Discover Islamabad: Art, Gardens and Rawal Lake

Islamabad combines art collections and museums with gardens, parks and activities at Rawal Lake. For a family trip, you can organize your days around the interests of your fellow travelers: choose from art and natural history, time in gardens, exercise in the park and activities on the lake. These different priorities can help you tailor your holiday rental search to your preferred travel style.

Art and History in Islamabad

The National Art Gallery opened in August 2007. Its four-storey brick-clad building stands on a hill in F-5/1. The gallery has 14 exhibition halls, a modern auditorium, lecture rooms, studios and archives. It displays cultural heritage art as well as contemporary art. Its permanent collection includes more than 500 works, including pieces by Abdul Rehman Chughtai, Sadequain, Ustad Allah Bux, Haji Muhammad Sharif, Hanif Ramay, Zubeida Agha, Anna Molka Ahmed and Gulgee. The collection includes modern and contemporary art as well as miniature, calligraphic and abstract art. This offers a choice of different art forms as possible themes for a cultural day.

The Pakistan Museum of Natural History presents natural history through exhibitions, displays and dioramas. Its exhibits include a life-size model of a large mammal for students and the general public. The Heritage Museum focuses on a different subject: it was founded as a folk art museum in 1982 and renovated in 2004. Its exhibition halls showcase folk culture, traditional ways of life, music, handicrafts and festivals. This lets you consider art, natural history and folk culture as different themes when planning your trip.

The Pakistan Monument in Islamabad stands as a national symbol of the unity of the country's provinces and territories.

In the broader destination of Islamabad Capital Territory

The Pakistan Monument also represents the Pakistan Movement and the culture of Pakistan. The Pakistan Monument Museum traces the nation's history, from early civilizations through the independence struggle and the founding of Pakistan to important developments since 1947. The museum includes a reference library, audiovisual archives, a conference hall and the 62-seat Panorama Auditorium; the availability of these facilities may vary. Dedicated areas honour Quaid-i-Azam and Allama Iqbal. In contrast to the art collection, the focus here is on national history and the areas dedicated to the founding visionaries.

Gardens, Parks and Outdoor Excursions

The Rose and Jasmine Garden offers a variety of roses and jasmine blossoms. Trees planted by various heads of state are a feature of the Shakarparian Hills. A viewpoint in the Shakarparian Hills, in the broader destination of Islamabad Capital Territory, sits at an elevation of 609 metres and offers panoramic views of Islamabad. Fatima Jinnah Park has jogging tracks, gardens and recreational facilities. Each place offers a different focus: blossoms in the garden, planted trees and views in the hills, or activities in the park.

Lake View Park offers boating, fishing and pedal boating on Rawal Lake. If these activities are important to your plans, check their current availability locally. By comparison, Fatima Jinnah Park focuses on jogging tracks, gardens and recreational facilities. Golf carts were introduced at Daman-e-Koh to take visitors from the parking area to the viewpoint. Check whether the golf carts are currently in operation before your visit.

In the broader destination of Islamabad Capital Territory, Margalla Hills National Park offers opportunities for hiking. Leopards, deer and foxes are among the animals that live there. Trail 5 also begins in this broader destination, on Margalla Road in Sector F-5, and leads to the upper end of Pir Sohawa Road. As trail conditions can change, it is advisable to check for current information before setting out.

When searching for a holiday rental, it helps to set a clear priority: would you like to focus your trip mainly on art and history, or give more weight to gardens, park activities and time by the water? Hiking can also help determine your preferred travel style. With this in mind, compare possible bases according to which aspects of Islamabad you want to feature most on your trip.

For the broader travel overview: Islamabad.