Saidpur Village Islamabad: History, Food and What to See

Saidpur Village in Islamabad is a village founded in the Mughal period at the foot of the Margalla Hills, below Daman-e-Koh, about 9 km by road from Zero Point and under 5 km from Faisal Mosque. It is best visited in the evening for dinner in one of its restored old houses, and entry is free; you pay only for what you eat. Beyond the food, the draw is the village itself: narrow stone lanes, a 16th-century Hindu temple and old houses that the CDA turned into an arts and crafts quarter.

This guide covers the history behind the village, what you can actually see today, what changed in 2025 and 2026, where to eat, and the walking path that climbs above it into the hills.

The history of Saidpur

Saidpur is one of the oldest settled sites in the Islamabad area. Wikipedia records that it was founded in 1530 by Mirza Fateh Ali and first called Fatehpur Baoli, then renamed after Sultan Said Khan, a Gakhar chief. The emperor Akbar is said to have given the village to Said Khan for his family's service against Sher Shah Suri, and when Said Khan's daughter married Akbar's son Saleem, the future emperor Jahangir, her father gave her Saidpur as a wedding gift. In Mughal times it was a garden retreat fed by a natural spring.

In 1580 the Mughal commander Raja Man Singh visited and set the site up as a place of Hindu worship, with ponds named after characters from the Ramayana. For centuries afterwards it stayed a mixed community of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, with a mosque, a Hindu temple and a Sikh gurdwara close together in the same small cluster of lanes, a layout that still marks the village today. From 2006 the Capital Development Authority restored the old core, with a budget of Rs 400 million according to Wikipedia, turning empty and crumbling buildings into an arts, crafts and dining quarter while keeping the stone lanes and much of the original layout.

What is there to see?

The temple

The best-known building in Saidpur is a small Hindu temple, sometimes called the Ram Mandir or Ram Kund Temple, thought to date to the 16th century. Local tradition connects the site to the Ramayana, with a spring nearby said to have been used by Rama during his years of exile.

The temple has been preserved as a heritage building rather than an active place of worship. Its idols were removed and it has not been used for worship since 1947, and Arab News reported in 2020 that Hindus were still not allowed to pray there. Its condition and accessibility have varied as restoration work has continued on and off, so treat it as something to see from the lanes around it rather than a site with fixed opening hours, and don't expect a guided tour of the interior.

The lanes and old houses

Saidpur's real character is in its narrow stone streets and the terraced houses climbing the hillside above them, many restored with their original mud-brick and stone construction. In the daytime you can walk the lanes and look into craft shops selling pottery, textiles and small souvenirs, most of them aimed at the evening crowd rather than serious browsing.

The Sikh gurdwara and mosque

Close to the temple stand a small mosque and a Sikh gurdwara, part of the same interfaith cluster that gave old Saidpur its reputation. The gurdwara was built next to the temple in the 20th century and was used as a school for teaching the words of Guru Nanak. Neither is set up for visitors in the way the restaurants and craft shops are; view them from outside as part of the walk through the village.

What changed in 2025 and 2026?

Saidpur has been under work and in the news, and it helps to know why before you go.

• A CDA upgrade. In July 2025 the CDA chairman inspected beautification work at the village, with architects and horticulture experts from Baku advising on the revamp (APP). No completion date was announced, so expect some fenced-off corners.
• The July 2025 flood. On 21 July 2025 heavy rain over the Margallas, 157 mm at Saidpur, flooded the village's nullah and swept away at least three cars and several motorbikes (Dawn). Residents blamed decades of building that had narrowed the stream. In heavy monsoon rain, don't park beside the nullah.
• Clearances in 2026. The CDA's anti-encroachment campaign had reached Saidpur by April 2026, and Arab News reported homes being demolished. The CDA said the operation was aimed at construction on the outer side, and that it would take over the old village but would not demolish the area renovated the year before (Dawn, 22 April 2026), so the restored core was not the target.

An Express Tribune report in 2022 had already described sewage in the old streams and ponds, so the water features are not the draw they once were.

Where to eat in Saidpur

Saidpur's restaurants sit in restored old houses stacked up the hillside, most with outdoor seating and views back down over the temple and the lanes below. Pakistani and Mughlai food dominates the menus, with karahi and barbecue among the most ordered dishes, and the terraces are where people come for the setting as much as the food. Prices and specific names change fairly often as places open and close, so check current reviews before booking a table for a group.

Evenings, especially weekends, are the busiest time, with the buildings lit up and every terrace filling. On a weekday you can usually get a table without booking ahead; on a Friday or Saturday night it is worth calling first.

The walk above the village

A path climbs out of Saidpur into the forest above, following a small stream partway up before turning into a valley that leads, for experienced walkers, towards the Pir Sohawa side of the ridge. It is not one of the numbered CDA trails and is less developed and less signed than Trails 3 or 5, so it suits people who already know the hills or are walking with someone who does.

For a straightforward, well-marked hike instead, the numbered trails start a short drive away along Margalla Road; our comparison of every Margalla Hills trail covers where each one starts and how hard it is. If you would rather reach a viewpoint than walk into open forest, Daman-e-Koh is a short drive up the same hillside above Saidpur, with a terrace looking straight back over the city.

Getting there

Saidpur is a short drive from most of central Islamabad, off Margalla Road at the foot of the hills. Measured with the OSRM route planner, it is about 9 km from Zero Point, 6 km from Centaurus Mall and 4.6 km from Faisal Mosque, so 10 to 20 minutes in normal traffic. Ride-hailing apps cover it easily, which is the simplest option for an evening visit when parking near the busiest restaurants can be tight. There is no public bus service running directly into the village itself.

How to fit it into a day

Saidpur works best as the last stop of a Margalla foothills day rather than the first:

1. Afternoon: Faisal Mosque, after Asr. See our Faisal Mosque guide for timings and dress code.
2. Sunset: Daman-e-Koh, for the view and the city lights coming on.
3. Evening: Saidpur Village for dinner in one of the hillside restaurants, a short drive back down.

Who Saidpur suits

Saidpur suits anyone spending an evening in the Margalla foothills who wants dinner with some atmosphere rather than a standard restaurant. Families, couples and groups all work well here, and the free entry makes it an easy add-on to a day that already includes the mosque and the viewpoint.

It suits sightseers less well if they come expecting a living historic village or full access to the temple: what you actually get is a restored dining and craft quarter built around old structures, at its best after dark. If that is what you are after, it is a straightforward, enjoyable stop; if you want deeper history, Taxila and the old city of Rawalpindi have more to show. For the rest of Islamabad's sights, see our guide to places to visit in the capital, or tell us your dates if Islamabad is part of a longer trip north.

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