🛍️ Pakistan: souvenirs
Pakistan's bazaars reward every taste - Multani blue pottery, Peshawari chappals, truck art and some of the world's best rice and mangoes in season. Here is what travellers bring home from Pakistan, where the good versions live, and the export questions worth a look - alongside our 112 written places.
🛒 The classic buys
Blue pottery of Multan
Cobalt-and-white glazed tiles, vases and bowls in a tradition centuries deep - Multan's workshops and city emporia sell it.
Peshawari chappal
The hand-stitched leather sandal - Peshawar's Qissa Khwani bazaar makes them to measure in a day.
Truck art
The exuberant painted-and-mirrored style, now on kettles, trays and miniatures - Karachi and Rawalpindi workshops sell pieces and take commissions.
Pashmina and shawls
Fine wool from the northern valleys - buy from established dealers; real pashmina passes the ring test and costs accordingly.
Onyx and marble work
Balochistan onyx turned into bowls and chess sets.
Salt-range products
Pink rock salt from Khewra - lamps, tiles and grinder salt at source prices.
⚠️ Check before you buy
- Antiquities - Gandharan pieces above all - cannot leave without permits that are effectively never granted; buy replicas with receipts.
- Check what your home country lets in for food items - sealed spice and rice usually pass.
- Fine shawls - ask for receipts stating the fibre; shahtoosh is illegal everywhere.
✗ Better left behind
- Gandharan 'artefacts' - looted heritage, illegal and mostly fake.
- Shahtoosh shawls - made from a protected antelope; possession is an offence in most countries.
Markets shift, workshops close and open, and the best souvenir is still the one with a story you were there for. Buy from makers where you can, keep receipts for anything substantial, and when a deal feels too good, it usually is.