Day 01: Arrive Quaid-i-Azam Int’l airport Karachi

Meeting on arrival assistance and transfer to Hotel
Overnight

Day 02: Karachi

Full day sightseeing tour of Karachi – we shall start our tour with visit to National Museum of Pakistan – see the Indus valley gallery with rare steatite seals, pottery and bust chief priest(copy) and the famous Dancer(copy) – later see exclusive Gandhara Art gallery with some rare statues from various sites and the Ethnic gallery. Later proceed to the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam – Father of the nation, Empress Market – see the daily products being sold in the bazaar.

Day 03: Karachi/Thatta/Hyderabad – 175 kms

Early morning depart for Hyderabad – our first stop enroute will be at Chaukundi to see an interesting necropolis – see the carvings on the yellow stone slabs are of great interest.

Afterwards continue further and take an off the road to visit the site of Bhanbore – the site which represented the ancient port on the Indus river near the sea – Bhanbore site dates from 1st BC of Scytho-Parthian period – this could be the same site where Alexander the Great sent his naval expedition to find the mouth of Indus river. Continue further to Thatta Patalene of the classical writers, at the time of Alexander the Great’s invasion this was busy port town but we can reckon this town even as early as 2500 BC and could have been sed but the people of Indus Valley Civilization by travelling on the sea to other ports in the region.

We shall visit Makli Hills – to see the largest necropolis of the world. See excellent tombs with exquisite carving in different designs – flora and geometric. These tombs are from different dynastic periods starting from 15th century AD

Day 04: Hyderabad/Sehwan/Larkana – 420 kms

Early morning departure for Larkana enroute we shall make our first stop at Hala – known for its blue pottery – we shall visit a local pottery store and if possible see a workshop.

Later continue to Bhit Shah – we are now on the Sufi trail – the villages and towns revere greatly the famous Sufi poets and Saints living by Indus river towns. We shall visit the Shrine of Sufi Scholar Shah Abudul Latif Bhitai 1792 AD is buried in an exclusive tomb with best of local tile Work. His poetry is known and revered throughout the region with mistrals singing in the streets of these villages you see enroute.
Later continue to Sehwan crossing river Indus we shall then drive along right bank of the river to reach Sehwan – a city whose romance is seen in the air with songs of our Sufi Patron Saint Shahbaz Qalandar who lived in 13th century AD little after the invasion of Mongols. We shall visit the exquisite mausoleum of the great saint which is thronged by local folks. The atmosphere around is very interesting as you see people from different walks of life paying respect at the tomb of the saint.

Day 05: Larakana/Mohenjo-daro/Sukkur – 112 kms

Morning depart for Moenjodaro – the famous Indus valley site 2500BC is the best preserved On arrival we shall visit site – see the main stupa dating from 2nd to 5th AD but the ancient site is far interesting – we shall visit the Great Bath, the Granary, town planning, houses and streets with well laid out plan in burnt brick. Later visit the site museum of Mohenjo-daro – see more collection of seals, the toys, the pottery and jewelry.

Day 06: Sukkur/Bahawalpur – 378 kms

Morning depart for Bahawalpur enroute we may encounter some nomadic or gypsy
movement which usually are travelling a lot at this time of the year. It will be interesting to meet them while they are on the move.

Late we shall take an off the road visit of Uch Sharif – the site of Alexandria on the Indus.Uch is famous point where nearby five rivers join together and which was mentioned by the classical writers in 2nd BC – here Alexander the Great faced local Indian uprising and captured the fortress – this was the point where he decided to return to his home land after the mutiny as his soldiers refused to go further. Well we cannot see the 2nd century BC of anything except much later period tombs. We shall see the tomb of Bibi Jawindi, an Iranian princess and daughter of local ruler. The tomb is partially destroyed by the river but it is worth seeing with its deep blue tile work and Persian influence which we shall see among many monuments in the region

