Hello Local Guides family, at the end of 2021, I had an opportunity to spend my spring at a place where People come from all over world to experience Spring. Yes!!! I’m talking about Skardu - Gilgit Baltistan
Gilgit-Baltistan, formerly known as the Northern Areas, is the most beautiful region in Pakistan, which is bestowed with some of the greatest bounties of Nature.
where you can visit Majestic Passu cones, the most lovely people of Hunza, the unbelievable track of Fairy Meadows & many more. Tourists from all over the world have a great attraction to this region because of its beautiful valleys, plains, peaks, and heritage sites. Location of some of the highest mountains on Earth including K-2.
So this time my luck will take me to Skardu. It’s an hour’s flight from Islamabad and if you are a lover of long driving on beautiful mountains, it will take almost 16 hours from Islamabad towards the way to Chilas. But I preferred by air, because of the tidy schedule of my trip.
We stayed at Baltistan Resort in Skardu, and on the very next day, we planned our first trip in Skardu to Upper Kachura & Lower Kachura (Shangrila) lakes, so today I’m going to share about my favorite place in Skardu which is called Lower Kachura Lake or Shangrila resort lake.
Shangrila (Lower Kachura) Lake :
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Shangrila lake Skardu also known as the Lower Kachura lake is located in the Kachura village of the district Skardu, Baltistan Division.
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This beautiful lake is Situated at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,200 ft).
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The lake was formerly called the lower Kachura lake but was renamed after a resort built in 1983.
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The name Shangrila is the Tibetan language word meaning “Heaven on earth“.
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Shangrila was named after a book titled “Lost Horizon” by James Hilton.
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Shangrila Resorts was the first Hotel/Resort in Skardu.
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Shangrila Resorts has a unique restaurant that is constructed on the fuselage of an aircraft that had crashed nearby.
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This beautiful place is only a 20 minutes ride from Skardu city and Skardu airport, it is only a 10 minutes ride.
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Some time ago there was free entry for everyone, but after a lot of mess by tourists there, management imposed entry fees, which is Rs. 1000 per person around 5 USD.
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Shangrila Lake & resorts is a completely
Accessibility-friendly place with Wheelchair Accessible Ramps to rooms, restaurants, washrooms & walking track.
It was my first visit to Skardu, & of course to Shangrila Lake as well. Before my plan, I met my friend and wonderful Local Guide @Sarbland in Lahore, who recommended Skardu more than any other place in this region. I still remember his words “once you experience Spring in Skardu, you will forget every place”, and he was so right.
I would like to say Big thanks to him for recommending Accomodation & Transportation, the people whom we met by his reference were so kind & nice with very warm gesture.
Despite even the lack of some facilities, Skardu was a place which I never forget in my life in a very positive way, because it was the very first time when I was so near to nature, I saw the sad beauty of Spring which I just read in Urdu poetries, and also it was the very first time when When I was in awe of the giant mountains, But there was a different comfort in that too.
I never enjoyed seeing the mountains as much as I enjoyed in Skardu.
When we reached Shangrila Lake, it was about the afternoon, the weather was so cloudy, And the strong winds were showing their full force.
I always love this weather, and when I was at Mesmerizing Shangrila Lake, I was lost under the spell of the beauty of this place.
I can’t express the feeling of this place in my words, But I must say that I have never seen such a beautiful place before that day.
Check Out My Google Maps Review about Shangrila Lake resorts here
We spent almost 4 hours there, other people from my group were enjoying wandering there, and picking fresh apples under the trees, Which had fallen from the tree to the ground due to strong winds.
But I was sitting at a bench for almost one hour continuously, and just watching the beautiful creation of God there like mountains, frozen clouds, Autumn trees with yellow leaves, and colorful flowers.
As it’s a wonderful 3-star hotel/resort as well, I walked a lot there but didn’t take photos of the room because of privacy reasons, because most of the rooms were full of guests.
After enjoying our delightful moments there, we started our journey back to our hotel, but because we didn’t take lunch yet (The restaurant of Shangrila Resorts was not pocket-friendly for us), so we decided to stay at a roadside “Dhaba” restaurant(small restaurant with small sitting) which was a great decision, we experienced their vegan food only like (Palak fry) fried spinach and potato curry (Aaloo Ka Salan) with fresh warm Pakistani/Indian flat bread (Garam Garam Roti) and Doodh Patti Chai (Milk Tea) there. 
In this Google Photos Album Of my Skardu Trip, you can see more photos & videos from my Whole Skardu Trip. I will share more stories soon.
This post is also a part of #GemsOfTheWorld - A Connect Travel Post Challenge 
very well compiled and expressed
.
kudos to 