacity, and rates double. The Eid holidays and 14th of August Independence Day weekend attract the most travel and squeeze cities beyond their designed capacity. Independence Day tends to be the worst time to travel to Pakistan, but some travel to see the wildflowers on Deosai begin to bloom, and to see the evenings on Deosai begin to be more refreshing and cool.
The answer to the original question for the article spread out, as the monsoon begins to move away from the approach roads in September, air quality improves in the city, and mountain views from Deosai and the fort begin to improve.
Deosai stays open throughout most of September. With just a few weeks left of the Baltoro trekking season, the prices drop after the crowds and the season have left.
Early September is the perfect balance of weather and safety. The heat and the crowds of July and September are gone, but so are the risks of driving.
October
Early October marks the beginning of the closing season both for Deosai, which is the first to close under early snowfall, and for the Baltoro. As the closing season begins, the hotel rates start dropping.
What October offers that other months do not is the changing of the leaves in Shigar and Khaplu. Deosai and the Baltoro will soon be covered in snow and ice, but before Deosai closes and the chill of winter settles in, the warm colors of the leaves mixed with the blue lake and orange skies against bare rock make for some incredible views.
November
The shoulder season begins as many hotels close or begin to offer fewer services. Things begin to shut down, and Skardu begins to slow down. The city remains accessible, and the closed sites are still there.
For November, if you want Skardu to yourself, then November is a great time to go. Be safe, though, and layer up.
December
Winter begins. Temperatures drop, nights get cold, and the trekking season and Deosai are completely closed. The winter expeditions start to leave for Deosai, and the next trekking season begins.
Blossom in Shigar and Khaplu: Late March into April.
Peak summer, all sites open: June to August, with July and August carrying the price and crowd cost.
Best overall: September.
Autumn colour: early to mid-October before Deosai closes.
Budget and quiet: March, early April, November.
Trekking the Baltoro: June to early September.
Winter city visit with no crowds: January to February, with cold weather as the obvious trade-off.
Corporate groups and delegations: September. Predictable weather, availability in the better hotels, and no road-closure risk.
What Skardu has that other northern destinations don't
One thing that shapes the timing differently here is Deosai. At over 4,100 metres and open only from roughly late June to late September, Deosai defines the best season more than anything else. If you want to cross the plateau and see Sheosar Lake, you are visiting between June and September. September is the best of those months for everything else, which is why September keeps coming up.
The second thing is the expedition culture. Skardu in January, June, and July has a different mood from the rest of the year. The teams assembling for K2, the returning trekkers comparing notes in the bazaar, the porters settling logistics at the hotels near the river, all of it gives the city a character that a mountain resort does not usually have.
What to be aware of, and what to avoid
Be sure to confirm the status of Deosai. A return to snow over the pass traveling from Satpara closes the road every year, and the closure date is different every year.
Check the status and availability of flights to Skardu. The flights can be canceled for weather reasons at any time of the year and are most commonly canceled during winter. Along the Karakoram Road, a backup plan is always good.
Reserve Shigar Fort for April and book Khaplu Palace for the summer, both at least two to three months in advance.
Do not consider availability for hotel stays on the 14th of August, or the days immediately surrounding either of the Eids, as hotel costs will be exponentially higher, along with minimal availability. The dates for the Eids move to an earlier date in about an 11-day cycle each year, so check the dates and verify against your proposed travel dates.
Do not plan to visit Deosai first, as after traveling to Skardu from other locations, resting at lower elevations first is good practice to avoid sickness.
Questions most asked
What is the most recommended time to travel to Skardu? September is a great time to travel for open roads and the tail end of the tourist season.
When does the wildflower bloom season in Skardu? Apricot blossoms start from low elevations and move up to higher elevations. Depending on elevation, this can range from the end of March to the start of May.
When do the Deosai plains open? This is usually from the end of June to September, but it can vary depending on the unpredictability of snowfall.
Is July a good time to visit Skardu? It is safe to visit, but plan well in advance to get good deals on accommodation.
Can you travel to Skardu during winter? Yes. During winter, you can still reach Skardu by road. However, you cannot travel to Deosai or Baltoro. The main issue is that the cold becomes extreme.
The cheapest time to travel to Skardu is during November or March. These months have the lowest prices and the fewest travelers.
Can you travel to Skardu during October? You can definitely travel to Skardu during October, as the first part of the month has nice weather and the colors of the season. The later part of the month becomes colder and shorter.
Can you travel to Skardu during September? September is better than summer and winter travel months. However, travel during this month can still be unpredictable, so always travel with a backup plan of traveling by road.
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