Welcome to the Land of Breathtaking Vistas

In recent years Pakistan has emerged as one of the leading tourist destinations for travellers from all over the world

Pakistan, a culturally and socially diverse country, is a land with magical and mystical beauty. Boasting a civilisation going back to millennia, the country is a bastion of cultural relics, inherited from knowledge and experience of communities, historians, artists, archeologists, and anthropologist. The country’s spiritual heritage is epitomised by the mosques, shrines, temples, churches, gurduwaras, and mandirs that it has preserved over time immemorial. The US magazine Condé Nast Traveler ranked Pakistan as No.1 travel destination for tourism in 2020.

Taxila, an ancient city, is a trove of treasures with Buddhist Stupas and archeological remains and the tales of history tell us that Thomas the Apostle came to present day Taxila in the first century AD. Deep in the Kalasha valleys of Chitral, you can meet the indigenous tribe who are believed to be descendants of Alexander the Great. Due to its cultural power, the World Economic Forum has placed Pakistan among the top 25 per cent of global destinations for its UNESCO ‘World Heritage Sites’.

Pakistan’s landscape is unique and varied, with high altitude mountain ranges in the north; a series of low mountain ranges from north to southwest; plains and deserts to east; and warm and captivating beaches of the Arabian Sea to the south. With 7,253 known glaciers, Pakistan has more glacial ice than any other country on earth outside the polar regions.

The northern areas of Pakistan meet the three spectacular mountain ranges, Karakoram, Hindukush, and the Himalayas. Pakistan has five of the 14 highest independent peaks in the world (the eight thousanders), including K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I and II, and Broad Peak. Home to 108 peaks above 7,000 meters and over four thousand peaks above 6,000 meters, an entire series can be devoted to the mountains of Pakistan. Other than the lofty mountains, the north offers cultural heritage, beautiful valleys, natural lakes, glaciers and an array of rare fauna and flora. The polo festival at Shandur top in Gilgit Baltistan is an out of world experience with the backdrop of snowy mountains, alpine flowers, and sparkling lakes.

Pakistan’s four provinces have rich cultural diversity with differences in food, art, traditions, and way of life. Karachi, the port city has landmarks such as Empress Market, the Bristol Hotel, Frere Hall, and the founding father Quid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s mausoleum. Peshawar, known as the ‘City on the Frontier’, is located on the crossroads of central and south Asia with historic sites, and Qissa Kahwani bazaar’s inescapable beauty. Baluchistan has breathtaking attractions such as Quetta, nicknamed the ‘fruit garden of Pakistan’, and the Urak Valley, Quaid-e-Azam’s residency Ziarat, and Pishin valley among many others.

A serene abode to nature lovers, the lush green Kashmir, bestowed with nature’s bounties, is ideal for sporting activities like skiing, paragliding and river rafting. In the north, you can live at the Khaplu Palace’s mid-19th century imperial building like Baltistani royalty. To experience mughal architecture, a visit to Lahore with sights of Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens, and the Badshahi Mosque is a must. New York Times picked Lahore as one of the top places to visit in 2021.

The writer is Director General (Americas) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the views expressed are his personal opinion.