Region of Pakistan

Punjab

Mughal architecture, five rivers, and the country's living cultural heart.

The story of Punjab

Punjab — 'five waters' — is named for the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. Over half of Pakistan's population lives on this plain, farmed through the largest contiguous canal irrigation network in the world.

Lahore has been a capital under the Ghaznavids, the Mughals, the Sikh empire and the British. Badshahi Mosque was completed in 1673, the Shalimar Gardens in 1642, and Rohtas Fort, on the Grand Trunk Road, in 1547.

South of the rivers the land turns dry into Cholistan, where Derawar Fort's forty bastions rise out of the sand and the jeep rally runs every February.

Best time to visit

October to March. Summers reach 45 °C; monsoon runs July to August.

Getting there

Lahore has direct international flights from most GCC and European hubs. Motorway M-2 links Islamabad to Lahore in 4 hours.

Landscape of Punjab

The canal belt

Wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane across the doabs between the rivers.

Cholistan

Roughly 26,000 km² of desert with the dry bed of the Hakra river beneath it.

Salt Range

Low hills holding Khewra, the world's second-largest salt mine.

Rivers and lakes of Punjab

Ravi

Lahore's river, and the boundary of the old Mughal city.

Chenab

The river of the Heer Ranjha and Sohni Mahiwal folk tales.

Head works

Barrages at Marala, Trimmu and Panjnad steer the canal system.

Food of Punjab

Nihari

Simmered overnight; a Lahore breakfast with naan and ginger.

Lahore street food

Phajja's paye, Gawalmandi chaat and charcoal-grilled kebabs.

Sohan halwa

Multan's dense saffron and nut sweet, sold in tins.

Heritage of Punjab

Badshahi Mosque

Completed 1673; its courtyard holds about 100,000 people.

Lahore Fort

UNESCO listed, with the Sheesh Mahal and Alamgiri Gate.

Rohtas Fort

Built 1541–1548 by Sher Shah Suri on the Grand Trunk Road.

Culture and crafts of Punjab

Truck art

Workshops in Rawalpindi and Lahore paint the country's fleet.

Sufi music

Qawwali at the shrines of Data Darbar and Baba Bulleh Shah in Kasur.

Basant

The spring kite festival, long identified with the Walled City.

Wildlife of Punjab

Markhor

The national animal, a wild goat of the northern ranges.

Snow leopard

Roughly 200–420 remain in the Karakoram, Himalaya and Hindu Kush.

Houbara bustard

A winter migrant to the deserts of Balochistan and Cholistan.

Main cities and places in Punjab

Each one opens its own page: its story, rivers and lakes, food, heritage, culture, wildlife and what to see.

History of Punjab

3300–1300 BCE
Indus Valley Civilisation
One of the world's three earliest urban civilisations. Mohenjo-daro (Sindh) and Harappa (Punjab) had planned grid streets, brick sewers, and standardised weights 4,500 years ago. Both are UNESCO World Heritage sites in modern Pakistan.
500 BCE – 500 CE
Gandhara & the Buddhist era
Alexander the Great crossed into what is now Pakistan in 326 BCE. The Mauryan and later Kushan empires made Taxila (Punjab) and Peshawar (KPK) the intellectual centres of Buddhist Gandhara — home to some of the earliest Buddha statues ever carved.
711–1200 CE
Arrival of Islam
In 712 CE, the 17-year-old Umayyad general Muhammad bin Qasim captured Sindh and Multan — one of the earliest Muslim conquests east of Persia. Two centuries later, Mahmud of Ghazni made Lahore his eastern capital (1021), beginning eight centuries of Islamic rule over the region.
1206–1526
Delhi Sultanate & Sufi shrines
The Delhi Sultans ruled from what is now Pakistan and North India. Sufi masters — Data Ganj Bakhsh (Lahore), Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (Sehwan), Bahauddin Zakariya and Shah Rukn-e-Alam (Multan), Baba Farid (Pakpattan) — turned the subcontinent's spiritual landscape and are still visited by millions.
1526–1707
Mughal Empire
Under the Mughals, Lahore served as the imperial capital during Akbar's reign (1584–1598) and remained a premier city. The Badshahi Mosque (1673), Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens (1642), Rohtas Fort, Mahabat Khan Mosque, and Wazir Khan Mosque were all built in this period — most are UNESCO World Heritage sites today.
1799–1849
Sikh Empire
Ranjit Singh unified the Sikh misls and built an empire stretching from the Khyber Pass to Kashmir. He ruled from Lahore Fort until his death in 1839; the empire fell to the British in the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1849).