Destination: Pakistan

LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL ITINERARY INFORMATION

Itinerary: Lahore to the Khyber Pass

ONE TWO TWO WEEKS

It’s about 500km from Lahore to the famed Khyber Pass, via romantic ruins, forts and bazaars. Take a week or two and have an adventure.



Contemplating this mountain pass to Afghanistan conjures images of lawless, gun-totin’ Pashtuns and perhaps an unintended one-way journey! The truth is that it’s perfectly safe – thanks to your armed Afridi gunman – but it’s no less exciting for that.

Start in Lahore, the country’s cultural capital, which boasts some stunning Mughal architecture, a buzzing Old City, tempting eateries and an array of sights including the historic Lahore Fort and brilliant Badshahi Mosque. From Lahore join the mad rush along the Grand Trunk Road through the barren Salt Range to those unlikely twins Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Pause in Taxila to see the wonders of Buddhist Gandhara on your way to pulse-quickening Peshawar. A stroll through Peshawar’s Old City bazaars is an eye-opening essential. Organising your permit and armed guard is part of the thrill of travelling up the Khyber Pass.

The official entrance to Khyber Agency is at Jamrud Fort. From here on houses are mini forts – high walls, solid gates and watchtowers with gun slits – and the road (and the railway) climbs and winds into the Suleimun Range. At Ali Masjid the road squeezes through its narrowest passage. The last main town before the border is Landi Kotal, an erstwhile smugglers bazaar, still with a few gunshops. Here the working railway stops, though the ruins of tracks, bridges and tunnels continue to the border. Your stop, however, is just short of the border at Michni checkpoint.