Cultural Treasure of South Pakistan

All about the Cultural Treasure of South Pakistan.

South Pakistan 

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is an important country in South Asia. It is the world’s fifth-most populous country with a population exceeding 220 million.  the country has an area, spanning 881,913 square kilometers. Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest, and China to the northeast. It is separated narrowly from Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor in the northwest. 

The territory that now constitutes Pakistan was the hub of several ancient cultures and civilizations intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent. The ancient history involves the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of different faiths and cultures, including Hindus, Indo-Greeks, Muslims, Turco-Mongols, Afghans, and Sikhs. The area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, It got independence from British India on 14th August 1947. South Pakistan has its own charm and beauty In term of multiple customs festivals  rich Archaeological and Cultural assets.

The tour package inclusions and exclusions at a glance
What is included in this tour?Items that are included in the cost of tour price.

All private transfers by  AC car
Twin sharing room at hotels mentioned above with private facilities
Meals half board: Key (B) Breakfast (D) Dinner
All the sightseeing tours as described in the itinerary and entrance fees
Fully escorted by experienced local English speaking guides
Visa support letters if required

What is not included in this tour?Items that are not included in the cost of tour price.

Visa Fees.
Expenses in hotels such as laundry, telephone, and room service, etc.
Optional activities
Meals, not mentioned above
Personal expenses
Tips for Guides and drivers
Early check-in hotels and late checkout

Local conditions

When travelling to some of the destinations we offer you need to bear in mind that things won’t always work here as we’re used to them working at home. Travelling in underdeveloped and untouristed destinations requires both patience and a sense of humour. There may be problems with infrastructure, attitudes may be different, and maintenance may not be as high a standard as we would always like, but this is very much part and parcel of travelling in such a place. We aim to resolve any issues as quickly as possible and thank you for your patience.

Travel advice

We keep a very close eye on the travel advice issued by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office so that we can keep you up to date with any warnings. At the time of writing the FCO does not advise against travel to Kyrgyzstan.

This relates to advice from the British government – other nationalities need to check the stance of their own governments.

Please note that the information contained above is highly susceptible to change, and while we endeavour to keep up to date we recommend that you use this as a guide only. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

  1. Day 1 Arrival at ISLAMABAD -Peshawar

    Islamabad-Taxila (40 km ) 1-hour drive Full-Day Tour 

    Transfer to the hotel after breakfast drive to Taxila 

    Taxila   Takṣaśilā, meaning ”City of Cut Stone”  it’s a significant archaeological hub in the modern city of the same name in the lap of foothills of Himalaya in Punjab,  It lies about 40km north-west of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, just off the famous GT road. Taxila was an important city of Ancient India, situated at the pivotal junction of the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. The origin of Taxila as a city goes back to c. 1000 BCE. Some ruins at Taxila date to the time of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE, followed successively by Mauryan Empire, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, and Kushan Empire periods. Owing to its strategic location, Taxila has changed hands many times over the centuries, with many empires vying for its control. When the great ancient trade routes connecting these regions ceased to be important, the city sank into insignificance and was finally destroyed by the nomadic Hunas in the 5th century. 

    The human heritage spread throughout Taxila It is wise worth seeing the human treasure 

    * Taxila Museum 

    * Julian Buddhist Monastery 

    * Dharma Rajika stupa 

    * Sirkap Ancient City of Taxila 

    * Jandial Temple 

    * Mohra Muradhu  

    * Visit stone cutters handicraft shops/workshop  

    Afternoon drive  to Peshawar overnight Peshawar 

  2. Day 2 Full day sight scenes of Peshawar

    Peshawar is located in Geo-strategically important location and has an enriched history. This city has seen the rise and fall of many civilizations. It was once the center of Gandhara civilization and has subsequently been ruled by Persians, Greeks, Buddhists, Kushans, Afghans, Mughals, Marathas, Sikhs, and the British. The original district of Peshawar was a district of the North-West Frontier Province of British India. 

    Peshawar is the capital of  Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its largest city. It is the sixth-largest in Pakistan. Peshawar close to the border with Afghanistan, Peshawar’s recorded history dates back to at least 539 BCE, making it the oldest city let living city in Pakistan and one of the oldest cities in South Asia. 

    * Peshawar Museum 

    * Sethi House 

    * Qissa Khawani Bazaar 

    * Gorgathri Archaeological Park 

    * Mohabat khan Mosque  

    * Peshawar Museum 

     The Peshawar Museum is famous for its collection of Buddhist artwork dating from the ancient Gandhara Empire 

    The current collection has almost 14,000 items based on Gandhara, Greco-Buddhist, Kushan, Parthian, and Indo-Scythian life. Examples include art, sculptures, coins, manuscripts, statues, ancient books, early versions of the Quran, weapons, dresses, jewelry, Kalash effigies, inscriptions, paintings of the Mughal and later periods, household materials, and pottery, as well as local and Persian handicrafts. 

