Shalimar Gardens: Shah Jahan’s Royal Garden of Fountains in Lahore

If Lahore ever had a backyard for its emperors, this was it. Shalimar Gardens, or Shalimar Bagh as most Lahoris call it, is a walled Mughal garden on GT Road with three stepped terraces, long water channels, marble cascades and more than 400 fountains. It was built almost 400 years ago by Shah Jahan, the same emperor who gave the world the Taj Mahal.

Today Shalimar Gardens is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and on a winter morning, with the lawns freshly cut and the fountains running, it is one of the calmest places you will find in this loud, lovely city. In this guide we will take you through its history, the three terraces, the buildings worth finding, and everything you need to plan your visit: timings, tickets, how to get there on the Orange Line and what else to see nearby.

Photo Credit: Shahzaib Damn Cruze, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The land belonged to the Arain Mian family of Baghbanpura. The head of the family, Mian Muhammad Yusuf, gave it to the emperor, and in return the family was made the garden’s custodian. They looked after it for more than three centuries.

After the Mughals, the garden went through a rough patch. During the Sikh period much of its marble was taken away to Amritsar, and its expensive agate gate was stripped and sold. Maharaja Ranjit Singh ordered repairs in 1806. For many years the famous Mela Chiraghan, the festival of lights in memory of the Sufi poet Shah Hussain, was held inside these walls, until it was stopped in 1958. In 1962 the government of General Ayub Khan took the garden over from the Mian family.

In 1981 UNESCO added Shalimar Gardens, together with Lahore Fort, to its list of World Heritage Sites. Today the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) looks after it.

Shalimar is a large rectangle, about 658 metres long and 258 metres wide, spread over roughly 16 hectares. It follows the Persian charbagh idea: a garden divided into four parts by water channels and raised walkways, meant to be a small picture of paradise on earth. The clever bit is that it is built on three levels, each one 4 to 5 metres higher than the one below, so the water can tumble down from the top to the bottom.

Farah Bakhsh (upper terrace): The “bestower of pleasure”. In Mughal times this level was kept for the royal women. Its square lawns, split into four by fountain channels, are usually the first thing visitors photograph.

Faiz Bakhsh (middle terrace): The “bestower of goodness” and the emperor’s own garden. It is a long, narrow strip with the biggest pool in the complex, a marble platform in the middle, and the most elaborate waterworks of any Mughal garden.

Hayat Bakhsh (lower terrace): Usually called the “bestower of life”. This is where the garden’s main entrance originally opened, and where nobles, and sometimes ordinary people, were allowed in. Old records group the middle and lower levels together as Faiz Bakhsh, but most guides today use the name Hayat Bakhsh for the lowest one.

Photo Credit: Muhammad Ashar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Count the fountains if you have the patience. There are around 410 of them spread across the three terraces, along with five water cascades. On a June afternoon, when Lahore crosses 45 degrees, the water, the shade and the big old trees make the garden feel noticeably cooler than the road outside. That was the whole point.

Look for the Sawan Bhadon pavilions on the middle terrace. Sawan and Bhadon are the two monsoon months, and the name suits the place, because water falls down a marble wall here like rain. Behind the falling water are rows of small arched niches called chini khanas. At night the Mughals placed oil lamps in them, and in the day, vases of flowers, so the lights and colours glowed through a curtain of water. Stand there for a minute and you will understand why people still talk about it.

The great marble cascade between the upper and middle terraces works on the same idea. The Mughals called these sloping sheets of water chadar, because the water spreads over the carved marble like a thin sheet of cloth.

Photo Credit: Aun Muhammad, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Shalimar is not just lawns and water. Keep an eye out for these buildings as you walk around:

• Naqar Khana: The drum house, where musicians announced the arrival of the emperor.
• Khwabgah: The emperor’s sleeping quarters. There is also a separate Khwabgah for the Begum, the empress.
• Hammam: The royal bath, a reminder that the court did not just visit for an afternoon but stayed here.
• Diwan-e-Khas-o-Aam: The hall where the emperor met both his special guests and ordinary people.
• Aramgah: A resting place for the royal family.
• Baradaris: Open summer pavilions with arched doorways on all sides, built to catch the cool breeze coming off the fountains.
• Gateways and minarets: Two gateways and small minarets at the corners of the high, decorated outer wall.

One of the garden’s old painted wooden doors is now kept in the Lahore Museum, if you want to see the kind of detail that once covered this place.

• Location: GT Road, Baghbanpura, Lahore, about 5 km east of Delhi Gate of the Walled City.
• Timings: Open every day, roughly 8 AM to 6 PM. Hours can be shorter in winter, so try to arrive before 4 PM.
• Entry fee: Pakistani visitors pay a small fee at the gate, and foreigners pay a higher rate. Rates change from time to time, so check WCLA’s official pages before you go. Night events like Chandni Raatain have their own tickets.
• Time needed: 1.5 to 2 hours to see all three terraces without rushing.
• Best time to visit: October to March. Weekday mornings are the quietest. Sundays and Eid holidays get very crowded.
• Families: Very family friendly, with wide paths and plenty of open space for kids. There are steps between the terraces, so elderly visitors and wheelchair users may need some help.
• Photography: Phone and personal photos are fine. Professional shoots, such as pre-wedding or commercial shoots, need permission from WCLA.
• Parking: Paid parking is available near the main gate.

By Orange Line Metro: This is the easiest way. Get off at Shalamar Garden station and the garden is right in front of you. The line runs straight along GT Road, so from Anarkali, Lakshmi Chowk or the Railway Station it is a short, cheap and air-conditioned ride. Fun fact: near the garden the track bends away from the middle of the road to protect its old trees.

By car, rickshaw or ride-hailing: Head east on GT Road towards Baghbanpura. From the Walled City it takes about 20 to 30 minutes depending on traffic. Every Careem, inDrive or Yango driver knows Shalimar Bagh.

Map: Open Shalimar Gardens in Google Maps for live directions from wherever you are in Lahore.