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2 days
Daily Tour
40 people
English
Taxila tour will take you back in civilizational history in two days. You will relive the time gone by and enjoy the unique architecture and texture of the constructions. You will glean through the faith of those people and draw inspiration from it. The ancient Taxila is now divided between Punjab province and KPK province and it will take you two days to explore the rich cultural treasures of Taxila and Haripur. Here is a script written by a Chinese scholar, that is produced for your information. (Book: “Gandhara’s Smile”, the tour of cultural relics in Pakistan by Zhang Jiamei)
Taxila is a small city on the southern banks of the Khanpur River and close proximity to the Khanpur Dam. It is about 35 kilometers northwest of the capital Islamabad and Rawalpindi on the historical Grand Trunk road that connects Calcutta India with Kabul Afghanistan. This historical city of Taxila dates back to the Neolithic age 2900 B.C. This city emerged on the crossroads of important east-west and North-South civilizations. The North-South route passing through Taxila connected China in the Northeast with Persia in the Southwest used by silk merchants. It used the Indus Valley, Swat Valley and Kashmir Valley to reach out to Kashgar and Tibet. In the south it followed the Indus River to carry goods to far-off places. For the East-west movement Taxila was used as a staging place to move caravans from India to Kabul bounded for Central Asia and vice versa. This place had moderate temperatures with enough agricultural produce and water streams that suited the movement of people and animals. By 900 B.C. Taxila had become the center of local trade and commerce and by 600 B.C. Taxila had become the capital of Gandhara. Later on the capital was shifted to Charsada but during Mauryan dynasty the founder Chandragupta made Taxila his capital and his prince Ashoka introduced Buddhism in Ghandara and sent his preachers across to China and other places for preaching.
Note: Taxila tour is planned for two types of tourists. One type is a tourist who can spare two days on weekends or weekdays and take the tour. The other type is a tourist who is stationed in Islamabad and surrounding areas and takes a day’s tour with a break. i.e one day in on one weekend and the second day on the next weekend.
Start your day early in the morning and move towards the Taxila which is 35km northwest of Islamabad. Begin your trip by visiting the Taxila museum which has various collection of artifacts that are from the Gandhara civilization in which different sculptures, pottery and coins are included. After that move towards the archeological site of Sirkup where you can find the remains of city walls and temples. During the Gandhara period it was bustling city. Then move towards the Jandial Temple which is located on the top of hill and it gives stunning and beautiful views of the surrounding area. It was built in the 2nd century BC. In the evening time go back to the Taxila bazaar where you can shop for textiles, souvenirs, and handicrafts.visit the Jaulian site located 17km from the Taxila. Jaulian which is an ancient Buddhist monastery you can see different temples and you will find the remains of the main stupa and also see the monks living places. After visiting the Jaulian site go for a hike to the nearby viewpoint where you can see the beautiful surrounding area and the valleys. In the afternoon visit the Mohra Maradu which is a series of rock cut Buddhist monasteries and shrines. At the end of the day you will visit Dharmarajika stupa which is very huge Buddhist stupa and which is located near the Taxila museum and that dates back to the 3rd century BC.
Second day again travel 17 Km from Islamabad and visit the tallest Stupa of Taxila the "Bhallar Stupa" and further towards KPK Haripur you can come across the Lalchak and Baddalpur Stupa and Monastery which well preserved by the KPK Archaeological Department. At the end of the tour you can visit the Bhamala Stupa on the banks of Khanpur Dam.
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