Pakistan City-to-City Road Distance Chart

This Pakistan road distance chart gives approximate road distances in kilometres between the main cities and between Islamabad and the popular northern destinations. Lahore to Islamabad is about 370 to 390 km, Lahore to Karachi about 1,200 to 1,235 km, and Islamabad to Skardu roughly 600 to 700 km, depending on the route and where you measure from. Sources differ by tens of kilometres for almost every pair, so every figure here is a range or a rounded number.

Use it to size up a trip and set a realistic budget of hours and fuel. Then check the exact route in a navigation app on the day, particularly for mountain roads, where distance is a poor guide to time.

Distances between major cities

The table shows road distance, not straight-line distance, rounded to the nearest 5 or 10 km where sources disagree.

The Karachi to Lahore figure runs through Hyderabad, Sukkur and Multan, using the M-9, the N-5, the M-5 and the M-3 in turn; our Karachi to Lahore by road guide breaks down each section. The Hyderabad to Sukkur stretch is about 350 to 370 km on the N-5, because the M-6 motorway there is still under construction. Sukkur to Multan on the M-5 is 392 km.

Distances from Islamabad to the north

The mountain distances below are the ones people ask about most. They are less exact than the city figures, because sources measure from different starting points in Islamabad and Rawalpindi and because several destinations have more than one road.

Here is the catch with the north: distance says little about time. Islamabad to Naran is a little over 280 km but takes many hours, while the M-2 covers more than that in about four. For each route in detail, see our guides on Islamabad to Skardu by road, Islamabad to Gilgit by road and Islamabad to Murree.

How to turn distance into drive time

A simple planning method works well:

• Motorway: divide the distance by 80 to 100 km/h. That covers tolls, slower trucks and short breaks. The legal maximum for cars is higher, but few families average it.
• National highway (N-5, N-25 and similar): divide by 50 to 60 km/h. Trucks, junctions and towns slow it down.
• Mountain roads: divide by 30 to 40 km/h, and less on unpaved or landslide-prone sections.
• Add stops. Allow 20 to 30 minutes for each fuel and prayer break, and an hour for a proper meal.
• Add a buffer for Eid, Fridays, fog in winter and monsoon landslides.

So Lahore to Islamabad is comfortably four to five hours, and Karachi to Lahore is a two-day drive, not one. In the mountains, our distance from Islamabad to the northern areas guide gives the same distances with the times that matter.

Why the numbers differ between websites

You will find different figures on almost every site, for good reasons:

• Start and end points differ. Lahore Fort, Lahore airport and the motorway interchange are all "Lahore", and the difference can be 20 km.
• Route choice. Motorway and highway routes can differ by 50 km or more.
• Roads change. New sections open, and closures push traffic onto detours.
• Some sites measure in miles, then convert.

If a distance matters for something like a rental agreement or fuel budget, measure it yourself on a navigation app for your own start and end points.

Safety: routes to check before you set out

A chart shows how far a place is, not whether the road is safe to use. The UK government advises against all travel, or all but essential travel, to parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Peshawar and Swat, to all of Balochistan, to parts of Sindh north of Nawabshah, and to the Karakoram Highway between Mansehra and Chilas. Pakistani travellers still use many of these roads, but conditions change quickly. Check local news and current police advice before you go, and if you hold a foreign passport, check your own government's advice, because travelling against it can void insurance.

Distances to Peshawar, Quetta and other places listed above are given here for planning, not as a recommendation to go. To plan a route with current conditions in mind, see our trip planning page.

Which trips are realistic in a day?

A rough sorting by driving time:

• Day trips: Islamabad to Murree, Lahore to Faisalabad, Karachi to Hyderabad.
• A long day: Lahore to Islamabad by car or Islamabad to Peshawar, if you have checked the security situation.
• Two days or more: Karachi to Lahore, Karachi to Quetta, and Islamabad to Skardu, Gilgit or Hunza by road.

If a distance looks long for one day, it usually is. Break the journey up and use a hotel in a city on the way, rather than pushing through tired.

Frequently asked questions