Not to miss

Nanga Parbat

The Nanga Parbat massif (the name means 'Naked Mountain' in Kashmiri), in the southernmost part of the Northern Areas, has a 4500m (14,760ft) wall that is so steep even snow refuses to stick. The same can be said of a large number of climbers - they've been dropping from the scene for years. Beside it is a stomach-churning track that climbs up a valley and then over a pass. It regularly claimed jeeps over the side until the route was improved in 1987.

First off, you'll need to get to Gilgit and from there catch a bus or get a jeep to Astor. From Astor you can jeep it to several small villages in the area and after that it's strictly the hard yards on foot.

Lahore

The capital of Punjab is Pakistan's cultural, educational and artistic centre, and easily the most visited city in the country. With its shady parks and gardens, its clash of Moghul and colonial architecture, and the exotic thrill of its congested streets and bazaars, it's not hard to see why.

A collection of some of the city's attractions include: The Mall, an area of parks and buildings with a decidedly British bent; Lahore Museum, the best and biggest in the country; Kim's Gun, the cannon immortalised in Kipling's classic Kim; Aitchison College, an achingly beautiful public school that boasts Imran Khan as a former pupil; Lahore Fort, filled with stately palaces, halls and gardens; and the Old City, where a procession of rickshaws, pony carts, hawkers and veiled women fill the narrow lanes.

Moenjodaro

Of the 165 sites of the Indus Valley civilisation so far uncovered, the remarkable ancient city of Moenjodaro is by far the most impressive visually and archaeologically. Except for the stupa, all of the present layer of excavation is from around 2500 BC. There's also a museum containing relics from the site, including engraved seals and terracotta toys.

Takht-i-Bahi

By far the best and most complete of the ruins of the Gandhara region, which once flourished in the remote valleys of Peshawar and Swat, are those of the 1st to 7th century AD Buddhist monastery Takht-i-Bahi, spectacularly positioned on a rocky hill. It was excavated (and stripped of statuary and friezes) from 1907 to 1913, and later reconstructed.

Chaukundi

Graveyards stretch for many kilometres along the coast around Karachi, but the largest and most impressive tombs and mausoleums are concentrated at Chaukundi. The buildings are constructed of slabs of rock, stacked into oblong pyramids of cubical stone and carved with exquisite designs.