Ashura days: plan around Station Road and phone cuts

Al-Manzar Picnic Point on the Indus at Jamshoro is where Hyderabad families go to cool off: boat rides, horse and camel rides along the bank, and fishing boats drifting past. It fills up on hot weekends and in summer afternoons, so go on a weekday or early in the day. Agree the boat ride before boarding and keep…

Ranikot, the Great Wall of Sindh, is about 90 km north of Hyderabad on the Indus Highway, and its walls run roughly 31 km, so a quick stop turns into a long day. The last stretch is a link road of about 45 minutes. Start early, bring water, and climb the well-preserved Sann Gate for the wide view. Head back toward…

Quiet and rarely crowded, the tomb of Mian Ghulam Nabi Kalhoro, who ruled Sindh in 1775 and 1776, rewards a close lens. Its brick walls carry glazed tile panels, and the plan is octagonal outside and square inside. It stands near the Central Jail and the Eye Hospital. Come in soft morning light, ask whoever is on site…

Hala, a craft town on the National Highway north of Hyderabad, is where several Sindhi crafts come from: kashi glazed pottery and tiles, carved and lacquered jandi woodwork, sussi cloth and handloom khaddar. Walk the bazaar and ask for the maker rather than buying from a general stall. The Sindh culture department…

Opened in 1971 on the Rani Bagh grounds in Qasimabad, the Sindh Museum walks through Sindhi history from the Indus Valley to the Samma, Soomra, Kalhora and Talpur periods. Head for the display that recreates a Sindhi home, with life-size family figures and household objects, because it explains the objects you will…

Mukhi House, built in the early 1920s by Jethanand Mukhi, spent decades declining after Partition before the Sindh government restored it as a heritage site. It reopened as a museum, and the mosaic floors and frescoed walls are the reason to go. Allow an hour inside. No hours are published online, so ask your hotel or…

The Institute of Sindhology, about 12 km from Hyderabad on the Super Highway in Jamshoro, has an anthropology museum, an art gallery and an ethno-musical gallery under one dome. It sits on a university campus that keeps Monday to Friday hours and publishes no visitor schedule. Do not turn up on a weekend. Write to the…

North of Hyderabad, the blue-tiled shrine of the Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai at Bhit Shah is where his verses are still sung by faqirs. They sing in rotating groups, each given a day or night, so something is usually playing. Malangs also perform qawwali for the flow of visitors. Go late afternoon, stay for the…