    Peshawar Museum has one of the largest and most extensive collections of Gandhara art of the Buddhist period and is considered to be one of the biggest collections of Buddhist objects in the world. The museum also contains the largest collection of Gautama Buddha. Buddhist stone sculptures, terracotta figurines, and other Buddhist objects. The display of Gandhara art in the main hall includes Buddha’s life stories, worship of symbols, relic caskets, and individual standing Buddha sculptures. The ethnological objects of that period are also exhibited in the museum. 

    * Qissa Khwani Bazaar 

    The Qissa Khwani Bazaar (Story-tellers’ Bazaar”)  There are some Chai Khana ( Tea Shops) and caravans Sarai where traders used to come and stayed share their travel stories with each other. There small markets for different stocks. 

    * Mohabat khan Mosque 

     Mohabbat Khan Mosque is a 17th-century Mughal-era mosque in Peshawar The mosque was built and named after the Mughal governor of Peshawar, Nawab Mahabat Khan known alternatively as Mahabat Khan. The mosque’s white marble façade is considered to be one of Peshawar’s most iconic sights. The mosque was built between 1660 and 1670, on what was the highest point in the old city. This is the most exquisite Islamic calligraphy flower motifs had been done in this mosque. 

    * Sethi  Street ( Sethi Mohalla)  Peshawar 

    Sethi Mohallah sometimes called Sethian Mohallah, is an old and traditionally arranged neighborhood in the old city of Peshawar, The mohalla contains seven South Asian mansions built by the Sethi family that was built in a style reminiscent of Central Asia with elaborate wooden carvings. The houses were completed in the late 19th century. The Sethis were traders who had businesses in China, India, Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, with trade centers at Mazar Sharif, Tashkent, Bukhara, Samarqand, and other cities in the Asian region. The Sethi family was involved in considerable welfare work in Peshawar. 

    * Gorgathri Archaeological Park 

    Gorkhatri Gor Khuttree; literally meaning ”Warrior’s Grave”) is a public park in Peshawar, located within a Mughal-era caravanserai that was built at the site of ancient ruins 

    Gorkhatri in the ancient city of Peshawar  Ahmad Hasan Dani identified it with the place where the famous tower of the Buddha bowl once stood. Mughal Emperor Babar also visited here and mentioned this place in his book Babur Nama. In the early 16th century, Jahanara Begum, daughter of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, built a pavilion at the ancient site, and converted the site into a caravanserai, and named it Sarai Jahanara. She built two wells inside Sarai for the convenience of travelers. 

    The Sikhs converted the site into the residence and official headquarters of their mercenary general Paolo Avitabile who was governor of Peshawar from 1838-1842. They constructed a Hindu temple for Shiva there. This place sacred to Hindu pilgrimage where they performed the Sardukahr ritual (shaving off heads). 

    Overnight in Peshawar 

  3. Day 3 Peshawar - Takht Bhai -ISLAMABAD

    Morning drive to Takht Bhai Buddhist monastic complex was likely founded in the early 1st century CE. It is proven by an inscription found bearing the name of Gondophares (20-46 CE). After Gondophares, the place fell under the control of Kujula Kadphises, the first Kushan king. This first era continued until the 2nd century CE and is associated with another Kushan king Kanishka, as well as early Parthian and later Kushan kings. The second construction period, which included the creation of the Stupa Court and assembly hall, took place during the 3rd and 4th centuries CE. A third construction period, associated with the later Kushan dynasty and the Kidara Kushana rulers, occurred during the 4th and 5th centuries. This whole settlement spread on different hill spurs. It is included in the UNESCO Cultural Heritage list. 

    Lunch at a local restaurant, Later on, drive to Islamabad overnight Islamabad.

  4. Day 4 Full day Islamabad City Tour

    Islamabad is the capital city of Pakistan and is federally administered as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Islamabad is built on a  modern plan in the 1960s to replace Karachi as Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad is noted for its high standards of living, safety, and abundant greenery. 

