Attabad Lake should not exist. In January 2010, a massive landslide buried the village of Attabad and dammed the Hunza River; over five months the rising water drowned 19 km of the Karakoram Highway and several villages, creating the startling blue lake you see today. What began as a disaster has become one of Pakistan's most photographed places.
The colour is the first shock — a glacial, mineral-rich turquoise that looks edited even when you're standing in front of it. Steep ochre cliffs drop straight into the water, and in calm morning light the reflections double the entire gorge.
Today the lake is Hunza's playground. Speedboats and traditional wooden boats run from the Attabad jetty, jet-skis carve the bays in summer, and lakeside resorts — including glass-fronted luxury pods — have made an overnight stay as popular as the day trip.
Attabad works best combined with upper Hunza: the Hussaini Suspension Bridge, Gulmit's old village and the Passu Cones are all within 30 minutes' drive through the Attabad tunnels.
