10-Day Mughal and Sufi Heritage Tour of Pakistan with Mohenjo-Daro

Meet and greet your Pakistan tour guide at the airport and proceed for your check-in at the hotel.

Take a city tour in the afternoon.

Visit the Dhobi Ghat, the city’s famous open-air laundry, the national museum, the mausoleum of Jinnah, who is known as the father of the nation. 

Head to the Tooba mosque with its huge flat dome supported on a low red brick wall.

Later drive to Clifton Beach to watch the waves of the Arabian Sea.

Feast on seafood for dinner in a speciality restaurant, overnight at hotel.

Drive past flat scrubland, and arrive at Makli, the largest necropolis of the world, with a million graves and tombs.

Visit the tombs of bygone kings, generals, scholars and poets. Built with exquisitely carved red sandstone and decorated with glazed tiles, the tombs are a testament to a long-vanished advanced culture.

At Thatta, visit the 17th century Shah Jehan Mosque with its red brick arches and 99 domes.

Continue to drive to 32km long Keenjar Lake Drive through irrigated farmland known for its production of roses and cotton, to visit the town of Bhit Shah. Here lies the most popular Sufi saint of Sind, a renowned poet and popular musician.
A long line of dedicated musicians has been singing the saint’s poetry for the last 250 years. A few km from this town is the handicraft center of Mehran Valley, Halla, known for its Ajrak (block-printed cotton shawls) and glazed tiles.

Overnight at the hotel. 190km (4-5 hour).

Continue to drive along the Indus River through an arid landscape where the dry Kirthar hills dominate the horizon to the west.

Arrive at Sehwan, one of the oldest living towns on the sub-continent which was visited by Alexander the Great in 326BC, and now serves as mystic capital of Pakistan. In the evening we walk to the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (The Red Falcon Saint, Manchar Lake, the largest natural lake on the sub-continent.

The lake supports an extraordinary number of birds and is home to the boat people of the lost Indus civilization: Mohanas. They spend their lives on these wooden boats, fishing in the lake.

Tour the lake in a Mohana’s houseboat, which is propelled with a long bamboo pole and enable you to experience the lifestyle and rhythm of these people.

At Sehwan visit the fort mound, and then walk through the centuries’ old narrow lanes.

At sunset, like all other pilgrims, experience the mystical dance.

Overnight stay at Hotel/GH (235 km, 4/5-hour drive).

With the sun rising over the old city, drive north through irrigated farmland of rice and cotton.

Visit Mohenjo-Daro, the archaeological site of the 5000-year-old Indus Valley civilization.

Excavation here has uncovered the secrets of a civilization that was contemporary to those of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Here the locals lived beside the Indus in a well-planned city with its specially designed drainage system, trading in cotton and bronze.

Dinner and overnight at hotel. (135 km – 2-3 hours)

Follow the quiet route on the right bank for 175km to Mithan Kot.

Passing by small Sindhi villages amid rice and cotton fields, have good opportunities to enjoy bird watching.

Mithan Kot on the bank of Indus is a small town centred around the shrine of the patron poet-saint of the Saraiki language. 

Visit the 19th-century shrine which is thronged by followers from the surrounding villages. At Mithan Kot the Indus River spreads over an area of 16km during the summer.
In winter the river divides into four main branches that can be crossed by bridges of wooden boats, that have been in use here even when Alexander the Great crossed the river back in 326BC.

Once across the final bridge drive to Uch through the irrigated farmland of southern Punjab and enjoy the sunset over the domes of the shrines of the Sufi saints in Uch.

As you arrive at the Chanan Pir, the shrine of the patron saint of the desert, meet curious Cholistani nomads who come here to attend the festival of the saint. The festival is celebrated from the last Thursday in February for seven consecutive Thursdays. As is appropriate for a nomadic saint, there is no actual shrine.

Walk to the monuments of the Derawar that were erected by the Abbasi Kings during the 19th century, including the mosque built in the shadow of the fort, and further south the exquisitely built tombs of royalty which testify to the wealth of this former state.

Drive to the capital city of the former state of Bahawalpur.

Overnight at the hotel. (3-4 hours’ drive).

Multan is one of the oldest living cities on the subcontinent. 

Drive over the Sutlej River to the walled city which has seen many invaders walk through its doors over the last 25 centuries.

In the afternoon tour the old walled city where artisans still work in their shops in narrow streets.

Meals and overnight at hotel. (100 km, 2-3 hours)

Multan was famous for pilgrimages to the Sun God’s temple even before Alexander laid siege to the city in 326 BC. The monuments that remain today date from the Islamic period of 11th to 15th century, when Multan was a center of Sufi teachings. 

Visit the fort mound (one of the landmarks of the city), Rukne-e-Alam a renowned Sufi shrine where musicians sing Sufi poetry. The square & octagonal construction was trendsetting architecture in its day. 

Also, visit the Eid Gah mosque with its tree-lined avenue.

Pay homage at the shrine of the learned Sufi saint, Daâta Hajveri, who came here in the 11th century.

Visit the landmark of Lahore, the historic Baâdshahi mosque, an intricate creation of red sandstone and white marble.

Enter the Lahore Fort, a mosaic of Moghul architecture, with its Palace of a Million Mirrors.

Enter through the Delhi Gate into the old walled city of Lahore, and walk through the crowded bazaar to the Wazir Khan Mosque, an artistic display of multicoloured mosaics of glazed tiles and frescoes. the tomb of Moghul Emperor Jehangir and his beloved Queen Noor Jehan adjoining the Caravan Serai (motel) of Emperor Akbar.

Later visit the Lahore Museum, best known for “The Statue of Fasting Buddha”.

Explore the city on your own during the afternoon.

Enjoy your farewell dinner. 

Transfer to the airport for your international flight back home.