The country that is always in the news for all the wrong reasons!!!
Pakistan — the land of numerous unexplored natural wonders is located at the junction of South, West, and Central Asia. The country that is home to lush valleys, breathtaking mountains, and many beautiful lakes, once witnessed an unparalleled influx of foreign tourists and was known as the heaven for the hippies from the US and Europe in the 60s to 80s. But unfortunately, it suffered a lot due to terrorism and fallen badly from great peaks.
However, due to increased efforts and sacrifices its army made to curb terrorism and to safe keep its borders, the country is back on track to restore the status of traveler’s adventure park that it was once known for.
Here are the top ten reasons why Pakistan should be your next tourist destination.
Have a look…
- International Recognition
Pakistan has some of the best tourist attractions to offer. From beaches in Baluchistan and Sindh to the Forts in Lahore and beautiful valleys of the north like Swat, Kailash and Kumrat. Every part of Pakistan has its own culture and language, which makes it even more interesting and this has been well recognized by the world.
In 2020, Conde Nast Traveler, a renowned UK travel magazine ranked Pakistan as the top tourist destination for 2020.
In 2019, Forbes listed Pakistan as one of the ten coolest places to visit whereas The Broke backpacker stated that Pakistan is an adventure playground.
In 2018, the British Backpacker Society ranked Pakistan as the world’s top travel destination.
In 2010, Lonely Planet termed Pakistan as being “tourism’s ‘next big thing’ for more years than we care to remember”.
2. Treasure Chest of History
There are a lot of historical places in different parts of the country and some of them have been given the status of UNESCO World Heritage sites. Taxila; being the most important of them all that dates back to the 10th century. It is a small city situated around 60 km west of Islamabad which is of paramount significance in the region’s ancient Buddhist history where there is one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries and the remains of one of the first universities of the world as well. Mohenjo-Daro in Sindh province is another historical site where there are the ruins of a big city built in the 3rd century BC.
Below are some of the other historical sites in Pakistan:
- Buddhist Ruins of Takht-i-Bahi and Neighbouring City Remains at Sahr-i-Bahlol — UNESCO heritage site;
- Makli Necropolis, Thatta — UNESCO heritage site;
- Katas Raj Temple; and
- Rohtas Fort; Altit Fort and Baltit Fort.
3. Mughal Architecture
During the reign of Mughal emperors, they built several architectural wonders with amazing decorative work that are an illustrative example of the beautiful Muslim architecture. The majority of those structures are located in India, however, Mughals also built some masterpieces in Lahore (Pakistan) as well as it used to be an important city for Mughals. These masterpieces are more than 350 years old but are still standing in their full glory. Some of the notable structures built by Mughals in Lahore include the following:
- Lahore Fort;
- Tomb of Anarkali, Nur Jehan, Jahangir & Asif Khan, Dai Anga;
- Hiran Minar;
- Akbari Sarai;
- Chauburji;
- Badshahi Mosque Wazir Khan Mosque, Dai Anga Mosque, Begum Shahi Mosque;
- Shalimar Gardens; and
- Shahi Hammam.
4. Highest Paved Road and Border Crossing In The World
The Karakoram Highway (KKH) often referred to as the 8th wonder of the world is also located in Pakistan. The total length of this road is around 1,300, and it stretches from south of Abbottabad to Kashghar in China. The KKH is not just the highest paved highway in the world, it also connects Pakistan and China at Khunjerab Pass at the height of 4,714 meters, which is also the highest border-crossing in the world. Another interesting fact about this border-crossing is that the world’s highest ATM is also located here.
5. Homeland to 5 out of 14 highest mountains of the world
Northern areas of Pakistan are very famous around the world not just because of the natural beauty but also because of the Hindukush and Karakorum Mountain Ranges which are the homeland to 5 out of 14 of the highest mountains in the world. Most of these mountains are located in the Gilgit-Baltistan region and Karakorum region along the Pakistan-China border. Many foreign mountaineers visit Pakistan every year to attempt to climb these gigantic mountains. Many of them successfully reach the summits. However, just trekking to reach the base camps of these mountains through rugged, treacherous, and difficult terrains is a big achievement and a memorable experience in itself.
