Rawalpindi: the old city next door to the new capital

A short history

The area sits inside what was ancient Gandhara and has been lived in for a very long time. The modern city dates from 1493, when a Gakhar chief named Jhanda Khan restored the settlement and gave it the name Rawalpindi — the village of Rawal.

Under Sikh rule from the mid-1760s the city was deliberately grown by inviting traders in from other commercial centres, and the merchant havelis they built are still standing in the old neighbourhoods, many of them with their carved wooden fronts intact.

After the Second Anglo-Sikh War the British made it a garrison town — the largest of their Northern Command — with a permanent cantonment from 1851 and municipal status in 1867. It became the army's headquarters after 1947, and in 1959 the interim capital of Pakistan while Islamabad was being built.

Places worth your time

Raja Bazaar

The old city's market, and the reason to come. Loud, tight and entirely functional. Best in the late afternoon.

The havelis of Bhabra Bazaar and Bagh Sardaran

Sikh and Hindu merchant mansions from the nineteenth century, many still occupied and most unmarked. Worth wandering rather than ticking off.

Saddar

The British-era retail quarter, and a very different city from the old town half an hour away on foot.

Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium

Hosted World Cup matches in 1996. If there is a game on, go.

Before you go

October to March. Fifteen minutes from Islamabad and the departure point for road journeys up the Karakoram Highway. Half a day is enough; a full day if you like markets.