Where to Stay in Sialkot, Punjab Province

What is Sialkot known for?

On the plain below the Kashmir hills in northern Pakistan, it grew as an ancient fort town and a city of craftsmen, and it keeps the workshops that hand-stitch the world's footballs, the makers of fine surgical steel, the old Sialkot fort above the town, and the house where the poet Iqbal was born. The flat plain runs to the hills. Workshops fill the busy lanes.

What are the main landmarks in Sialkot?

The Sialkot fort is the pride of the old city. The ancient citadel mound at the heart of the town, raised by kings long ago, is the emblem of the place, downtown. A poet's house draws pilgrims.

The house where Iqbal was born is kept as a museum nearby, while the football workshops, the surgical forges, and the old bazaars mark the country around Sialkot.

What is the history of Sialkot?

Sialkot is an ancient town of Punjab. A fort has stood here since the days of old kings, and the city was known for its steel and its craftsmen long before the British came. The craftsmen made it famous.

Under the British the smiths of Sialkot began to forge surgical tools and to stitch footballs and sports goods, and the city became a workshop for the world. The city gave the nation a poet. Here, in eighteen seventy-seven, Muhammad Iqbal was born, the poet and thinker who dreamed the idea of Pakistan, and his house is kept as a shrine.

The workshops never rested. Sialkot went on stitching the footballs of the world's games and forging its surgical steel, and it grew as one of the great export cities of Pakistan, keeping its fort, its crafts, and its poet. The footballs still leave for the world.

Sialkot keeps its workshop city below the Kashmir hills.

Where is Sialkot?

Sialkot lies in the northeast of Punjab in Pakistan, on the plain near the Chenab river. The city sits on the flat farmland of the upper Punjab, at the foot of the hills of Kashmir, with the Chenab flowing to the west and the mountains of Jammu rising blue to the north. Punjab farmland spreads flat and green around Sialkot.

Blue hills stand to the north.

What is the climate of Sialkot?

Sialkot has a hot, humid monsoon climate. Warm weather holds much of the year, with fierce heat before the rains and a heavy summer monsoon off the plains. Monsoon rains soak the plain.

Winter brings a cool haze.

How do you get to Sialkot?

Sialkot lies in northeast Punjab in Pakistan, near the Indian border. The highway and railway run to it from Lahore and Gujranwala, and its airport flies to the Gulf. Cargo flights leave the airport.

Lahore lies south down the road.