Tourism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwah

Khyber Pakhtunkhwah:

It is one of the four administrative provinces of Pakistan located in the north-west region of Pakistan alon with the international border with Afghanistan.It was previously known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) untill 2010, and is known colloquially by various other names.

KhyberPakhtunkhwah has a capital named as Peshawar which is also the largest city of province, with Mardan being the second-largest.The link with Afghanistan is by Khyber Pass which has its own historical importance.

Northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the site of the ancient kingdom Gandhara, including the ruins of its capital, Pushkalavati, near modern day Charsadda, and the most prominent center of learning in the Peshawar Valley, Takht-i-Bahi. It has been under the suzerainty of the Persians, Greeks, Mauryans, Kushans, Shahis, Ghaznavids, Mughals, Afghanistan, Sikhs, and British Empire at various points throughout its long history.(Wikipedia)

Tourism at Khyber Pakhtunkhwah:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is exceptionally rich in terms of multitudes of tourist attraction. The essence of this attraction is visible from the remarkable natural picturesque comprising beautiful rivers, splendid water falls, spell-bound lakes mostly in the mountainous region and green valleys in most parts of the province. Due to its geographical location, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa has had been a confluence of different civilizations which flourished and vanished with the passage of time.

The quasi contiguity of the province, with the Central Asian States and with Xiangiang province of China attracted many migrants, buisnessman, warriors and fortune seekers in different ages for settlement. The interaction among different races and their co-existence led to a rich cultural heritage. The glimpse of such heritage are evident from the Gandhara archaeological sites at Gur Khattree Peshawar, Takht bahi (Mardan), Seri Behlol (Mardan), Shahbaz Garhi (Mardan), Nimmo Gram Buddist Stupa (Swat) and collection of Gandhara art preserved at Swat Museum, Chakdara museum (Dir Lower) and Peshawar Museum.

The main places for tourism are as follows:

1.Malam Jabba

2. Kunhar River

3. Mashkpuri

4. Saiful Malook Lake

5. Kalash Valley Chitral

6. Thandiani

7. Nathia Gali

8. Shogran

9. Swat Valley(Madyan)

10. Kumrat Valley

These are some great places where tourist can visit and gaze these sceneries of nature and enjoy the scenes.In KPK there is also some historical places and historical war were fighted.KPK has it's own history, which can be seen by going there and watching also the traditions and way of living because people of upper areas like Kumrat valley,Chitral,etc has their own ways of living and especially their traditions are quite different from others.I have heared a lot of stories about chitrali and kumrati peoples and stories about their culture and traditions and especially their way of celebrating/doing wedding and funerals are very different then other peoples in Pakistan.There are some Buddist people also in the upper areas of KPK which are borderly connected to China, they have their own religion and ways of living.

This is the historical place for Buddist in the area named as Shingardara stupa in Swat valley.So tourist must visit KPK for travel stories and I am also interested to travel the whole Khyber Pakhtunkhwah and visit all the places and see the whole nature by myself.