Insight Guides Pakistan (Travel Guide eBook)

Insight Guides

• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781839052583
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

Insight Guides Pakistan Travel made easy. Ask local experts.
Comprehensive travel guide packed with inspirational photography and fascinating cultural insights. From deciding when to go, to choosing what to see when you arrive, this guide to Pakistan is all you need to plan your perfect trip, with insider information on must-see, top attractions like Badshahi Mosque, the Karakoram Highway and Mohenjo-daro, and cultural gems like the breathtaking Lahore Fort, the eerie beauty of the Hunza valley and the bustling bazaars and buildings of Peshawar's Old City. Features of this travel guide to Pakistan:
- Inspirational colour photography: discover the best destinations, sights and excursions, and be inspired by stunning imagery
- Historical and cultural insights: immerse yourself in Pakistan'srich history and culture, and learn all about its people, art and traditions
- Practical full-colour maps: with every major sight and listing highlighted, the full-colour maps make on-the-ground navigation easy
- Editor's Choice: uncover the best of Pakistan with our pick of the region's top destinations
- Key tips and essential information: packed full of important travel information, from transport and tipping to etiquette and hours of operation
- Covers: ( Sindh ) Karachi; Lower Sindh and the Thar Desert; Up and down the Indus; Mohenjo-daro; ( Punjab ) Islamabad, Rawalpindi and the Murree Hills; The Grand Trunk Road to Attock; Taxila; The Grand Trunk Road to Lahore; Lahore; Around Lahore; South Punjab; ( Balochistan ) A tour of Balochistan; ( Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ) Peshawar and the Khyber Pass; Takht-e-Bahi; The Swat Valley; ( The Karakoram to the Hindu Kush ) Karakoram Highway to Hunza; Balitisan; To Chitral Are you also travelling to India? Check out Insight Guides India for a detailed and entertaining look at all the country has to offer. About Insight Guides: Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps, as well as phrase books, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

Travel Tips: A–Z

A

Accommodation

There are a great many hotels in Pakistan – their ranks bolstered by the boom in domestic travel in recent decades – and together they make up an enormously varied collection of institutions. Some are modern, five-star, international class. Some hotels located in the hills bring back pleasant memories of tea dances in the 1930s. Some have been installed in superbly restored buildings such as old forts, palaces or havelis. Some may appear to be rather unhygienic, while others charge reasonably low rates and offer excellent value for money. Recent years have seen an increase in the number of modern hotels in even the more remote parts of the country, particularly across Gilgit-Baltistan.

Modern, well-equipped chain hotels such as the Pearl Continental (Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Bhurban and Gwadar), Mövenpick (Karachi), Avari (Lahore), Marriott (Karachi and Islamabad), Serena Hotels (Islamabad, Faisalabad, Quetta, Gilgit, Hunza, Saidu Sharif, Shigar and Khaplu), Shangrila Resorts and Hotels (Chilas and Skardu) offer good services and facilities. For most upmarket hotels, discounted rates can often be found on various online booking platforms.

A 17.5 percent government tax is charged on all rooms. Top hotels provide buffet breakfast and airport pick-up and drop. See the companion App for individual hotel listings.

PTDC hotels/motels

The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC; www.tourism.gov.pk), a semi-private corporation overseen by the government, has a few dozen mostly midrange to budget hotels and motels dotted around the most popular tourist centres. Bookings can be made through the local PTDC offices, but there is a central booking office on Aga Khan Road at the south end of F-6 Markaz shopping complex, Islamabad, tel: [phone].

The Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab (TDCP; www.tdcp.gop.pk) also runs a collection of reasonably priced hotels and resorts. These can easily be booked online. Their main office is in Lahore (151 Abu Bakar Block, New Garden Town, tel: [phone]), while there are other helpful offices in Multan, Murree, Bahawalpur and Rawalpindi.

