Southern Punjab
Inside the main entrance, past the TDCP Motel and park office, is a Children's Park with a small zoo containing local wildlife such as imperial sandgrouse…
Must-see attractions in Pakistan
Jambil Valley Archaeological Sites
Pakistan
At Panr (pronounced 'pahn') on the other (east) side of Jambil Khwar are a stupa and monastery from the 1st to 5th centuries AD. You'll find a path and…
Pakistan
The good Museum contains relics from the site, including engraved seals, terracotta toys, kitchen utensils, weapons, sculpture, jewellery and other…
Pakistan
This stronghold at a kink in the Neelam River was completed by Sultan Muzaffar Khan in 1646. The Mughals built their own fort and its importance waned,…
Islamabad & Rawalpindi
The rewarding Taxila Museum is closed the first Monday of each month and closes early (14:00) during Ramazan (Ramadan). It houses many of the significant…
Pakistan
The large Eidgah Mosque, covering an area of some 73m by 16m, was built in 1735 and was later used by the Sikhs as a military garrison. In turn, the…
Islamabad & Rawalpindi
The Pakistan Army Museum is next to the Army Library (behind the Pearl Continental Hotel). It houses a handful of well-kept galleries exhibiting a limited…
Islamabad & Rawalpindi
Known as Shakarparian, the urban wilderness south of Islamabad has an arboretum with trees planted by dozens of foreign heads of state, as well as…
Karakoram Highway
In the Northern Areas there are traces of an ancient caste system, in which musicians and artisans ranked low. In the past they were often segregated in…
Karakoram Highway
Just beyond the northern limit of Afiyatabad the winding link road to Chapursan intersects with the KKH. After travelling through crumbling mountains and…
Karachi
The display here includes a two-million-year-old Stone Age axe recovered from the Potwar Plateau and other artefacts from around Pakistan. There's an…
Karachi
Near the Ziarat of Abdullah Shah Gazi is the Mohatta Palace, another residence of Jinnah's sister Fatima, a fine British Raj building that has enjoyed a…
Karakoram Highway
Up a laneway 300m past the library is a fort, built in the early 19th century by Sikh governor general Man Singh (after whom Mansehra is named), and…
Pakistan
Further along the Jambil Valley is Butkara No 3, a partly reconstructed courtyard of enclosed stupas. To get here, continue 500m past the turn-off to…
Islamabad & Rawalpindi
Named after General Ayub Khan, the first of Pakistan's martial law administrators, the rather staid Ayub National Park south of the Cantonment has 900…
Chitral Museum Of Archaeology & Ethnology
Pakistan
The small new Chitral Museum Of Archaeology & Ethnology is poorly signed but located next to the polo ground. It has a few local ethnographic exhibits,…
Pakistan
Chakdara Museum is at the village's main intersection. Exhibits include well-preserved Buddhist statuary, carved columns and lintels from an old Swat…
Karakoram Highway
The hills cradling Abbottabad are Shimla Peak to the northwest and Sarban Peak to the south. Shimla's cool, pine-clad summit is woven with trails and…
Gilgit
In the grounds of the Army Public School (Hayat Shaheed), a crumbling adobe tower is all that remains of Gohar Aman's Tower, a fort built by Gohar Aman in…
Karachi
British spiritual needs were well served in Karachi, and its churches provide some of Karachi's finest remaining examples of British Raj architecture. The…
Islamabad & Rawalpindi
Just east of the zoo in Margalla Hills, a road leads northeast for 1km to Saidpur, a (formerly Hindu) village still famous for pottery. Scheduled to open…
Karakoram Highway
The brightly painted complex behind the Baltistan Tourist Cottage includes a mosque, an imam barga (a hall used during Shiite festivals of Ashura and…
Karakoram Highway
A unique collection of Hunza history is packed into the dusty Cultural Museum: utensils, musical instruments, a stuffed snow leopard, gems and firearms,…
Islamabad & Rawalpindi
The buzzing Rajah Bazaar is a kaleidoscope of people and merchandise spreading in every direction from chaotic Fowara Chowk. You could spend hours…
Pakistan
Built by the ul-Mulks near the end of the 19th century. Its pinkish walls and white onion dome make it one of north Pakistan's most distinctive mosques,…
Karakoram Highway
Choar is a vast alpine meadow area, as big as Alai itself, a long day's walk (one way) up either the Rupkanai or Nogram Khwars. It's accessible only from…
Karachi
On a hill above Clifton Beach is the Ziarat of Abdullah Shah Gazi, a green-domed shrine dedicated to a 9th-century Sufi. Qawwali (Islamic devotional…
Peshawar
East from Chowk Yadgar the road forks beneath the four-tiered Cunningham Clocktower, built at the turn of the 20th century for Queen Victoria's Diamond…
Karakoram Highway
Uphill from polo ground is the Khaplu Palace, currently under restoration by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. If you get lost, the local word for it is…
Karakoram Highway
The huge tent in the garden of the PTDC K2 Motel was set up in 2004 to commemorate the first successful summiting of K2 by an Italian expedition in 1954…
Karakoram Highway
Local police are usually happy to show guests around the Fort, where they are stationed. Your hotel manager may be able to help organise this. The…
Karakoram Highway
Check out the Petroglyphs near the Indus bridge (to Darel). They include a detailed Buddhist tableau and many inscriptions and travellers' names, pecked…
Lahore
This gallery, not to be confused with the Alhamra, houses Lahore's largest permanent collection of artwork. There are two floors exhibiting fine paintings…
Karachi
Also known as Quaid-i-Azam House, the imposing British Raj mansion Flag Staff House was once owned by Mohammed Ali Jinnah. It was built over 100 years ago…
Peshawar
A caravanserai in Mughal times and the governor's mansion under the Sikhs, it also contains a neglected Hindu temple. Archaeological excavations in its…
Karakoram Highway
This striking mosque, which includes a complex of spring-fed bathhouses and pools, is 5km east on the Murree road, near Nawan Sheher village. A small…
Peshawar
About 18km east of Peshawar is Jamrud Fort, built by the Sikhs in 1823 to mark the western edge of their empire (one of the few to expand westward to the…
Lahore
A central place to slow the pace and chat to locals is pleasant Bagh-i-Jinnah. There's an open-air theatre that has frequent nightly performances (in Urdu…
Lahore
Masti Gate in the north of the Old City leads to the 1614 Begum Shah Mosque, named after Maryam Zamani, the mother of Emperor Jehangir. If you're keen to…
Lahore
At the eastern end of The Mall, Aitchison College, the 'Eton of Pakistan', is the most prestigious school in the country. Run on the lines of an English…