    Morning drive to Rawalpindi to see hustling and bustling of people in Raja Bazars old Bazar of Rawalpindi. Later on, visit the Truck Paintings workshop to see painters at work to decorate trucks 

    After lunch visit Lok Virsa Museum, Pakistan Monument, Shakar Parian Garden, 

    Faisal Mosque, Said Por village  Dinner at Melody Food Street 

    Overnight Islamabad 

  5. Day 5 Islamabad-Lahore

    Lahore is the capital of Punjab and is the country’s 2nd largest city, as well as the 18th largest city proper in the world. Lahore is a Cultural commercial and industrial city of Pakistan. It has the richest historical and Cultural Heritage. 

    Morning Drive to Lahore through the Motorway, passing through the villages and green crop fields, En-route visits the Katas Temple Complex, Khewra Salt Mines the second largest salt mines in the world upon arrival in Lahore and Transfer to hotel. 

  6. Day 6 Full Day Lahore

    Full day excursion to Lahore city, visit the Impressive  

    *Lahore Museum,  

    *Badshahi Mosque built in the 16th century,  

    *Lahore fort 16th to 17th century,  

    * Shalimar Garden built by Emperor Shah Jahan and old walled city. In the evening enjoy the traditional local cuisine in Food street. Overnight hotel. 

  7. Day 7 Full day in Lahore

    *Shrine of Data  

    *Wazir khan mosque 

    * Anar kali Bazar 

    * Wahga Flag Ceremony  

    *Data Darbar 

    * Data Darbar is located in the city of Lahore,  is the largest Sufi shrine in South Asia.  Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿUsmān (c. 1009-1072), known as ʿAlī al-Hujwīrī, commonly known as Dātā Ganj Bakhsh by Muslims of the Indian subcontinent, was an 11th-century Persian Sunni Muslim mystic, theologian, and preacher from Ghazna, who became famous for composing the Kashf al-maḥjūb (Unveiling of the Hidden), which is considered the ”earliest formal treatise” on Sufism in Persian. Ali Hujwiri is believed to have contributed ”significantly” to the spread of Islam in South Asia through his preaching,[6] with one historian describing him as ”one of the most important figures to have spread Islam in the Indian subcontinent. 

    * Wazir khan Mosque 

     The Wazir Khan Mosque is a 17th-century mosque located in the city of Lahore,  The mosque was commissioned during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as part of an ensemble of buildings that also included the nearby Shahi Hammam baths. Construction of the Wazir Khan Mosque began in 1634 C.E. and was completed in 1641. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. Considered to be the most ornately decorated Mughal-era mosque, Wazir Khan Mosque is renowned for its intricate faience tile work known as Kashi-Kari, as well as its interior surfaces that are almost entirely embellished with elaborate Mughal-era frescoes.  

    *Anarkali Bazar 

    Anarkali remains one of the oldest surviving markets in South Asia, dating back at least 400 years, and derives its name from the nearby mausoleum thought to be that of a courtesan girl named Anārkalī, who was ’chased out of town’ by order of the Mughal Emperor Akbar for having a love affair with his son, Prince Salīm, who would later become Emperor Jahāngīr. 

    * Wahga Flag Ceremony 

    The lowering of the flags ceremony at the Attari-Wagah border is a daily military practice that the security forces of India (Border Security Force, BSF) and Pakistan (Pakistan Rangers) have The drill is characterized by elaborate and rapid dance-like maneuvers and raising legs as high as possible, which have been described as ”colorful”.It is alternatively a symbol of the two countries’ rivalry, as well as brotherhood and cooperation between the two nations. 

    Overnight Lahore 

  8. Day 8 Lahore- Multan

    Multan is a second ancient living city of South Asia which is over 2500 years old of History is located on the bank of the Chenab River, Multan is Pakistan’s 7th largest city and is the major cultural and economic centre of southern Punjab. The ancient city was the site of the renowned Multan Sun Temple and was besieged by Alexander the Great during the Malian Campaign. Multan was one of the most important trading centers of medieval Islamic India, and attracted a multitude of Sufi mystics in the 11th and 12th centuries, earning the city the nickname City of Saints. 

    Drive to Multan morning en-route visit Harappa Archaeological site lunch at a local restaurant continue drive to Multan afternoon visit Hussain Aghahi Bazar overnight Multan. 

  9. Day 9 Multan- Bahawalpur Rahim. Yar khan (263 km) 3:30 hrs

    Morning visit   Multan, the city of Sufi shrines and Gateway to the Indian subcontinent. visit the Tombs of Bahaudin Zakria and Shah Rukn Alam of the 13th and 14th centuries.  

    Later on, drive to Derawar Fort with pack lunch box, Uch Sharif later on drive to Rahim yar khan overnight Rahim Yar khan.

