Crossing Iran and Pakistan??
 

Hey
I'm pretty new to this site and am planning a trip from the uk to India starting around February sort of time althou no exact date yet, due to the following.
How safe exactly is Iran and Pakistan for overland travel at the moment? I'm mainly talking about the provinces either side of there boards with each other and other cities through Pakistan (Kirachi etc)?
I'm a pretty switched on guy and know how to keep a low profile and not go To far off the beaten track, but is planning to go trough Iran and Pakistan at the moment just foolish?
I know a lot of people on this site are choosing to go around the 'stans' way and avoid Iran Pakistan altogether, like the ministry of foreign affairs would tell you too but is this all just hype?
Any information about the crossing of either one of these country's and the question of safety would be much appreciated
Thank you

UK to India overland, it´ll be very hard to avoid going to Pakistan. There are no possibilities to cross from China to India (for foreigners), and even if you go via north side of Afghanistan, you still follow the Karakoram Highway into north Pakistan, then to India near Lahore (Wagah/Attari border, and that´s the only place, where foreigners can cross). And that route also means you have to get your vehicle into China, pay big money, and arrange everything well in advance.

Security in Iran & Pakistan... dunno, if I should say anything about that, as it´s been six years, since I was there. A lot of things have changed. But what seems to stay the same, is the dodgy reputation, it was almost exactly like this, when I went through those countries to India. I had a lot of safety concerns beforehand, but I never had any safety-related problems there. In fact it was the exact opposite for me: the people were the most friendly and welcoming, that I have met anywhere. That said, violence seems to have escalated in Baluchistan (West Pakistan) and particularly Quetta may be a place to avoid these days. But local police should take good care of tourists, and make sure they don´t go to areas where they should not go in Pakistan. The same goes for some parts of southeastern Iran.

There will be at least one very real safety concern in Iran, Pakistan and India, and that is the way they drive :rofl:

Note, that if you´re going from Turkey to Iran, eastern part of Turkey, and also northern Iran could still be too cold to ride a bike in February, and possibly March as well.