11-Day Pakistan Cultural Tour with Mohenjo-Daro and Lahore

You will be met at Karachi airport and then transferred to your hotel to rest. In the afternoon, enjoy a city tour. Visit 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, and 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. Seafood dinner in a specialty restaurant, overnight at a hotel.

Driving past flat scrubland, we arrive at Makli, the largest necropolis in the world, with a million graves and tombs. We 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 the drive to the 32 km-long Keenjhar 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 Sindh, 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 hotel. (190 km, 4-5 hours)

Continue the 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 subcontinent, which was visited by Alexander the Great in 326 BC and now serves as the mystic capital of Pakistan.

In the evening, we walk to the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, the Red Falcon Saint, and to Manchar Lake, the largest natural lake on the subcontinent. The lake supports an extraordinary number of birds and is home to the boat people of the lost Indus civilization, the Mohanas. They spend their lives on these wooden boats, fishing in the lake.

We tour the lake in a Mohana houseboat, which is propelled along with a long bamboo pole, giving us a feel for 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, we experience the mystical dance. Overnight stay at Hotel/GH. (235 km, 4-5-hour drive)

With the winter sun rising over the old city, we 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 contemporary with 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 the hotel. (135 km - 2-3 hours)

We follow the quiet route on the right bank for 175 km to Mithan Kot. Passing by small Sindhi villages amid rice and cotton fields, we also have good opportunities to enjoy bird watching. Mithan Kot on the bank of the Indus is a small town centered around the shrine of the patron poet-saint of the Saraiki language. We 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 16 km 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 since the time Alexander the Great crossed the river in 326 BC. Once across the final bridge, we 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.

Uch is now a thriving small market town. When Alexander the Great visited here, the town was situated at the confluence of the Chenab and Ravi rivers. From the 11th to the 14th centuries, the town was the center of Sufi Islamic teaching and learning and attracted great Sufi scholars from Central Asia to its universities.

Drive through the lush green cotton belt of Punjab to Chanan Pir on the edge of the Cholistan Desert. As we arrive at Chanan Pir, the shrine of the patron saint of the desert, we will be met by 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 Derawar monuments 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 hotel. (3-4 hours' drive)

Multan is one of the oldest living cities on the subcontinent. We drive over the Sutlaj 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 the 11th to 15th century, when Multan was a center of Sufi teachings. We visit the fort mound, one of the landmarks of the city, and Rukn-e-Alam, a renowned Sufi shrine where musicians sing Sufi poetry. The square and octagonal construction was trend-setting architecture in its day. We also visit the Eid Gah Mosque with its tree-lined avenue.

Full-day city tour. Pay homage at the shrine of the learned Sufi saint, Daata Hajveri, who came here in the 11th century. Visit the landmark of Lahore, the historic Badshahi 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.

We choose the Delhi Gate to enter 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. Visit the tomb of Moghul Emperor Jehangir and his beloved Queen Noor Jehan adjoining Emperor Akbar's Caravan Serai (motel). Later, visit the Lahore Museum, best known for "The Statue of Fasting Buddha". Afternoon free. Farewell dinner.

It's about an hour's drive from Lahore to Islamabad, travelling on the Grand Trunk Road laid by the Pathan Emperor of the United Indian Empire, Sher Shah Suri, crossing the Indus River at Attock. You may stop for a photo at the meeting point of the Indus and Kabul rivers just beyond Attock Bridge. Bypass the important archaeological site of Taxila by evening, and we shall reach Islamabad.

From Islamabad, we will drive 28 km to Taxila, the capital of the Buddhist Gandhara civilization. It is regarded as one of the most important archaeological sites on the subcontinent. We will visit the ruins of a former city, Sirkup, a former monastery, Julian, built on top of a hill, and the splendid site museum that contains artifacts from the sites. Among the museum's collections are gold and silver coins from the time of Alexander the Great (326 BC).

Transfer to the airport for your international flight back home.