Book Taxila Tours in Peshawar

Taxila is about 35 km from Islamabad on the GT Road, roughly an hour by car, and holds the most significant Gandharan archaeological sites in the country. A standard tour covers the Taxila Museum, the city site at Sirkap, the Dharmarajika stupa, and the monastery at Jaulian, which sits on a hill and gives the clearest sense of what a working Buddhist monastery looked like.

Guided day tours are Rs 4,500 to Rs 8,000 per person including transport, a guide and site tickets, and private family tours Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000. Museum and site tickets are around Rs 500 per adult for Pakistani nationals with higher rates for foreign visitors. A half-day version covering the museum and one site is roughly sixty per cent of the price.

Take a guide here, because the sites are unlabelled in places and the Gandharan sequence is hard to follow without context. Jaulian involves a short climb and uneven ground. Go in the cooler months if you can, since the sites have little shade, and check the museum closing day before travelling, usually a Monday.