Pakistan's malaria advice covers every city. The monsoon sets the dengue calendar.

Are there mosquitoes in Pakistan? Yes, and CDC recommends prescription malaria medicine for "All areas (including all cities) <2,500 m (<8,200 ft) elevation," so a family visit to Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad is inside it. Dengue peaks in the months after the monsoon, which makes December to March the easier time to go.

Malaria reaches every city

CDC draws the line by elevation alone, so it takes in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. About 80% of cases are Plasmodium vivax, and because of chloroquine resistance, chloroquine isn't among CDC's listed medicines. Malaria mosquitoes bite from dusk to dawn, so repellent at sunset and an air-conditioned or screened room or a bed net matter every night.

Dengue follows the monsoon

Provincial health reports carried in the Pakistani press put the big dengue outbreaks of 2025 in Sindh and Punjab's Rawalpindi, and the largest of 2026 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, centered on Kohat. A National Institute of Health study in Islamabad found most cases in September and October from 2021 to 2025.

Both dengue mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and the tiger mosquito, bite by day. A Punjab survey found them breeding mostly in bath tanks, evaporative air coolers and stored water, with larval counts in Lahore and Faisalabad above the World Health Organization's thresholds for transmission. At a family home, wear repellent by day as well as at dusk, and empty or cover tanks, coolers and buckets. Our dengue & Zika routine has the full schedule.

The same mosquitoes spread chikungunya, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported that cases doubled after July 2026, mostly in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. CDC also lists leishmaniasis, spread by sand flies that bite from dusk to dawn, and a Peshawar hospital study found its skin form common in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

When to go

December to March tends to be the easiest stretch for the lowland cities, cool, dry and past the dengue peak. The hardest months in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar are August to November, especially October. The northern valleys are visited mainly from May to September. The malaria advice applies in every month.

Where you're going

The US State Department rates Pakistan Level 3, Reconsider Travel, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan Level 4, Do Not Travel.

Connecting through Dubai or adding India? See our Dubai and India briefings.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from TripAdvisor and linked so you can read them in full. Both are years old, and the forum poster's view of malaria in the northern valleys isn't CDC's, so go by CDC's elevation rule and your clinic.

• Deosai National Park (Skardu) · August · 2017

  An August 2017 visitor said Deosai's mosquitoes are huge but come out only in the daytime when it is warmer, advised carrying repellent lotion, and noted the plateau is accessible only from about May to September. TripAdvisor ↗

• Pakistan (Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and the northern areas) · wet season

  A Peshawar-based poster said mosquitoes and malaria are both present in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar, especially once the wet season starts and ponds fill, and claimed there is no malaria in the Kalash valleys, Chitral, Karimabad, Passu or Skardu because they lie above 2,000 m. The thread is old. TripAdvisor ↗

A few last notes. CDC's Level 2 Global Polio notice lists Pakistan, so check that your polio vaccination is up to date before you travel. Yellow fever vaccine isn't recommended, and Pakistan requires proof only from travelers 1 year or older arriving from a country with yellow fever risk, including layovers of more than 12 hours there. And any fever during or after your trip means a doctor visit, and you tell them you were in Pakistan and which cities you stayed in.

Traveler questions