Planning a Pakistan Trip from Australia
What travellers based in Australia should know before booking a Pakistan trip, starting with the fact that the seasons are reversed.
Official travel advice to read first
Smartraveller, the Australian Government's travel advice service (smartraveller.gov.au), publishes advice levels for Pakistan and its regions. Subscribe to updates for Pakistan and check the advice for every place on your route.
Time difference
Pakistan Standard Time is UTC+5 with no daylight saving. Pakistan is 5 hours behind Sydney and Melbourne on standard time (6 hours during daylight saving), 5 hours behind Brisbane all year and 3 hours behind Perth.
Visas and Pakistan's mission
Pakistan's visas are applied for online through the Pakistan Online Visa System run by NADRA (visa.nadra.gov.pk). Which visa category applies to Australian passport holders, and the current fee and processing time, can change, so check the portal and the High Commission for Pakistan in Canberra before you book flights.
Planning from Australia
The northern trekking season in our programmes, roughly June to September, falls in the Australian winter, so plan mountain trips for mid-year leave. The Australian summer lines up instead with the camel safari season (October to March) and the December Kalash festival.
Where our trips start
Almost every programme starts and ends at Islamabad International Airport, so that is the airport to plan your flights around from Australia. Two exceptions: the Indus civilisation tour starts in Karachi, and the camel safari starts in Bahawalpur.