Bahawalpur
Pakistan · Punjab · 116 m
Description
Bahawalpur was the seat of a princely state that kept its own nawabs until 1955, and they built palaces on a scale the rest of the Punjab did not, the Noor Mahal of 1875 in an Italianate style with a mosque beside it. What most visitors drive out for is Derawar, a square fort in the Cholistan desert with forty round bastions thirty metres high, visible for a long way across the sand. Uch Sharif to the west holds tiled Sufi tombs with collapsed domes. The desert jeep rally runs in February. Derawar stands a hundred kilometres out into the desert on a tarred road.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 2 to 4 days (optimal 3 days)
Travel season
Best time to visit: November – March
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Noor Mahal
- Derawar Fort in the Cholistan desert(Day trip)
- Cholistan desert and its camel tracks
- Tiled Sufi tombs of Uch Sharif(Day trip)
- Cholistan desert jeep rally (approx. February)
- Darbar Mahal and Gulzar Mahal
- Lal Suhanra National Park(Day trip)
- Bahawalpur Museum
- Central Library and the nawabs' buildings
- Camel rides out to the fort at sunset
Getting there
- Airports:
- BHV
- Train stations:
- Bahawalpur