Five of the highest peaks in the Pakistan region includes:
Karakoram 2 (K2) — 8,611 meters
Nanga Parbat — 8,126 meters
Gasherbrum I — 8,080 meters
Gasherbrum II — 8,034 meters
Broad Peak — 8047 meters
6. Food
Pakistan is a world-famous country known for its variety of foods. From North to South and East to West of the country, you’ll find a number of delicacies that might not be made anywhere else on the Earth. From Kurnoo, Dumpukht, Sajji & Rosh in Balochistan, Kunna Gosht, Saag, brain masala in Punjab, Seekh Kebab, Chicken/mutton Karahi & Painda in KPK & Sindhi Biryani, Saibhaji & Sanna Pakora in Sindh, these are some of the famous foods of Pakistan you should not miss out when you travel to Pakistan.
Bonus: I’d like to let you know that Pakistanis are a big fan of tea — (Chai in the national language) and Pakistan is ranked at 7th for high tea consumption. You should also not miss any opportunity to try different varieties of tea in Pakistan such as Doodh Patti, Masala Chai, Karak Chai, Kashmiri Chai, to name a few.
7. Hospitality
Pakistanis are one of the most hospitable nations on earth and their tales of hospitality are very much famous around the world. They are also known for going above and beyond to offer their guests a warm welcome. Having seen the foreign tourists coming to Pakistan once again after the country’s long battle with terrorism and extremism, Pakistanis are even more hospitable than ever before.
And who can be the best ones to judge other than the foreign tourists including bloggers/vloggers themselves who I’m sure have a lot to share about the hospitality they witnessed on their visit to Pakistan.
Below are some of the foreign bloggers/vloggers who visited Pakistan in the last three to four years.
Eva Zu Beck, Dre Binsky, Samantha, Alex — Lost With Purpose travel blog, Alyne Tamir & Pete R.
8. Significant Improvement In Security Situation
Pakistan is one of the top ten countries badly hit by terrorism, however, due to consistent efforts by the Pakistani Army and its anti-terrorism operations namely, Zarb-e-Azab (2014)and Raddul-Fasaad(2017), Pakistan managed to curb terrorism to a very large extent and it’s efforts have been widely appreciated throughout the world including the United States.
These efforts not only resulted in significant improvement in the country’s security situation but also increased foreigner visits as well. The country witnessed a 68% increase in foreigner visits in 2019 as compared with 2015.
9. Visa On Arrival and E-visa Services
To facilitate the foreign tourists, in 2019, the Government of Pakistan introduced a revolutionary visa on arrival policy, and to ease up the visa process, it also launched e-visa services. The new policy provides visa on arrival facilities to 50 countries whereas e-visa facilities have been extended to 175 countries. Check out the below links to see if your country is included in the list of countries provided with these visa services.
The introduction of this policy resulted in the influx of foreigners in Pakistan to 3.5 million, the highest number of foreigners, Pakistan has ever hosted. While the actual number of foreign tourist arrivals in 2019 is not known, however, it is widely believed that the majority of foreigners traveling to Pakistan were tourists.
10. Extremely Inexpensive
Pakistan is a very affordable country to travel to and is a sunshine destination for budget travelers. Local currency devaluation has further brought the costs down for foreign travelers and traveling, accommodation and quality food is less costly for foreigners now more than ever.
For instance, a dozen eggs, a liter of fresh milk, a liter of petrol, a 2.25-liter bottle of coke, cost around $1 each. Prices of budget hotels + Airbnb start at around $5 a night and the price of a good quality steak at a high-end restaurant costs below $15.
Further, as per the estimates, the cost of living in Pakistan is 70% lower than in the United States whereas rent on average is 89% lower than in the United States.
It’s not that these are the only reasons to visit Pakistan, there are actually tons of other things that you’ll see here and may not experience anywhere else in this world. But to experience all that the country has to offer, you’ll have to visit and see it yourself. Hope to see you soon.
Welcome in advance!!! 😊
About The Author
Hi my name is Ri…
He writes about travel and tourism in Pakistan and wants to change the negative image that international media has always portrayed of Pakistan.
You can connect with him on LinkedIn and Instagram.
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