How to get to | Pakistan

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Pakistan

Source: Kaiser Tufail

Travel across land borders to Pakistan is not currently recommended, except at Waghar near Lahore with India (there is a bus and train between Lahore and Delhi), and Quetta with Iran (there is a bus). Should the security situation change then the mountain passes to China and Afghanistan will make spectacular transport corridors. Airlines flying to Pakistan change depending on the political climate and security concerns. At time of writing airlines flying to Karachi and Lahore include:

• Star Alliance - Air China (Karachi only), Singapore, Thai (also Islamabad), Turkish
• Oneworld - Cathay Pacific (Karachi only)
• Sky Team - none
• Other selected - Pakistan International Airlines, all major (Persian) Gulf based airlines (also to Islamabad)

TIP Fares from Pakistan are generally much cheaper than to Pakistan, especially in business class.

TIP With limited airline options, round trip fares can be very high. Including Pakistan on an Around the world tickets on Star Alliance or Oneworld is good value.

TIP For some frequent flyer programs that have zone-based awards, awards are great value.