Lahore: a thousand years of capitals
Ghaznavid, Mughal, Sikh and British in turn — and the food, the gardens and the Walled City that each of them left behind.
Read itPunjab
Faisalabad: a city laid out like a flag
Eight bazaars radiating from a clock tower, in a street plan drawn to echo the Union Jack — and the engine of Pakistan's textile trade.
Faisalabad: a city laid out like a flag
Faisalabad is not on many tourist itineraries and it does not need to be on yours. But it has one genuinely remarkable thing, and if you are passing between Lahore and Multan it is worth the detour to stand in the middle of it.
The old city centre is laid out as eight roads radiating from a clock tower, in a pattern deliberately drawn to echo the Union Jack.
A short history
The city was founded in 1890 as Lyallpur, named after Sir James Broadwood Lyall, and was one of the first planned settlements in British India. It was built as the headquarters of the Chenab Colony — one of the great canal irrigation schemes that turned this part of Punjab from scrub into farmland.
The eight roads out from the clock tower became eight bazaars, each historically serving a different part of Punjab. They still do.
In 1979 the city was renamed Faisalabad after King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. Its population went from under 70,000 in 1941 to 3.69 million by 2023, most of that growth arriving with Partition and then with the mills.
Places worth your time
- The Clock Tower and the eight bazaars
- Stand at the base and look down each of the eight. It is the only street plan of its kind in the country.
- Ghanta Ghar bazaars
- Each has its own trade. Wander rather than aim.
- Lyallpur Museum
- For the canal colony story, which explains most of modern Punjab.
- Gatwala Wildlife Park
- A large park on the edge of town, and the easiest green space.
Before you go
November to February. Roughly two and a half hours from Lahore by motorway. Half a day covers the clock tower and the bazaars.
Also in Punjab
Nearby
Rawalpindi: the old city next door to the new capital
Islamabad's twin, and the one with the bazaars, the havelis and five hundred years of history behind it.
Read itMultan: the city of saints and blue tiles
One of the oldest continuously lived-in cities in Asia, with shrines that changed how the whole region builds.
Read itTimeless beauty · Serene waters · Living culture
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