Lahore rewards a thin wallet: colonial parks charge nothing, the Orange Line crosses 27km for PKR 40, and a plate of nihari that fills you until evening costs PKR 350. Three days of Mughal ruins, wholesale lanes and river sunsets on a shoestring.
A 141-acre botanical park laid out in 1860, free from sunrise to sunset. Jogging tracks, an open-air theatre, a Mughal-era mosque and the Quaid-e-Azam Library in the old Montgomery Hall sit under 150-year-old trees.
Pakistan's largest museum, opened 1894 with Rudyard Kipling's father as its first curator. The Fasting Buddha of Gandhara, Mughal miniatures and Sikh-era relics fill 20 galleries. Open 09:00-17:00, shut Friday midday.
Across the Ravi lies the 1637 tomb of Emperor Jahangir, four minarets over a pietra dura chamber set in a walled charbagh. The tombs of Asif Khan and Akbari Sarai fall inside the same ticket, and crowds are thin on weekdays.
The 70m marble-and-concrete tower marking the 1940 Pakistan Resolution stands in 125 acres of lawns rebuilt in 2017. Families picnic on the grass at dusk, kite sellers work the paths and the fountains run after Maghrib.
Lahore's cheapest cloth and shoe bazaar, packed into lanes off Ferozepur Road and busiest after 11:00. Bargaining is expected — open at half the quoted price. Halwa puri stalls at the Ichhra Mor end serve breakfast till noon.
A one-dish institution since 1948: beef nihari simmered overnight, ladled over marrow and served with naan, ginger slivers, green chillies and lemon. A plate runs PKR 350 and the pot is scraped empty by mid-afternoon.
The walled city's wholesale engine, where crockery, plastics, dry fruit, cosmetics and fabric move by the dozen at a third of Liberty Market rates. Lanes fan out from Shah Alami Gate towards Rang Mahal and Papar Mandi.
The 1930s cinema district turned charcoal-grill strip, where Butt Karahi, Taj Mahal and a dozen tikka shops light up after sunset. Half a kilo of chicken karahi feeds two for about PKR 1,200; seekh kebab rolls go for PKR 200.
Shah Jahan's 1642 terraced garden, a UNESCO site where 410 fountains step down three levels inside red sandstone walls. Open 08:00 to sunset; the water channels are switched on for public holidays and Eid weekends only.
A 1646 Mughal gateway marooned on a traffic island where Multan Road meets the canal, the last fragment of a vanished garden built for Shah Jahan's daughter Jahanara. Unfenced, free, and clearest before the afternoon haze.
Pakistan's first metro runs 27km from Ali Town to Dera Gujran on an elevated viaduct, PKR 40 flat whatever the distance. End to end takes 45 minutes above the canal, Chauburji and the edge of the walled city — the cheapest city tour going.
Lahore's oldest Mughal building, a 1530s pleasure pavilion raised for Babur's son Kamran Mirza on an island in the Ravi. Wooden boats push off from the Niazi Bridge bank until dusk and the roof terrace catches the sunset over the water.