6 days
Easy
The Gandhara Buddhist Trail
Six days from Islamabad to Lahore: the stupas, monasteries and museum of Taxila, the Mankiala stupa and the Fasting Buddha.
Quoted in USD on request
View itineraryTour for international travellers
Indus Valley Civilisation: Harappa and Mohenjo-daro
The Indus Valley Civilisation built planned brick cities with drains, wells and standard weights more than 4,000 years ago, and its two best-known sites, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, are both in Pakistan. This private tour visits Harappa by road from Lahore and reaches Mohenjo-daro by flying from Karachi to Sukkur, and because Mohenjo-daro lies in a part of Sindh that the UK government advises against visiting, that leg is written so that you can take it or leave it.
- Duration
- 7 days
- Starts and ends
- Lahore to Karachi
- Best months
- November to February
- Effort
- Easy: road travel, three short domestic flights and walking on open sites with no shade
- Highest point
- About 220 m at Lahore; the route follows the Indus plain down to the sea
- Price
- Quoted in USD
The route
Day by day
- Harappa, the site that gave the civilisation its name, lived in from about 3300 to 1300 BC
- The Harappa Museum, founded on the site in 1926
- The tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam on the fort mound at Multan, built from 1320 to 1324
- The Priest-King, a soapstone figure 17.5 cm high, in the National Museum of Pakistan in Karachi
- Mohenjo-daro, a World Heritage Site since 1980, with its Great Bath and street grid
- The site museum at Mohenjo-daro
This is a private tour. Dates, pace and hotels are set for your group and confirmed in writing with your quote.
Travel advice, October 2026: As of October 2026 the UK Foreign Office (advice updated 22 September 2026) advises against all but essential travel to all areas of Sindh north of and including Nawabshah, and both Mohenjo-daro, in Larkana district, and Sukkur are inside that area, so Days 5 and 6 of this tour go against UK advice and your travel insurance may not cover them. We fly to Sukkur and drive the last 114 km instead of crossing upper Sindh by road, which shortens the time spent there but does not take you out of the advised-against area, so the decision is yours and we run the tour without those two days if you prefer. Lahore, Harappa, Multan and Karachi are not under UK advice (Dera Ghazi Khan, west of Multan, is, and we do not go there), though Canada advises against non-essential travel to most of Karachi outside the airport road and a few named districts. Check your own government's current advice before you book.
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Day 1
Arrive in Lahore
We meet you at Allama Iqbal International Airport, about 15 km from the centre of Lahore, and drive you to your hotel. If you land early enough there is time for the Lahore Museum on the Mall, which has Indus Valley material among its collections; it is closed on Fridays and on the first Monday of each month. In the evening your guide goes through the plan, including the choices for the Sindh leg.
Overnight: Lahore
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Day 2
Harappa and on to Multan
Harappa is about 200 km south-west of Lahore and 24 km west of Sahiwal, a drive of around 3.5 hours. At its largest, between about 2600 and 1900 BC, the city covered some 150 hectares and may have had up to 23,500 people; much of its brick was carted away in the 19th century as ballast for the Lahore to Multan railway. We walk the excavated mounds with your guide and visit the museum, which moved to its present building in 1967 and has two galleries of seals, pottery, tools, figurines and burials. Multan is a further 155 km, about 2.5 hours.
Overnight: Multan
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Day 3
Multan and the flight to Karachi
The morning is for old Multan: the tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam, built from 1320 to 1324 on the north-western edge of the fort mound and about 35 m high, and the nearby shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya. The airport is a short drive from the centre. Pakistan International Airlines and Fly Jinnah both fly from Multan to Karachi, and we take whichever flight suits the day.
Overnight: Karachi
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Day 4
The National Museum of Pakistan in Karachi
The National Museum, in Burns Garden, has eleven galleries, and its Indus rooms hold seals, terracotta toys and statues from Mohenjo-daro, including the Priest-King, a soapstone figure 17.5 cm high. Seeing them before the site makes the bare brick streets easier to read. The afternoon is free, and travellers who are not taking the Sindh leg use Days 5 and 6 as described in the notes below.
