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Pakistan

4 city guides · Asia

Cities in Pakistan (4)

Asia
🇵🇰 Pakistan

Faisalabad

Faisalabad (population 3.6 million) is the third-largest city in Pakistan and the most important single textile manufacturing hub in South Asia — the "Manchester of Pakistan" (the most precisely Manchester-analogy-nicknamed single Pakistani city: the most comprehensively cotton-textile-industry-dominated single South Asian manufacturing city). The city was founded in 1880 as "Lyallpur" by the British (renamed "Faisalabad" in 1977 after King Faisal of Saudi Arabia — the most precisely Saudi-king-renamed single Pakistani city). The most distinctive urban feature: the Clock Tower (the Ghanta Ghar) and the surrounding eight bazaars laid out in the pattern of the Union Jack flag (the most precisely Union-Jack-street-pattern single British colonial city plan in South Asia — the most carefully British-symbolic-layout-designed single Pakistani city centre). The Chenab River, the Lyallpur Museum (the most comprehensively local-history-documenting single Faisalabad heritage museum), and the vast cotton, silk and hosiery textile markets make Faisalabad one of the most commercially productive single cities in Pakistan.

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Asia
🇵🇰 Pakistan

Islamabad

Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan — a planned city of 1.1 million people in the Potohar Plateau at the base of the Margalla Hills (the first foothills of the Himalayas, visible from everywhere in the city as a green wall to the north). The city was purpose-built from 1960 onwards to replace Karachi as the capital (a decision driven by the desire to create a neutral city between the Punjabi and Pashtun linguistic groups, to distance the capital from the Indian border, and to develop the underpopulated Potohar region). The city was designed by the Greek firm Doxiadis Associates (urban planner Constantinos Doxiadis), in a grid of lettered sectors (F, G, H, I) and numbered sub-sectors, with a separation of residential, commercial, and government zones unusual in South Asian urban planning. The dominant landmark is the Faisal Mosque (مسجد فیصل — designed by Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay, who won an international competition in 1969 with a design that abandoned the traditional Persian dome in favour of a tent-shaped prayer hall (inspired by the Bedouin tent, the original place of Muslim worship) flanked by four 88m minarets, completed 1986, capacity 100,000; dedicated to King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, who funded the construction at a cost of $120 million). Adjacent to Islamabad: Rawalpindi (the garrison city, 15km south, with the Raja Bazaar and the traditional markets absent from planned Islamabad). Best months: October–April.

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Asia
🇵🇰 Pakistan

Karachi

Karachi is the largest city in Pakistan and one of the largest cities in the world — 14–22 million people (estimates vary widely due to rapid informal settlement growth) on the Arabian Sea coast in Sindh Province, the financial, industrial, and cultural capital of Pakistan (Islamabad is the political capital but Karachi generates approximately 20% of Pakistan's GDP and handles 95% of its international trade). Karachi was founded as a small fishing village (Kolachi) that was developed into a port by the British East India Company after 1839; under British administration it became the first capital of Pakistan (until 1958, when Rawalpindi became the interim capital) and grew from 350,000 people in 1947 to its current megacity status in 75 years. The city is the home of the Mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (the 'Great Leader', founder of Pakistan — his white marble mausoleum is the most visited monument in Pakistan), the Mohatta Palace (a salmon-pink Rajput sandstone palace built 1927, now a museum), the Empress Market (a Victorian Gothic market from 1889), and one of the finest street food cultures in Asia: the Karachi biryani (distinct from Hyderabadi biryani — more fragrant, brighter in colour, with whole green chillies), the Burns Road restaurant strip, and the bun kabab (Pakistan's most beloved street snack). Best months: November–February.

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Asia
🇵🇰 Pakistan

Lahore

Lahore (لاہور — the City of Gardens) is the capital of Punjab Province and the cultural heart of Pakistan — a metropolitan area of 14 million people on the Ravi River, 30km from the Indian border in the northeast of Pakistan. Lahore was the capital of the Mughal Empire during the reigns of Akbar (1556–1605), Jahangir (1605–1627), and Shah Jahan (1628–1658) — the three greatest Mughal emperors — and the city contains the finest concentration of Mughal architecture in the world: the Lahore Fort (Shahi Qila — UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Badshahi Mosque (one of the largest mosques in the world), and the Shalimar Gardens (UNESCO World Heritage Site). The Lahore Fort complex includes the Sheesh Mahal (Palace of Mirrors — a room entirely covered with tiny convex mirrors that reflect a single candle into a thousand points of light) and the Naulakha Pavilion (a carved white marble pavilion costing 900,000 rupees to build in the 1630s — the name means 'nine lakhs'). Lahore is also Pakistan's literary, musical, and culinary capital: the Food Street (Gawalmandi — the old eating street of Lahore, lined with restaurants serving the Lahori breakfast (nihari, halwa puri, and channay)), the Anarkali Bazaar (the oldest market in South Asia, operating continuously since the Mughal period), and the Lahore Museum (the 'Wonder House' of Rudyard Kipling's Kim). Best months: October–March.

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