Three days crossing the second-highest plateau on earth — Skardu to Sheosar, camping at Bara Pani, and out to Astore.
Deosai is a plateau at around 4,000 metres, roughly the size of a small country, entirely above the treeline. For nine months of the year it is under snow and nobody is on it. For about ten weeks it turns green, then flowers, and then goes back under.
The crossing is a full day of driving on unmade track from Sadpara, over Ali Malik Mar pass at 4,300 metres, down to Bara Pani where the river cuts across the plain, and on to Sheosar Lake at the western end. Camp is on the grass. There is no shelter, no signal, no fuel and no help between the two ends.
Himalayan brown bears live here — perhaps seventy of them. Sightings are a matter of luck, early mornings and binoculars, and the guides know which drainages the bears have been using this season.
01
Sadpara to Chilim, over Ali Malik Mar at 4,300 m — a full day of driving with nothing in between.
02
Beside the river, at 3,900 m, with the temperature below freezing by 22:00 in August.
03
Deep blue at 4,142 m, with Nanga Parbat behind it when the cloud lifts.
04
Perhaps seventy on the whole plateau. Early morning, with binoculars, and no guarantees.
05
Ten weeks a year the entire plain flowers at once.
Leave Skardu after breakfast, climbing past Sadpara Lake to the park gate. The track deteriorates immediately and stays that way. Over Ali Malik Mar at 4,300 metres and down onto the plain. Camp at Bara Pani beside the river.
Dawn out with binoculars for bear sign along the river. Slow drive west across the plateau with stops wherever the flowers or the light justify it. Camp at Sheosar with Nanga Parbat on the horizon.
Sunrise on the lake, then down off the plateau through Chilim to Astore. Drop-off in Astore town, or continue to the KKH at Jaglot by arrangement.
Included in the price
Not included
Prices vary by date: high season costs more, and the shoulder weeks are the quietest on the route.
4.8
from 4 reviews
Nils Hartmann
Germany · Travelled July 2025
About four hundred metres away across the river, moving slowly and completely uninterested in us. Karim had the binoculars out before any of us noticed anything. He'd been checking that drainage every trip for three weeks. That is what a guide is for.
Fatima Zaidi
Pakistan · Travelled August 2025
August, 3,900 metres, and there was ice on the tent at six in the morning. Rent the sleeping bag if you're not sure about yours — it costs twelve dollars and it is the difference between sleeping and not. The plateau itself is unlike anywhere else in the country.
Gemma Wallace
United Kingdom · Travelled June 2025
Day one is five hours of very rough track and there is no way around that. If you get car sick, take something before Sadpara rather than after. The camp and the food were both better than I expected for a trip at this price.
Kenji Watanabe
Japan · Travelled July 2025
The entire plain was purple. I had seen photographs and assumed they were exaggerated. They were not. Three days is exactly right for this — long enough to stop, short enough that the cold does not wear you down.
You might also like
Editor’s pick
Skardu · Gilgit-Baltistan
Seven days in Baltistan — Kachura, the cold desert, Shigar, and the full Deosai crossing with two nights on the plateau.
$940 per person
Next 22 Aug · 4 places left
Ghizer · Gilgit-Baltistan
Six days west from Gilgit along the quietest river in the north — Gahkuch, Khalti, Phander, and the Shandur pass if the road allows.
$560 per person
Next 6 Sep · 4 places left
Editor’s pick
Fairy Meadows · Gilgit-Baltistan
Five days on the north side of the ninth-highest mountain in the world — the jeep road, the meadow, Beyal and the base camp viewpoint.
$520 per person
Next 29 Aug · 5 places left
Editor’s pick
Upper Hunza · Gilgit-Baltistan
Five days in Gojal — Passu, Borith, Sost and the pass at 4,693 metres, taken slowly enough that the altitude doesn't ruin it.
$610 per person
Next 7 Sep · 7 places left