Hi,

Its not as easy as just selecting the shortest route. I will explain a little and you will see what I mean. This needs allot of planning.

Firstly its much more expensive to go by car then air, so you will need to have some savings for this, You have to factor in fuel, hotels, food and mobile phone plan. If your ok with these things then the process is as follows. The mobile to get in touch with family or incase you need it in a emergency. International plans are expsensive and paying for a local sim maybe a better option.

You will need a Carnet which is document which will allow you to enter countries without paying custom at the border. Im not sure if any motoring company issues a carnet in Pakistan and you may find it difficult to obtain from other countries using a Pakistani registered vehicle. The best thing is to find out if there is a agency in Pakistan that issues the Carnet document or if any international company would do it for you. Search google. Without this document you would need far to much money to make the trip worthwhile as custom fees are extorniate.

The carnet document itself costs and you also have to leave a deposit to get one. Its basically document that ensures other countries you wont sell or leave the car in their country without paying the relevant custom. There is tons of information about this on the web just Google "Carnet Document".

You will need a visa for Iran, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia. All this will cost money.

Depending what vehicle you intend to use you will also need to carry a couple of spare tyres/wheels and some emergency fuel.

Once you have all this sorted you need to decide on the route to take, The shortest route may not always be the best route.

The shortest route will take you through Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan and then onto Quetta. Currently travelling through this region is not the safest due to terrorism and highway kidnappings and robbery etc. But if you have Pakistani registered vehicle and your a Pakistani national then you may just blend in and be okay but its all about how comfortable you are.

I would personally go to Lahore, Multan, Sukkur and then up to Quetta via Sibi. This is a longer router but much safer. You can also get Police escort should you feel the need but that may cost you. I know for some westerners its been done free and for others they had to pay.

The shortest of the two is via Peshawar and whatever route you take initially you will then have go from Quetta to Taftan. This is long route and again is subject to terrorism and you may need to spilt this in over two days stopping a city of Dhalbandin and travelling only during day time.

Taftan is the border town to Iran. From here you will enter into Iran and you will need your Carnet ( unless you can afford custom) and Iranian tourist or transit visa. The Iran side border is called Meer Jawe. Once you have crossed into Iran you would then travel to Iran city of Zahedan, you may need to stop the night depending on what time you cross the border and how long it takes. Zahedan is only about a hour away from Meer Jawe. From Zahedan you will have to travel to Bam, possibly stop the night there again depending on your timings and whether your happy to travel at night as well. From Bam you need to go the port city of Bandar Abbas. Here you will catch ferry with your car (details are already on this thread) once you have cross into Dubai which takes about 9 hours via ferry, they will inspect your vehicle documents and visa. You will then need to drive from Dubai to the Saudi city of Riyadh, you would cross via Abu Dhabi and enter the border at Al Bat'ha. Here they will again check your Carnet and Saudi Visa. Once you reach Riyadh, you may need to stop over the night depending what time you get there, the next day just drive from Riyadh to Mecca.

You will need to plan journey times, rest stops, how often to fuel up, where to stay the night, what to eat and how much to budget it. I would estimate it will take you about 5 days. This is rough estimation without any planning by me. could be longer or shorter. The fuel will cost quite abit but its quite cheaper in iran, Dubai and Saudi compared to Pakistan as they are oil rich countries. Also you may want to spend more time in these stops and in iran an Dubai is a awesome place to see and eat etc.
I hope that helps.


If you have the money and time I say you should do it! Its a once in life time experience.