From the Indian Ocean to the Punbjab

Itinerary

Saturday 5 April – Karachi

• Arrival in Karachi.
• Aiport pick up.
• Meet the others at 5:00 PM at the lobby of the hotel for a pre-tour meeting.
• Go for dinner with the group.
• Overnight stay in Karachi.

Sunday 6 April – Karachi

• Today we’ll have a full day of exploring the city of Karachi, we’ll check out the Empress Market, Flagstaff House, Frere Hall and Mohatta Palace.
• Tomb of Jinnah (also known as the Mazar-e-Quaid or National Mausoleum), here lies Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.
• We visit the Masjid-e Tooba, the largest single-some mosque in the world.
• Visit National Museum in Karachi, established in Frere Hall in 1951, replacing the defunct Victoria Museum.
• Highlight: Visit to the beach. A great place for people watching.
• Overnight stay in Karachi.

Monday 7 April – Karachi – Makli – Hyderabad

• Tomb of Chaukundi and the ruins of Bhanbore. This was the place where Islam first came to Pakistan. Shah Jahan Mosque, built during the reign of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan who bestowed it to the city as a token of gratitude, is influenced by central Asian Architecture.
• Highlight: We drive to Thatta and the  Makli Necropolis, a famous UNESCO site in Pakistan. The story goes that over 1 million people are buried in the hills here.
• Visit the Shah Jahan Mosque also known as the Jamia Masjid of Thatta.
• Keenjhar Lake, located in Thatta and is one of the largest fresh water lakes in Pakistan and an important source of drinking water.
• We drive on to Hyderabad, famous for its Bombay bakery coffee cake.
• Evening walk through the bazar of Hyderabad, feel the authentic local life in Pakistan.
• Overnight stay in Hyderabad.

Tuesday 8 April – Hyderabad – Sehwan Sharif

• Drive to Bhit Shah.
• Tour of the Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai shrine. Hopefully we’ll see some Sufi-dancing as well!
• Drive to Ranikot Fort, this wall is also called the Chinese Wall of Pakistan with its vast walls. In more recent years it was a famous place for bandits to hide, but today it’s peaceful and quiet again.
• Visit in Sehwan Sharif one of the most holy shrines of Pakistan, also known as the Shrine of Lal Shah Baz Qalandar. At this shrine after sunset is often a Sufi Dance with music, locally known as Dhmal.
• Overnight stay in Sehwan Sharif.

Wednesday 9 April – Sehwan Sharif – Mohenjo Daro – Sukkur

• Highlight: We drive to Mohenjo Daro. This is one of the best and largest preserved cities in the Indus civilization. The area is believed to be around 250 hectares. We explore the various places of this UNESCO site, including the museum.
• We’ll continue towards Sukkur.
• Along the way we’ll pay a visit to the Kot Diji Fort in Khairpur.
• Overnight stay in Sukkur.

Thursday 10 April – Sukkur – Bahawalpur

• Visit the Sukkur Barrage System and Lansdowne Bridge.
• We’ll take a boat trip on the Indus river, if we’re lucky we might spot the blind dolphins.
• See the 200 year old Sadhu Bela Tempel.
• Before we continue to the Cholistan Desert, we will make a short stop at the shrines of Uch Sharif, Uch was founded as Alexandria on the Indus, a town founded by Alexander the Great during his invasion of the Indus Valley.
• Drive to Bahawalpur. Founded in 1748, Bahawalpur was the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur, ruled by the Abbasi family of Nawabs until 1955. 
• Overnight stay in Bahawalpur.

Friday 11 April – Bahawalpur – Derawar Fort

• Highlight: We visit the impressive and remote Derawar Fort. This incredible fort is 30m high and has a circumference of 1.5km.
• Stopover at the Abbasi Jamia Shahi Mosque and the royal graveyard.
• Overnight stay in Bahawalpur.

Saturday 12 April – Bahwalpur – Multan – Lahore

• Today we’ll make our way towards Lahore, with a stop in the city of Multan.
• Morning tour through Multan. We’ll check out the Shrine of Bahauddin Zakriya & Shah Rukn e Alam.
• We hit the road again to drive to Lahore.
• Overnight stay in Lahore, perhaps the greatest of the Moghul dynasty’s cities, definitely the cultural capital of Pakistan.

Sunday 13 April – Lahore

• Visit Lahore Fort, the main citadel of the city.
• Visit Badshahi Mosque, the most famous and beautiful Mughal-style mosque in the city.
• Walk through the old town.
• Discover the lives of street surgeons, street dentists, street pharmacists and bone setters.
• Highlight: Check out the Wagah Border ceremony, you can see the lowering of the flag here every day. This happens with much fanfare from the Pakistani and Indian sides.
• Overnight stay in Lahore.

Monday 14 April – Lahore – Peshawar

• Drive to Peshawar. Today we’ll drive from the Pubjab region to the Pashtun region of Pakistan. It’s going to be a long drive, but we’ll make regular stops.
• Overnight stay in Peshar.

Tuesday 15 April – Peshawar – Islamabad

• People who are going to Afghanistan will be applying for their visa first thing in the morning.
• We’ll check out the famous old town of Peshawar, including the Sethi House, Gor Khatri and Mahabat Khan Mosque.
• Walk around the Heritage Trails.
• Return to Islamabad.
• Overnight stay in Islamabad.

Wednesday 16 April – Islamabad

• Airport drop off.
• End of the South Pakistan group tour.
• Or departure with Kam Air to Kabul for the Grand Afghanistan Tour.