Area guides / Balochistan / Quetta & Ziarat
Area guide
Quetta & Ziarat
Balochistan's highland capital and its juniper hills
Region
Balochistan
When to go
April to October. Winters are cold, and Ziarat is often snowbound
Getting there
Direct flights connect Quetta with Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Ziarat is about three hours by road from Quetta. As with all travel in the province, check current conditions and arrange local support.
Spots
4 key places
Overview
About Quetta & Ziarat
Quetta, capital of Balochistan, lies in a valley ringed by mountains at about 1,680 m, Pakistan's highest major city, in orchard country of apples, grapes and apricots. About 130 km away, Ziarat's ancient juniper forest surrounds the Residency where Muhammad Ali Jinnah spent his last weeks in 1948.
Direct flights connect Quetta with Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Ziarat is about three hours by road from Quetta. As with all travel in the province, check current conditions and arrange local support.
Around Quetta
Hanna Lake is a short outing from the city toward Urak, and the valleys around Quetta are orchard country, full of apple, grape and apricot trees.
Ziarat
Ziarat became its own district in 1986. Its juniper woodland, with trees estimated to be thousands of years old, and the Residency are best seen with an overnight stay rather than a rushed day trip.
Top sights in Quetta & Ziarat
Region guide →Field Guides
All places →
Quetta
Quetta is Balochistan's provincial capital, a highland city at roughly 1,700 m ringed by the Zarghoon and Chiltan mountains. Cooler and drier than the plains, it sits in genuine orchard country, apple, grape, apricot and pomegranate trees fill the surrounding valleys, and its bazaars are known nationally for dried fruit, nuts, and Balochi carpets. For most travellers, Quetta is the natural base for day trips to Hanna Lake and Ziarat, and the meeting point of two historic mountain passes, Bolan to the south and Khojak to the west.
Hanna Lake
Hanna Lake is a turquoise reservoir set at about 1,980 m in the hills of the Urak Valley, roughly 10 km east of Quetta, the largest lake in Balochistan and a rare, striking splash of water on an otherwise arid plateau. British colonial administrators built it in 1894 to secure a reliable water supply for Quetta, which suffered from chronic scarcity and depended on erratic mountain streams; the reservoir also recharged the karez system, the underground aqueducts that had sustained local farming for centuries. Fed by springs and streams off the Zarghoon Mountains, its waters take on a vivid turquoise colour against the terraced, pine- and pistachio-covered hills around it.
Ziarat Juniper Forest
The Ziarat juniper forest is one of the largest and oldest juniper forests in the world, a vast, slow-growing woodland spread across the highlands around the hill town of Ziarat in Balochistan, where some of the gnarled trees are estimated to be thousands of years old. Designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, it is a living relic of an ancient ecosystem, home to wildlife including the markhor and Suleiman markhor, wolves, and birds of prey. Ziarat itself adds a layer of history as the place where Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, spent his final months.
Quaid-e-Azam Residency, Ziarat
The Quaid-e-Azam Residency at Ziarat is the colonial-era wooden lodge where Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, spent the final two months and ten days of his life in 1948, gravely ill and advised by his doctors to seek Ziarat's cooler, drier air. Built in 1892 as a sanatorium and later converted into the summer residence of the Agent to the Governor General, the building was renamed and declared a national asset after Jinnah's death. It stands among the world's second-largest juniper forest, some of whose trees are thousands of years old, a striking, fragrant setting for one of Pakistan's most solemn heritage sites.
Resorts
All resorts →GreenPak stays in this area are listed on the region guide.