Where to Stay in Pakistan: Islamabad Serena Hotel

Warning: Photo heavy post

I stayed in two cities while in Pakistan. The first city we went to was Islambad. After two days in Islamabad, we flew to Daharki in the Sindh Province and then flew back to Islamabad for our flight back home. Just in case you happen to find yourself visiting Islamabad, I hope you find this helpful.

Where to Stay: Islamabad Serena Hotel

This hotel is the safest place in place in Islamabad for a foreigner. It’s in the same compound as other international organizations such as UN. So you can also just imagine the security. We arrived in Pakistan around 10:30 pm but I think we arrived at the hotel before 12midnight already because of airport immigration and security. Travel time from airport to hotel is around 30minutes. You can imagine our apprehension upon seeing the tight security for the first time that time of the night. I think we passed by atleast 3 guarded gates before arriving at the hotel parking lot.

 

But once I entered the hotel, I was amazed by the sheer elegance of the place.

Hallway leading to the elevators from the reception area (edited in Instagram)

Main lobby

I was booked in a Deluxe room (room 399) for my stay there. Photos of my room are from my iPhone 5.

When you enter the room, to your left is the cabinet. Yes, that's my yellow luggage from Samsonite which I love to bits :D

 

Two lavatories for his and her :)

 

This is the bath tub on the right side of the bathroom. Behind me, is the shower stall and the toilet area.

 

Shower stall

The throne heehee

Toiletries

The living sleeping area

The desk area

TV area

Wonderful bed. If not for the jetlag, I would've slept like a baby here.

Lovely couch

 

Took this photo the next day (edited in Instagram)

Clockwise from left: side table has the main control in the room (lights, aircon, etc.), snack bar, welcome message flashed on the TV set and laundry bags

More photos of the exterior of the hotel after the jump (photos taken from my Canon point-and-shoot camera except for the security).




Just had to show you another photo of the tight security in the hotel (edited in Instagram).

 

Their pool was under construction

 

 

 

For our stay in Daharki, we stayed at the client’s housing colony since no hotel is nearby. I wasn't able to take photos of the room since it's not really open to the public. The rooms were pretty nice and clean, kinda like rooms in a 2 or 3-star hotel. We even have our own butler at our beck and call.

This is outside the house where we stayed at. Look at all those flowers. Super amazing since this is in the middle of the desert.

Back in Islamabad, instead of checking in at Serena Hotel before our flight home, our client offered their private rooms for us. Their rooms can compare to other hotels.The rooms are not open to the public either but I was able to take photos so I'm putting it here for my own documentation :) This was at the top floor of their office building.