A landslide drowned a valley in 2010 and left behind the most photographed water in Pakistan. Attabad Lake, explained.
Attabad Lake should not exist. In 2010 a landslide sealed the Hunza River, drowned a valley and cut the Karakoram Highway in two. What was left behind is now one of the most photographed stretches of water in the country — an impossible turquoise held between bare brown cliffs.
Today boats criss-cross the surface where a road once ran, jet skis carve up the far end, and the highway crosses above through tunnels cut into the mountainside. It is a disaster that turned into a destination.
A boat ride here is on nearly every Hunza itinerary we run, and it earns its place. The colour of that water genuinely does not photograph accurately — you have to see it.
Add it to your Hunza trip. Nobody has ever regretted it.