Overnight: Karachi
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Day 5
Fly to Sukkur and drive to Mohenjo-daro
Pakistan International Airlines is the only airline flying between Karachi and Sukkur. From Sukkur airport it is about 114 km to Mohenjo-daro, roughly 2 hours by road through Larkana district. Depending on the flight time we visit the site museum and the citadel mound this afternoon or leave both for the morning. The night is spent in Larkana, about 30 km from the site, or in Sukkur, whichever suits the flights.
Overnight: Larkana or Sukkur
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Day 6
Mohenjo-daro and the return to Karachi
Mohenjo-daro was built around 2500 BC and abandoned around 1700 BC, and at least 40,000 people are thought to have lived there. On the citadel mound, about 12 m high, are the Great Bath, a brick tank about 12 m by 7 m and 2.4 m deep, and a Buddhist stupa added in the 2nd century AD; to the east the lower city is laid out in streets that meet at right angles, with covered drains and wells. We start early to avoid the heat, drive back to Sukkur and fly to Karachi. The order of Days 5 and 6 depends on the airline's timetable.
Overnight: Karachi
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Day 7
Departure from Karachi
Jinnah International Airport is about 18 km from central Karachi, around half an hour outside the rush hour. This day also gives a margin if the Sukkur flight is delayed by a day. We drive you to the airport for your flight home.
The detail
What your quote covers
What is included
- Airport pickup and drop-off in Pakistan
- Private vehicle with an experienced driver for the whole route
- English-speaking guide throughout
- Accommodation on a twin-share basis with breakfast
- Entry tickets, park fees and permits named in the itinerary
- Visa support letter for your Pakistan e-visa
- Booking of the domestic flights, and rebooking if they are cancelled
- Vehicle and driver in Sukkur and Larkana for the Mohenjo-daro leg
What is not
- International flights
- Pakistan visa fee
- Travel insurance, which every traveller must carry
- Lunches and dinners unless stated
- Domestic flights, quoted separately with your itinerary
- Tips and personal expenses
- Extra nights or transport caused by flight cancellations or road closures beyond the margin in the plan
Good to know before you book
How do I get there and back?
You fly into Lahore and out of Karachi, both of which have international airports. Inside Pakistan the tour uses three domestic flights: Multan to Karachi, Karachi to Sukkur and Sukkur back to Karachi. Several airlines also fly between Karachi and Lahore if you need to return to your arrival airport.
Can I fly straight to Mohenjo-daro?
Mohenjo-daro has its own airport beside the ruins, but we found no scheduled passenger flights to it in 2025 or 2026, and Pakistan International Airlines' destination list shows the route as ended. The nearest working airport is Sukkur, which the same airline serves from Karachi and Islamabad. We do not know of any other airline on the route, and the timetable changes, so the dates of Days 5 and 6 are fixed around the flights on offer when you book.
What if I decide not to go to Mohenjo-daro, or the flight is cancelled?
You can decide at any point up to Day 4. Without the Sindh leg the tour either ends in Karachi on Day 5, or uses the time for the Makli necropolis and the Shah Jahan Mosque at Thatta, about 100 km east of Karachi and well south of the area under UK advice. If the Sukkur flight is cancelled we try the next one, using Day 7 as the margin. The road from Karachi to Mohenjo-daro is about 440 km and 7 to 8 hours each way through upper Sindh, and we do not offer it as a substitute.
How hot is it, and how much walking is there?
The sites are flat, and each takes two to three hours on foot over brick and bare earth with almost no shade. Mohenjo-daro has a desert climate with a record high of 53.5 °C, measured in May 2010, and summer on the plains of Punjab and Sindh is too hot for this tour, which is why we run it from November to February. Even then bring a hat, sunscreen and plenty of water, and expect cold mornings and occasional fog in Punjab in December and January.
What are the hotels and food like?
We use comfortable hotels in Lahore, Multan and Karachi, and the best available in Larkana or Sukkur, where the choice is limited and standards are simpler. Meals are Pakistani dishes with rice, bread, lentils, vegetables, chicken and, in Sindh, river fish. Tell us about dietary needs when you book.
Do I need permits, and what about the visa?
No permit is needed for Harappa or Mohenjo-daro beyond the entry tickets, which are included. Almost all foreign visitors need a Pakistan visa before arrival, applied for online at visa.nadra.gov.pk; published guides give 7 to 10 working days for processing, the fee depends on your nationality, and your passport must be valid for at least six months after the date of your application. Carry your passport every day, as it is checked at airports and hotels.
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