Lahore
Capital Of Punjab And Pakistan'S Second City; Former Capital Of The Mughal And Sikh Empires, With Two World Heritage Monuments · Lahore, Punjab
Lahore is the cultural capital of Pakistan and the city its people love most, the old Mughal capital of the Punjab whose saying goes that whoever has not seen Lahore has not been born. It was a seat of the Mughal emperors, then the capital of Ranjit Singh's Sikh empire, then a great city of British India, and all three left their mark. The Walled City, Lahore Fort and the Badshahi Mosque hold the Mughal heart; the Mall Road carries the British city of red-brick Indo-Gothic buildings - the Lahore Museum, with Kim's Gun outside, the High Court and Government College - and Minar-e-Pakistan marks where the resolution for Pakistan was passed in 1940. Across the Ravi stands the Tomb of Jahangir. Lahore is above all a food city, famous across South Asia, and a city of poetry, universities and the Lahore Literary Festival. Its hard truth is the air: from about November to January smog makes Lahore one of the most polluted cities in the world, sometimes shutting schools. Come in February to April or in October.
Lahore, from the Walled City to the Mall Road and Gulberg, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
A city, open at all times. The main monuments - Lahore Fort, the Badshahi Mosque, the Shalamar Gardens and the Lahore Museum - keep their own hours, and the museum closes one day a week. Allama Iqbal International Airport has domestic and international flights, and Lahore is about four to five hours from Islamabad on the motorway. Winter smog can bring school and road closures.