Top 3 Most Beautiful Places in Pakistan

3- Karakoram Highway

The N-35 or National Highway 35 (Urdu: قومی شاہراہ 35‬‎), known more popularly as the Karakoram Highway (Urdu: شاہراہ قراقرم‬‎) and China-Pakistan Friendship Highway, is a 1300 km national highway in Pakistan which extends from Hasan Abdal in Punjab province of Pakistan to the Khunjerab Pass in Gilgit-Baltistan, where it crosses into China and becomes China National Highway 314. The highway connects the Pakistani provinces of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan with China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The highway is a popular tourist attraction, and is one of the highest paved roads in the world, passing through the Karakoram mountain range, at 36°51′00″N 75°25′40″E an elevation of 4,714 metres (15,466 ft). to its high elevation and the difficult conditions in which it was constructed, it is often referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World. The highway is also a part of the Asian Highway AH4.

History:

Rakaposhi Peak as seen from the Karakoram Highway near Nagar, Gilgit. The Karakoram Highway, also known as the Friendship Highway in China, was built by the governments of Pakistan and China. It was started in 1959 and was completed and opened to the public in 1979. Pakistan initially favored routing through Mintaka Pass. In 1966, China citing the fact that Mintaka would be more susceptible to air strikes recommended the steeper Khunjerab Pass instead.[7] About 810 Pakistanis and about 200 Chinese workers lost their lives,[8] mostly in landslides and falls, while building the highway. Over 140 Chinese workers who died during the construction are buried in the Chinese cemetery in Gilgit.[9] The route of the KKH traces one of the many paths of the ancient Silk Road. On the Pakistani side, the road was constructed by FWO (Frontier Works Organisation), employing the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers. The Engineer-in-Chief's Branch of the Pakistani Army completed a project documenting the history of the highway. The book History of Karakoram Highway was written by Brigadier (Retired) Muhammad Mumtaz Khalid in two volumes. In the first volume the author discusses the land and the people, the pre-historic communication system in the Northern Areas, the need for an all-weather road link with Gilgit, and the construction of Indus Valley Road. The second volume records events leading to the conversion of the Indus Valley Road to the Karakoram Highway, the difficulties in its construction, and the role of Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers and their Chinese counterparts in its construction.

2- Badshahi Mosque

The Badshahi Mosque (Punjabi and Urdu: بادشاہی مسجد‬‎, or "Imperial Mosque") is a Mughal era mosque in Lahore, capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab. The mosque is located west of Lahore Fort along the outskirts of the Walled City of Lahore, and is widely considered to be one of Lahore's most iconic landmarks. Badshahi Mosque was commissioned by Emperor Aurangzeb in 1671, with construction of the mosque lasting for two years until 1673. The mosque is an important example of Mughal architecture, with an exterior that is decorated with carved red sandstone with marble inlay. It remains the largest and most recent of the grand imperial mosques of the Mughal-era, and is the second-largest mosque in Pakistan. After the fall of the Mughal Empire, the mosque was used as a garrison by the Sikh Empire and the British Empire, but is now one of Pakistan's most iconic sights.

Background:

Lahore was considered a strategic center as it protected the empire from potential invaders from the west. The city was made an imperial capital by the earlier Emperor, Akbar, who established the nearby Lahore Fort. The sixth Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb, chose Lahore for as the site for his new imperial mosque. Aurangzeb, unlike the previous emperors, was not a major patron of art and architecture and instead focused much of his reign on various military conquests, which added over 3 million square kilometres to the Mughal realm. The mosque was built to commemorate military campaigns against the Maratha king Shivaji Bhonsle, although construction of the mosque exhausted the Mughal treasury and weakened the Mughal state. As a symbol of the mosque's importance, it was built directly across from the Lahore Fort and its Alamgiri Gate, which was concurrently built by Aurangzeb during construction of the mosque.

1- Lake Saiful Muluk

Saiful Muluk (Urdu: جھیل سیف الملوک‬‎) is a mountainous lake located at the northern end of the Kaghan Valley, near the town of Naran. It is in the north east of Mansehra District in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan and feeds water to Kunhar river. At an elevation of 3,224 m (10,578 feet) above sea level, it is well above the tree line, and is one of the highest lakes in Pakistan.

Location:

Jeeps at Lake Saif Ul Muluk Saiful Muluk Lake in winter Saiful Muluk is located in the Mansehra district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, about eight kilometers north of Naran, in the northern part of Kaghan Valley. Malika Parbat, the highest peak in the valley is near the lake. The lake is accessible from the nearby town of Naran during the summer season but access during winter is limited.

Physical features:

Saiful Muluk was formed by glacial moraines that blocked the water of the stream passing through the valley. The Kaghan Valley was formed in the greater Pleistocene Period dating back almost 300,000 years when the area was covered with ice. Rising temperatures and receding glaciers left a large depression where glaciers once stood. Melting water collected into the lake.