Lahore: Gardens, Fort and Mughal History

Lahore brings Mughal history into view at different scales: in an expansive garden complex, a fort and museum collections. These distinct focal points offer inspiration for a stay with an interest in architecture, art and history. When choosing a holiday rental, first consider which experiences you would like to focus on: gardens, the Walled City, collections or a broader view of historic sites across the wider destination of Punjab.

Gardens and a guided tour

The Shalimar Gardens cover 16 hectares and are laid out across three terraces that descend from south to north. This makes it possible to explore the gardens as a distinct theme, with a clearly defined sequence of levels. If you are especially interested in the history of the Walled City, you can include a private guided tour by the Walled City of Lahore Authority in your stay. The tour visits Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Fort; it also explains Mughal influences on the city. The tour is private. Check the authority’s current booking information before your trip.

Museum and Lahore Fort

The Lahore Museum is housed in an imposing brick building on Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, formerly known as Mall Road. Its permanent collection comprises around 60,000 objects of historical, cultural and artistic value. The museum displays, among other things, Gandhara sculptures, Islamic decorative art, miniature paintings and rare manuscripts. This means that, alongside the building’s architecture, different forms of art and historical collections are available as distinct areas of interest.

Lahore Fort covers more than 20 hectares and was almost completely rebuilt in the 17th century. Within the complex, Sheesh Mahal is located in the northwestern part of the Jahangir-Shah-Burj block. It was built in 1631–1632 during the reign of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. If you would like to consider museum collections and architectural history separately, these offer two different perspectives on Mughal history: the works displayed in the museum and the documented history of a specific building complex.

Historic sites across the wider destination of Punjab

The wider destination of Punjab also offers further points of historical interest. Jahangir’s Tomb lies in a garden on the right bank of the Ravi in Shahdara, on the northwestern outskirts of Lahore. Anarkali’s Tomb is located on the grounds of the Civil Secretariat in Lahore and is considered one of the earliest surviving Mughal tombs. Masjid Wazir Khan is in Lahore’s Old City, near Delhi Gate. Also in the Old City, in Kashmiri Bazaar, is Sunehri Mosque, built in 1753 during the decline of the Mughal Empire.

Other historic sites across the wider destination of Punjab include Noor Mahal, an Italian-influenced royal palace built in 1872 by Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan IV, and Derawar Fort in the Cholistan Desert near Bahawalpur, Punjab. Abbasi Masjid is located within the Derawar Fort complex. These examples complement Lahore’s sites with further buildings and historical contexts in Punjab, without equating them with the city’s attractions.

Choose the right focus

When looking for a holiday rental, the kind of trip you have in mind can be a good starting point: Would you like to focus mainly on the gardens, the Walled City, the museum or the history of Lahore Fort? Or would you like to place Lahore in the broader historical context of the wider destination of Punjab? Once you have settled on a focus, you can compare accommodation more purposefully for your stay, without combining the different places into a single sightseeing itinerary.

Location: Lahore.

Discover more destinations: Multan District, Rawalpindi District, Bahawalpur, Gujrat, Faisalabad District, Sialkot District.

View the wider travel overview: Punjab.