3 days
Easy
Lahore Heritage: the Walled City, the Mughal Monuments and Wagah
Three days in Lahore: the Walled City, the fort, Badshahi and Wazir Khan mosques, Shalimar Gardens and the Wagah border ceremony.
Quoted in USD on request
View itineraryTour for international travellers
The Grand Trunk Road: Lahore to Islamabad
The Grand Trunk Road has linked Central Asia with the plains of South Asia for at least 2,500 years, and between Lahore and Islamabad it passes a Mughal capital, the birthplace of the founder of the Sikh Empire and a 16th-century fortress, before ending near the Buddhist ruins of Taxila. This private tour drives it in five days, with a detour into the Salt Range, and with a guide and driver from airport pickup in Lahore to airport drop-off in Islamabad.
- Duration
- 5 days
- Starts and ends
- Lahore to Islamabad
- Best months
- October to March
- Effort
- Easy: road travel of 2 to 5 hours a day and short walks
- Highest point
- About 600 to 700 m at the Katas Raj temples in the Salt Range
- Price
- Quoted in USD
The route
Day by day
- Lahore Fort, Badshahi Mosque and the Wazir Khan Mosque
- Gujranwala, where Ranjit Singh was born in 1780
- Rohtas Fort, a World Heritage Site with 12 gates and 68 bastions
- A ride into the Khewra Salt Mine on its narrow-gauge railway
- The Hindu temples and sacred pond of Katas Raj
- Taxila Museum, the Dharmarajika stupa and Sirkap
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) does not advise against travel to any place on this route, which stays in Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory: it does not enter Azad Kashmir or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and it keeps more than 5 miles from the Indian border. The same advice records recent attacks in Lahore and Islamabad and warns that protests can close roads at short notice, so check your own government's advice and your insurance before booking. If you ask to add the monastery of Jaulian at Taxila, note that it is just inside Haripur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which some governments' advice covers. Check your own government's current advice before you book.
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Day 1
Arrive in Lahore and Badshahi Mosque
We meet you at Allama Iqbal International Airport and drive about 10 km to your hotel, usually 20 to 40 minutes. Late in the afternoon we visit the Badshahi Mosque, built for the emperor Aurangzeb between 1671 and 1673, and the Hazuri Bagh garden in front of it. Dinner is on Fort Road Food Street, which faces the mosque.
Overnight: Lahore
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Day 2
Lahore: the Walled City, the fort and the museum
We enter the old city at Delhi Gate, see the Shahi Hammam of 1635 and walk the old Royal Passage through the bazaars to the Wazir Khan Mosque and Lahore Fort, about 1.5 km in all. In the fort we see the Sheesh Mahal, the Naulakha Pavilion and the 440 m Picture Wall. In the afternoon we visit the Lahore Museum, where Kipling set the opening of Kim, a novel whose hero then travels the Grand Trunk Road; the museum is closed on Fridays and the first Monday of each month.
Overnight: Lahore
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Day 3
Gujranwala, Rohtas Fort and Jhelum
We leave Lahore on the Grand Trunk Road, today the N-5 highway, for Gujranwala, 70 km and about an hour and a half away. The city was the first capital of Ranjit Singh, who was born in its Purani Mandi market in 1780, and we walk in the old city around the Shahi Bazaar before an early lunch. The road then crosses the Chenab and Jhelum rivers to Rohtas Fort, about 125 km and 2.5 to 3 hours further, begun in 1541 for Sher Shah Suri with 4 km of walls. We spend the late afternoon at the fort and drive 24 km to Jhelum for the night.
Overnight: Jhelum
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Day 4
Khewra Salt Mine, Katas Raj and on to Islamabad
We turn off the Grand Trunk Road into the Salt Range and reach Khewra after about 95 km and 2 hours. A small train takes visitors into the mine, the second largest salt mine in the world, to see chambers, brine pools and a mosque built of salt bricks; it stays at 18 to 20 degrees Celsius inside all year. Katas Raj, a group of Hindu temples around a sacred pond whose oldest shrine dates from the 6th century, is 20 km and about half an hour further. From there it is about 160 km to Islamabad by the M-2 motorway, 2 to 2.5 hours.
Overnight: Islamabad
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Day 5
Taxila and departure from Islamabad
Taxila, where the Grand Trunk Road heads on towards Peshawar, is about 37 km from central Islamabad, 45 minutes to an hour. We visit the Taxila Museum, the Dharmarajika stupa and the Indo-Greek city of Sirkap. Islamabad International Airport is about 33 km from Taxila, 45 minutes to an hour, and we take you there for an evening flight; with a later flight there is time for the Faisal Mosque first.
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
- Guided walk through the Walled City of Lahore
- The train ride into the Khewra Salt Mine
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
- Camera fees at museums and monuments, where they are charged
- An extra hotel night in Islamabad if your flight leaves the day after the tour ends
Good to know before you book
How do I get there and back?
You fly into Lahore and out of Islamabad, so ask for an open-jaw ticket. Both airports are listed with direct flights from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Istanbul, Jeddah and Riyadh. The tour can be run in the other direction if that suits your flights better. Routes change, so check with the airlines.
How fit do I need to be? Is altitude an issue?
No special fitness is needed. The longest walk is about three hours in the lanes of old Lahore; Rohtas Fort involves an hour or two on rough paths and steps, and the visit to the salt mine is an easy walk underground. The highest point is in the Salt Range at 600 to 700 m, so altitude is not an issue. The Grand Trunk Road itself is a busy highway shared with lorries and buses, and the days are planned with daylight driving in mind.
What are the hotels and food like?
We use comfortable hotels in Lahore and Islamabad and the best available in Jhelum, a smaller city where the choice is limited. Gujranwala is known in Pakistan for its food, and we stop there for lunch. Vegetarian meals can be arranged if you tell us when you book.
Do I need a visa or any permits?
Almost all foreign visitors need a visa before they travel, applied for online at visa.nadra.gov.pk. The free visa prior to arrival was suspended on 1 January 2026, so expect to pay a fee that depends on your nationality and to wait 7 to 10 working days; apply at least four weeks ahead. The UK government notes that your passport must be valid for at least six months after the date of your application. We send a visa support letter when you book. No permit is needed anywhere on this route. Published guides say that the Taxila Museum closes on the first Monday of each month, so we check the dates when we plan your tour.
What happens if fog, a protest or a closure disrupts the plan?
In December and January dense fog can close the motorway and slow the Grand Trunk Road in the early morning, and we then start later and shorten a stop. Protests can block roads in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad at short notice, and mobile data is sometimes cut; your guide follows the news and changes the route. If a site is closed on the day we replace it with another on the same stretch of road.
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