The three of  us, Sunny, Ammar and Yasir, had been thinking of going to Chitral for a long time but we could not get definite answers to the following three questions.

  • Whether we could do it in our own car
  • Whether it could be done in a day
  • Is Lowari tunnel open throughout the day

So we decided to first go to Dir which is about 3/4th of the way to Chitral, not sure what lay ahead. We started lazily at around 11 am from Islamabad and after passing through Mardan, Malakand, Chakdara and Timergara reached Upper Dir around 7 pm. To our surprise the road to Dir was in quite good condition and we got wireless signals throughout the route.

We knew that the easy part was over and now the real battle had started. We were told that the road ahead was not in a good condition and Lowari tunnel closes down at 7 pm. But we decided to take a chance and continued onward to Chitral. As informed by local people the road was in a very poor state and we had to move at less than 20 km/hr. After about a one hour journey we reached Lowari tunnel and were informed by the security personnel there the tunnel is closed and we cannot go any further.

We were adamant that we had to go further and could not turn back as the road was in quite poor state and there was no place to stay overnight. So after arguing with the security personnel we were allowed to go through but were informed that we were doing so at our own risk as there was no monitoring of the tunnel during the night time. The Lowari tunnel road, which was about 8 km long, was in quite supreme condition and we crossed it in less than 10 minutes. There was one more tunnel, about 2 km long, a short distance away from the main tunnel. The road leading up to Chitral was in quite poor state and we had to drive very carefully.

We finally reached PTDC Chitral at about 1 am and luckily got a room. Tired from the long 14 hour journey we hit the bed and immediately went to sleep. It must be pointed out that we took a number of stops for food and prayer otherwise the journey could have been done in 12 hours. The next day was spent visiting Kalash valley and doing some souvenir shopping. Kalash valley is about two hours further from Chitral and is easily doable in a 4×4 (charges vary from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 7000). We did spot a few cars in Kalash valley particularly a Suzuki Mehran.

There were quite a few options to stay overnight in Kalash (Rs. 2000 to Rs. 3000 per night) but we decided to head back to Chitral. Next day we went to Shahi Masjid in Chitral as well as got some dry fruit from the local bazaar. We started our return journey at 12:30 pm and reached Lowari tunnel at exactly 3:00 pm (Lowari tunnel is closed from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm). After having a few food breaks and watching the PSL Eliminator-1 on big screen we reached Chakdara, where we stayed overnight in Babu Ji hotel.

We took it easy on the fourth day of our trip and started our return journey at around 2:00 pm. We stopped en-route at Takht Bai, the road for which starts just short  of the new bridge. Takht Bai although not a popular tourist destination is a must see for anybody travelling to Swat or Chitral. For visitors travelling for the first time it is advised to look for signs for Takht Bai Polytechnic Institute which is about 1 km short of the ruins. Some parts of the historical site are closed for public but if you are ready for some hiking you can reach the top of the mountain from where you get a beautiful view of the site.