Bhakkar

Introduction

Bhakkar is the principal city of Bhakkar District in Punjab, Pakistan, situated on the left bank of the Indus River. As a district capital on the river's western side, it serves as the main urban centre for the surrounding area.

Before you go

Punjab is Pakistan's most industrialised province and its most populous, so expect a densely settled landscape where Punjabi is the first language of most people. The variant spoken here uses Shahmukhi, a modified Perso-Arabic script; if you already read Persian or Urdu, picking it up should be straightforward. Urdu and English are understood in urban areas, and you should have no trouble getting by on English alone, though learning a few words of Punjabi will endear you to locals. In the south of the province, Seraiki is the main language.

The province experiences extreme weather, so time your visit with care. Winters are foggy and often wet, with temperatures that can drop near freezing. Spring runs until around mid-April, when the summer heat sets in; June and July are oppressively hot, and the monsoon, known as barsat, arrives in August and brings relief, though the weather pattern has been irregular since the early 1970s, with the spring monsoon sometimes skipping the area and sometimes causing floods. Cooler weather does not come until late October. The people of Punjab are hospitable and tend to welcome foreigners warmly, but avoid rallies, protests and religious gatherings, and note that crime exists in big cities. In an emergency, dial 15 for police from a landline, 115 for an ambulance, or 1122 for rescue and emergency help.

Getting there

Bhakkar has no airport or railway station of its own, so you'll arrive overland after reaching one of Punjab's main gateways. Lahore, Islamabad and Sialkot are the principal air entry points for the region, with Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport handling international arrivals and served by a long list of carriers including Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Gulf Air, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Pakistan International. Islamabad's airports connect you to the north of the province, though flight schedules there can be disrupted when security is tightened for government and diplomatic arrivals.

By rail, the Samjhauta Express links Delhi and Lahore via the Attari/Wagah border crossing, but given the train's history of attacks, taking a taxi or bus to and from the border is strongly advised instead. From the border, carry on by road or local bus toward Bhakkar. If you're coming from China, the Karakoram Highway runs through Gilgit, from where direct buses continue to Islamabad over long, harrowingly winding roads; stringing together local transport and crossing the border on foot is often just as fast, more flexible and cheaper than the international service.

Getting around

Bhakkar is a compact, mid-sized city on the left bank of the Indus, so getting around is a fairly simple affair. There is no metro or tram network, so plan on road-based transport. Walking is practical for the central parts of town, and the geography shapes your routes: the town sits on the edge of the Thal, with well-cultivated, flood-prone land to the west and high, dry, sandy country to the east, so conditions underfoot vary. If you are already in the city, Dilkusha Bagh, an old date orchard believed to be a Mughal garden, is a local landmark worth seeking out on foot.

Rail is the one documented transport link into the city, via the historical North-Western Railway line that passed through the town, making the train a viable option for arriving or leaving. For longer-distance travel, buses are a common way to move around Punjab generally, and intercity bus services are likely to be part of your journey if you are arriving from elsewhere in the region, but confirm current operators and routes locally rather than relying on any fixed schedule. Visitors to cities of this size in Punjab typically arrange transport through local taxis, rickshaws, or privately hired vehicles, though these are not confirmed for Bhakkar specifically, so verify on arrival. For air travel, the main gateways to Punjab are Lahore, Islamabad and Sialkot; from any of them you would continue to Bhakkar overland, most likely by train or by road. The river channel is navigable as far as Bhakkar during the floods, but this is not a practical visitor transport option. Because published information on local transport in Bhakkar is thin, confirm current bus, taxi and train details locally when you arrive.

Food & drink

Punjabi cooking is the frame of reference here, and several of its best-known dishes are worth seeking out. Makki ki roti with sarson ka saag — corn-flour bread with a thick mustard-greens sauce — is a staple, while chana masala brings chickpeas in a spiced tomato and onion sauce. You'll also find butter chicken in a creamy tomato gravy, tandoori chicken marinated in yogurt and spices and grilled in a clay tandoor, and Amritsari kulcha, a tandoor-baked bread stuffed with vegetables or paneer. Biryani, aloo gobi and Lahori fried fish with a tangy chutney round out the repertoire.

Chai is drunk everywhere, black or green (sabz chai or qahvah), traditionally with cardamom and plenty of sugar; lemon is optional but recommended with the green tea. Kashmiri chai is milky, with almonds and nuts, and is popular at weddings and in cold weather. Coffee is available in the major cities. In the warmer south, sweet drinks are sold throughout the day — look for street vendors with fruit hanging from their roofs — and some milk and yogurt shops serve lassi; ask for meethi lassi for the sweet version, or a salty lassi if you're eating bhindi or another rich dish. Mango lassi, thick with yogurt, mango pulp and pieces of mango, is very rich. Stick to sealed bottled water rather than local tap water, which is likely to make you ill.

What to see and do

When to go

Punjab moves through a scorching hot season, an irregular monsoon and a cold, foggy winter, with only brief spring weather in between. Heat builds through spring into the hardest stretch of the year, and June and July are oppressively hot, so expect punishing daytime heat and plan your days around it.

The south-west monsoon is expected by May but has been irregular since the early 1970s, sometimes skipping the area entirely and sometimes bringing rain heavy enough to cause floods. August's barsat brings relief and marks the end of the worst summer heat, though cooler weather does not arrive until late October. Winter is foggy and often wet, with temperatures dropping to near freezing, and by mid-February the temperature begins to rise, with springlike weather continuing until mid-April.

Three days in Bhakkar

Day one: Arrive in Bhakkar, a district town in Punjab, Pakistan, on the Indus River. Settle in and get your bearings in the bazaar, where you will hear Punjabi, Seraiki, Urdu and English spoken around you, and may notice shop signs written in Shahmukhi, the Perso-Arabic script used for Punjabi. Keep the first day easy and let the pace of the town set your rhythm.

Day two: Give the day to the river and the district around Bhakkar. The Indus defines the area's character, and the surrounding countryside of Bhakkar District rewards a slow look rather than a rushed circuit. Plan around the seasons: winters and spring are the gentler stretches, April warms up, and June through August are hot, so start early and rest through the middle of the day. Cooler weather returns by October.

Day three: Use the last day to connect onward. Bhakkar is reached overland, and the bigger cities of Punjab — Lahore, Islamabad and Sialkot — are the usual gateways, with Lahore served by Allama Iqbal International Airport. International carriers such as Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Gulf Air, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Pakistan International connect through those airports. If you are heading toward Delhi, the Samjhauta Express historically linked Lahore with the Indian side via Attari and Wagah.