Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Peshawar, Swat and the Kalash
Apply for your eVisa- Code:KP
- Type:province
- Population:26.9M (2011)
- Area:74,521 km²
- Capital:Peshawar
Introduction
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is Pakistan's northwestern province, a land of the Pashtuns running from the Indus plains up into the mountains where the Hindu Kush meets the Himalaya. It is one of the most historically layered corners of the country — the western approach to the subcontinent for three thousand years — and today it pairs the ancient bazaar city of Peshawar with some of Pakistan's most beautiful mountain country: the green Swat valley, the remote Kalash valleys of Chitral, and the pine-clad hills of the Galyat.
Overview
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's deep past belongs to Gandhara, the Buddhist civilisation whose art and monasteries are covered by Taxila and Gandhara; this page is the living province around it. From Peshawar, one of the oldest cities in South Asia, to the green mountain valleys of the north, it blends old caravan bazaars, alpine forests and cultures found nowhere else, only a few hours from Islamabad. It is one of the country's most varied and rewarding faces.
Discover Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Peshawar is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in South Asia, and its walled old city is the cultural heart of the Pashtun world. The famous Qissa Khwani Bazaar — the bazaar of the storytellers — took its name from the merchants and travellers who once traded news and tales here at the eastern end of the Khyber caravan route, and it remains a dense, aromatic warren of tea houses, spice sellers and coppersmiths. Around it, the seventeenth-century Mahabat Khan Mosque lifts its white minarets above the rooftops, the carved wooden Sethi Mohalla mansions recall the city's Silk Road merchant wealth, and the streets run on qahwa green tea and the sizzle of chapli kebabs. Peshawar rewards the traveller who walks its lanes slowly and looks up.
Ways to Experience This Destination
The storied Qissa Khwani bazaar, the Mahabat Khan Mosque and the carved Sethi mansions of the ancient caravan city.
The green Switzerland of Pakistan — Mingora, the meadows of Kalam and the ski slopes of Malam Jabba.
The remote Kalash valleys and their spring festivals, under Tirich Mir, reached over the high Shandur Pass.
Pine-forest retreats like Nathia Gali and Ayubia, an easy summer escape a couple of hours from Islamabad.
Frequently asked questions
This overview comes from Visaja's worldwide missions database (visaja.com), checked against official government sources; for binding answers, the mission itself always has the final word.