Day 07: Bahawalpur/Multan – 96+96+91 = 283 kms

Morning excursion to Fort Derawar in Cholistan Desert – to see one of the great fort which was part of many forts built in Rajasthan which is extension of now what is Cholistan desert in Pakistan. We shall visit the 9th century Derawar Fort with its extensive area which is inhabited by local folks adding great color to the place – we shall also visit the Moti or the Pearl
Mosque in white marble is worth seeing
Later return to Bahawalpur town – Lunch at local restaurant
Depart for Multan – on arrival transfer to Hotel
Later we shall visit the mausoleum of Shah Rukne Alam – this colossal building is of great
interest in architecture and design in basic Central Asian and Persian character belongs to famous Sufi Saint dates from 14th AD. Shah Ruknuddin Abul Fateh(Shah Rukne Alam) was from a great Sufi family of Suharwardiyya order.
The tomb is situated on a vintage point and will be worth photography in afternoon sun light
Also visit the local bazaar. Time permitting we shall also visit the mausoleum of the Grand
Father and spiritual mentor of Shah Rukne Alam, Bahauddin Zakariya

Day 08: Multan/Harappa/Lahore – 346 kms

Early morning we shall depart for Lahore – enroute we shall make visit of Harappa archaeological site of oldest Indus Valley site 2500 BC. We shall visit the site of a bronze age period site of great importance which had contacts with all nearby sites of the period. The city had well laid out plan with a protective wall situated on high platform – worth seeing is the city plan, the workers platforms and the general plan from a high point.later visit the nearby Archaeological Museum with display of various arte facts from the site.
We shall also visit the local Railway Station of great importance – as during early days of British rule the bricks were needed which were taken from Harappa site not knowing that they were building a station from 2500BC old bricks!!!!

Day 09: Lahore

Full day sightseeing tour of great Moghul City of Lahore – we shall start our tour by visiting Lahore Museum – one of the best in the region. We shall see the Gandhara gallery – see the Famous Fasting Buddha – dates from 1st BC or 1st AD is one of the rare sculpture of its nature and the other is in Peshawar museum. See all the galleries of Lahore Museum.
Later visit Badshahi Mosque constructed by last of the celebrated Moghul King Aurangzeb.
Later visit Lahore Fort – this one of the best Moghul monument where we can see development stages of Moghul architecture – highlights are Baradari – the Hall of audience with its red sandstone buildings built by Akbar the Great, later see Jehangir’s Palace area with ponds and gardens, Dewan-i-Khas – Hall of private audience built by Shah Jehan, the builder king of the Great Moghuls. Later visit Shah Jehan’s private palace area – the Naulakha pavilion
overlooking the view of the mosque and the nearby area. Worth seeing is Shishmahal – the mirror palace hall which was exclusive with décor in murals on the walls. Later we shall depart the fort via Feelpa – Elephants foot stairs note the mosaic work on the walls.

Day 10: Lahore/Khewra Salt mines/Islamabad – 347 + 196 = 543 kms

We shall start after taking an early breakfast departing for Khewra Mines – we shall be restricted to few stops enroute due long distances. On arrival at the Mines Headquarters will be lunch time – we shall have lunch at the Guest House afterwards proceed to the mines – this will be very interesting excursion into the mines which date back from 325 BC when Alexander the Great’s soldier mentioned about these mines as their horses licked the stones (salt stones) the proper mining started during the British rule and then it continues till to this date. There are some interesting monument models in pure salt even there is one section for medical treatment as is common is such mines.
Late we shall proceed to Islamabad via Ketas Raj – medieval Hindu period monuments.

Day 11: Islamabad/Taxila/Islamabad – 45+45 = 90 kms

Morning excursion to Taxila archaeological site dating from 6th BC to 6th AD – we shall visit Archaeological sites of First City Bhir mound, later proceed to Sirkap – the second city in typical Greek planning – see the shrine of Double Headed Eagle. Afterwards proceed to Jaulian Buddhist monastery ruins dating from 2nd to 5th AD – see the well preserved stupas and the monastery in best of stone architecture. Later return to see Taxila Archaeological Museum – worth seeing is the sculpture in stucco and stone. Taxila had more stucco and mud sculpture. See the strong room with jewelry and coins – the famous stele in Aramaic script throws light on the origin of local script Khoroshti dates from 5th BC afterwards return to Islamabad – lunch at local restaurant afternoon Islamabad sightseeing visit Folk Heritage Museum, Shakerparian Hills, and later drive through important buildings of Islamabad and Faisal Mosque