Hotel near Attabad Lake

Name: Villa Darya
Address: Village Shishkat, Gojal Valley, Hunza, GB Pakistan
Telephone: +92 3 111 000 658
Price range: PKR 18,000–30,000
Rating: 4.7

Villa Darya is in Shishkat, on the upper shore of Attabad Lake — about 5 km from the water, on the Karakoram Highway in Gojal, Upper Hunza. It is one of the closest hotels to the lake, and close enough that the lake is part of the view rather than a day trip.

How close the lake actually is

Five kilometres, on sealed road, is a short drive — a matter of minutes rather than a morning. You can be at the boat jetty and back before breakfast is cleared, which is the practical difference between staying here and staying in Karimabad, an hour south.

Several of the rooms look toward the water. If a lake view matters to you, ask when you book rather than on arrival — the rooms that have it are a subset, not the whole hotel.

What there is to do at the lake

Boat trips across the turquoise water, which is the reason most people come.
Jet skiing and speedboats in the season, run from the jetty.
The lakeside road and tunnels — the Pak-China Friendship Tunnels that replaced the road the lake drowned.
Photography at either end of the day, when the light is on the water and the peaks behind it.

Why the lake is there at all

Attabad Lake is not old. A landslide in January 2010 blocked the Hunza River at Attabad, and the water backed up behind it, submerging the villages of Ayeenabad, Shishkat and part of Gulmit along with a long stretch of the Karakoram Highway. The lake that tourists photograph today is the flood that displaced this valley, and the tunnels you drive through to reach us exist because the road beneath the water never came back.

It is worth knowing before you arrive. The view is genuinely beautiful and it is also recent, and the people you meet here remember what is underneath it.

Getting here

The hotel is directly on the Karakoram Highway. Coming north from Gilgit or Karimabad you pass Attabad Lake and the tunnels, and Shishkat is immediately beyond them. Coming south from Sost or Passu, you reach us before the tunnels.

Check-in is from 2pm and check-out by 11am. The road is rarely predictable — if you expect to arrive late, tell us and someone will wait up.