Islamabad

Overview

Monuments, museums, and the hills behind them

Faisal Mosque, the tent-shaped national mosque built without a single dome, anchors the capital's skyline at the foot of the Margalla Hills. Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay won an international design competition of 43 entries from 17 countries in 1969, and construction, funded by Saudi Arabia, ran from 1976 to 1986; four 260-foot minarets and a main hall and courtyard capacity of roughly 74,000 make it one of the largest mosques anywhere. A short drive south on the Shakarparian ridge, the granite petals of the Pakistan Monument represent the four provinces and three territories, muqarnas-inspired and inaugurated in 2007, right beside the Lok Virsa Heritage Museum, the national collection of folk crafts, textiles, and living artists from every province, and host each year to the Lok Virsa Festival.

Above the mosque, a winding road climbs to Daman-e-Koh, a hillside viewpoint that lays the whole capital out below, at its best around sunset or after dark when the city's grid of lights comes into view. The same Margalla ridge carries the trails of Margalla Hills National Park, pine forest and monkey troops on well-marked paths that climb straight from the city edge. Below the hills, restored courtyards and a Sufi tomb make up Saidpur Village, founded in 1530 as a Gakhar settlement and later a garden retreat for the Mughal emperor Jahangir, rebuilt by the capital authority from 2006 into a small gallery-and-dinner village. Further out at the western edge of the city, the Shah Allah Ditta Caves hold roughly 2,400 years of layered use, Buddhist-era murals, then Hindu sadhus, then Muslim ascetics, beneath a stand of old banyan trees.

Rawal Lake, the reservoir on the Islamabad-Rawalpindi border, is the easier lakeside walk for an evening away from traffic, boating and birdlife rather than a hike. For a full day out of the city, Taxila sits under an hour west, a UNESCO-listed spread of Gandharan Buddhist stupas, monasteries, and museum collections from a valley that was once a genuine crossroads of Central Asian trade and learning. October through March keeps walking and sightseeing comfortable, and Islamabad International Airport puts most of the capital's sights within a half-hour of each other, making it the natural place to add a culture day before or after a flight north to Gilgit, Skardu, or Chitral.