  10. Day 10 Rahim yar khan- Mohen jo daro (316 kms ) 4:30 minutes

    Morning drive to Mohen jo Daro via national highway  

    After lunch visit Mohen jo Daro Museum and site 

    Mohenjo-Daro  Sindhi language word meaning ’Mound of the Deadmen, it is an archaeological site in the of Sindh province. Built around 2500 BCE, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and one of the world’s earliest major cities, contemporaneous with the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Minoan Crete, and Norte Chico. Mohenjo-Daro was abandoned in the 19th century BCE as the Indus Valley Civilization declined, and the site was not rediscovered until the 1920s. Significant excavation has since been conducted at the site of the city, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. 

    Overnight Larkana

  11. Day 11 Larkana -Ranikot Fort (235kms ) 4 hours

    Ranikot Fort is a historical Talpur fort near Sann, Jamshoro District, Sindh, Pakistan.Ranikot Fort is also known as The Great Wall of Sindh and is believed to be the world’s largest fort, with a circumference of approximately 32 kilometers (20 mi). The fort’s ramparts have been compared to the Great Wall of China. visit important parts of this largest fort 

    After complete tour, we will drive to Hyderabad 

    Overnight Hyderabad  

  12. Day 12 Hyderabad- Sehwan Sharif - Hyderabad

    Morning visit the Hyderabad fort and Tombs of Kalhora and Talpur Mirs. Museum After then we drive to the famous Sufi Shrine of Lal Shabaz Qalander at Sehwan.  Overnight hotel. Hyderabad 

  13. Day 13 Hyderabad -Karachi

    Drive to Karachi en-route visit Shahjahani Mosque, Makli Hill Cemetery. After lunch proceed to the Bhanbore Museum site and Chaukandi Tombs  

    Upon arrival transfer to hotel in Karachi for overnight  

    Karachi is the capital of the Sindh province. It is the largest city in Pakistan and the seventh largest city proper in the world. the city is Pakistan’s premier industrial and financial center,  Karachi is Pakistan’s most cosmopolitan city, its most linguistically, ethnically, and religiously diverse city, as well as one of Pakistan’s most secular and socially liberal cities. With its location on the Arabian Sea, Karachi serves as a transport hub,  

  14. Day 14 Full day Sight Scene in Karachi

    * Quaid-i Azam Mausoleum,  

    Mazar-e-Quaid is also known as Jinnah Mausoleum or the National Mausoleum is the final resting place of Quaid-e-Azam (”Great Leader”) Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Designed in a 1960s modernist style, it was completed in 1971 and is an iconic symbol of Karachi as well as one of the most popular tourist sites in the city. The mausoleum complex also contains the tomb of Jinnah’s sister, Fatima Jinnah,  

    * National Museum of Pakistan 

    The National Museum of Pakistan was established  on 17 April 1950, Once the Museum was inaugurated than the Government of Pakistan  

    The Museum has a collection of 58,000 old coins and hundreds of well-preserved sculptures. Some 70,000 publications, books, and other reading material of the Archeology and Museums Department were also shifted to the National Museum so that the general public could see them 

    * Empress Market ( Saddar) 

    Empress Market is a marketplace situated in the Saddar Town locality of Karachi,  The market traces its origins to the British Raj era when it was first constructed.  it is amongst the most popular and busy places for shopping in Karachi. Commodities sold in the Empress Market range from condiments, fruit, vegetables, and meat. 

    *  Frere Hall Gallery  

    Frere Hall is a very impressive building in Karachi,  that dates from the early British colonial era in Sindh. Completed in 1865, Frere Hall was originally intended to serve as Karachi’s town hall and now serves as an exhibition Art gallery and a spacious library. 

    After lunch visit Clifton Beach Shrine of Abdul Shah Ghazi  

    * Abdullah Shah Ghazi 

    Abdullah Shah Ghazi  (c. 720) was an eighth-century Muslim mystic and Sufi whose shrine is located in Clifton in Karachi,  His real name was Abdullah al-Ashtar. His father, Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, was a descendant of Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah. The tomb is built on a high platform, though the body is kept in a subterranean crypt. The shrine is made of a high, square chamber and a green-and-white striped dome, decorated with tiles to the shrine caress the silver railing around the burial place and drape it with garlands of flowers. The shrine is highly regarded and respected by people of all ethnicities and religions. The iconic building of the shrine, its stairs, mosque, Langar Khana. The shrine became a center of attraction for people belonging to different sects, ethnicities, and sections of society Free meals and devotional poetry such as Qawwali became the essential features of the shrine. 

    Overnight Karachi 

  15. Day 15 Drive to the airport

    Drive to the airport for a homebound flight  in the morning