Islamabad is generally a safe and calm city. The security forces seem to have put a lid on things, and the city has been calm since the beginning of 2010 with very few bombings, shootings, and kidnappings. There was an explosion at a fruit market in the outskirts on 9 April 2014 and terrorists attacked a court in the F8 on 3 March 2014. However, Islamabad is clearly safer than other Pakistani cities like Peshawar.

The police have set up numerous checkpoints on roads to sensitive buildings and on the roads entering the city. These are usually harmless and they’ll wave you through, but to access Constitution Avenue (inc the Serena hotel) the police will want to look in the boot of your car. If you are travelling with alcohol, make sure you have the required documents with you (like a foreign passport), as the police will try to extract a bribe from you otherwise. This rule obviously does not apply to official cars with diplomatic immunity, which the police cannot do anything about.

While travelling in city, you should keep your national identity card, passport, or driving license with you to prove your identity.

Crime-wise Islamabad is safe. Men can walk pretty much anywhere in the city day or night with little to fear. Lone women will attract male attention, particularly in areas of the city not often frequented by westerners. In those cases, its good to be in a group, and avoid dimly lit streets. But that rule applies to all cities. Also there is a rapidly growing wealthy Chinese diaspora in Islamabad, so locals are now more used to seeing foreigners around.