Hostels and camping

The Pakistan Youth Hostels Association (http://pakistanyouthhostels.co) maintains hostels that may be used by members of organisations that are affiliated to Hostelling International. They currently run Youth Hostels in Bhurban, Karachi, Khanaspur, Lahore, Peshawar and Islamabad. The Pakistan Youth Hostels Association’s addresses are: 104 Green Acres Housing Society, Lahore, tel: [phone]; PYHAHead Office, Shaheed-e-Millat Road, G-6/4, near Aabpara, Islamabad, tel: [phone]; and Street 09, Block 1, Scheme 36, Gulistan-e-Johar, tel: [phone].

There are also a few campsites in Pakistan. Advice on where camping is possible may be obtained from the PTDC. In addition, many hotels, particularly in Gilgit-Baltistan, allow camping in their gardens.

Admission charges

Major museums and historical sites charge entry fees between Rs500 and 1,000 for foreign visitors, while smaller ones may charge less. At some remote sites, a warden may offer a private tour of the site, for which an additional tip is much appreciated, while other sites remain unattended.

B

Budgeting for your trip

Travelling in Pakistan is not at all expensive by international standards. It is possible to have a superb seafood meal at a top restaurant in Karachi for about Rs1000 (£5); a full meal at a more basic establishment will likely amount to less than Rs200, while street food is cheaper still. Only the top international standard hotels are fairly expensive: Islamabad’s Serena will set you back at least Rs35,000 (£190) for double and the Pearl Continental in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar will charge around Rs24,000 (£130). There are good middle-of-the-road hotels in all cities, which should not set you back more than Rs3,000–7,000 for a double, while simple accommodation throughout the country is available for Rs2,000 or less. Public transport is very cheap: a NATCO bus ride from Islamabad up the Karakoram Highway to Gilgit costs around Rs2,500, while a relatively comfortable, cross-country bus ride with Daewoo (www.daewoo.com.pk) from Lahore to Karachi costs Rs4,550 for a seat and Rs6,500 for a sleeper. Going by train, an AC berth from Lahore to Karachi costs around Rs6,000, an economy berth around Rs1,400. Internal flights are also good value, helped by a handful of budget airlines, among them Serene Air (www.sereneair.com) and AirBlue (www.airblue.com). In most of the country these have provided some welcome competition to the state-run PIA (www.piac.com.pk), though only the latter offers flights to the far north; PIA’s Islamabad–Skardu flight costs around Rs27,000 return, the Gilgit flight Rs24,000. It can get expensive again hiring Jeeps in Gilgit-Baltistan. A day’s hire will cost at least Rs7,000.

C

Children

Children fare quite well in Pakistan because people seem quite besotted with them. Children are always welcome and treated with respect, and their presence opens many doors. However, Pakistan is not always equipped with special facilities for children such as nappy-changing rooms or special rest...

Table of contents

• Pakistan’s Top 10 Attractions
• Editor’s Choice
• Introduction: Land of the Indus
• People
• Decisive dates
• Cradle of civilisation
• Ancient crossroads
• The arrival of Islam
• The Mughal Empire
• The British
• Modern history
• Prospects and priorities
• Insight: All creatures great and small
• Food
• Handicrafts
• Music and poetry
• Insight: The colours of the road
• Railway tracks
• Introduction
• Sindh
• Karachi
• Lower Sindh and the Thar Desert
• Up and down the Indus
• Mohenjo-daro
• Punjab
• Islamabad, Rawalpindi and the Murree Hills
• The Grand Trunk Road to Attock
• Taxila
• The Grand Trunk Road to Lahore
• Lahore
• Around Lahore
• South Punjab
• Insight: Channan Pir
• Balochistan
• A tour of Balochistan
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• Peshawar and the Khyber Pass
• Takht-e-Bahi
• The Swat Valley
• The Karakoram To The Hindu Kush
• Insight: The Great Game
• Karakoram Highway to Hunza
• Baltistan
• To Chitral
• Travel Tips: Transport
• Travel Tips: A–Z
• Travel Tips: Further Reading