Pakistan Heritage Trail — Lahore, Taxila, Swat & Peshawar

About this trip

Ten days through Pakistan's cultural heartland — the Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Fort, the Gandharan Buddhist ruins of Taxila, the green Swat valley, and Peshawar's old city on the edge of the Khyber Pass. Runs October to April when the plains are cool.

Everyone knows Pakistan's mountains; far fewer people see its cities. This tour is for travellers who want the Mughal architecture, the Sufi shrines, the Gandharan Buddhist sites and the food — and it deliberately runs in the cool months, October to April, when Lahore and Peshawar are at their best. You spend three nights in Lahore alone, because the walled city rewards slow exploration: Badshahi Mosque at sunset, the Wazir Khan Mosque's tilework, Anarkali bazaar, the food street at Gawalmandi, and the Wagah border ceremony. Then north to Taxila, the Swat valley — Pakistan's Switzerland — and Peshawar, the oldest continuously inhabited city in South Asia.

Trip highlights

• Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Fort — the Mughal empire at full strength
• Wazir Khan Mosque and the restored Walled City heritage trail
• Wagah border flag-lowering ceremony
• Shalimar Gardens and the tomb of Jahangir
• Taxila — 2,500 years of Gandharan Buddhist civilisation, UNESCO listed
• Swat valley: Malam Jabba, Mingora and the Buddhist rock carvings
• Peshawar's Qissa Khwani bazaar, Sethi House and the Khyber Pass viewpoint
• Lahore food tour — the best street food in South Asia