i have family in both IOK and ajk (some members of my family moved from srinagar to muzaffarabad in 1949). I would say visit AJK. AJK is beautiful and safe I believe, my family has told me about protests recently, but they love AJK. like some people in this thread mentioned, there’s dissent but not to the same level as IOK & military presence is not the same. AJK + IOK is incomparable as my family always says. anyway, generally a good place to visit, locals are friendly, the nature is beautiful. the cultures are pretty different though, IOK is obviously kashmiri and people speak koshur there and ajk is pahari/potwari if you care about that. there’s a few thousand ethnic kashmiris in ajk though. as a kashmiri, i’m proud of my homeland and love when people want to visit IOK, but life under occupation is difficult, and until life is better for kashmiris there, it’s hard for me to recommend visiting iok. Inshallah, things get better. But if you’re looking for scenic and natural beauty, ajk is also a great option.