Murree

Murree was established in 1851 as a sanatorium and summer station for the British administration in Punjab, and its bones are still colonial: a church, a mall, and villas strung along a ridge at around 2,300 metres in pine forest. Independence turned it into the domestic tourist destination for the whole country, and the scale of that has overwhelmed the town. Mall Road remains pleasant, pedestrianised and lined with shops and viewpoints, and the chairlift and the Pindi Point and Kashmir Point overlooks give the ridge views that brought people here in the first place. But Murree in peak season is a traffic jam with a hill station attached, and its winter snow weekends have produced genuine emergencies when thousands of cars became stranded. Visiting midweek, or in the shoulder months, is a completely different and much better experience.

History

The name, Marhee, means "high place", and Major James Abbott marked it out as a hill station in 1847. Sir Henry Lawrence began developing it in 1851 as a sanatorium for British troops, the permanent town was built at Sunnybank in 1853, and the church was consecrated in May 1857; from 1873 to 1875 Murree was the summer headquarters of the Punjab government (Wikipedia, Murree).

Highlights

• Mall Road - the pedestrian spine with shops, cafés and viewpoints.
• Kashmir and Pindi Points - ridge overlooks with chairlifts.
• Colonial buildings - the church, post office and old villas along the ridge.
• Pine forest - woodland on the slopes below the town.

When to go

April to June and September to October are the sensible windows. Avoid winter snow weekends and the July and August peak, when the roads clog for hours and hotel prices triple. Weekdays at any season are far better than weekends.

What to expect

Overcrowding is the defining problem: traffic on the approach roads can add hours, parking is scarce and expensive, and the town centre in season is shoulder to shoulder. Hotel quality is inconsistent and pricing opportunistic. Litter is widespread. Many travellers now skip Murree entirely for the Galiyat further north.

Nearby

Nathia Gali and the Galiyat lie north; Islamabad is ninety minutes below.