Rohtas Fort

Rohtas Fort is, simply put, probably the most impressive and enjoyable historical site near Islamabad.  Its location halfway to Lahore on GT Road, just short of the city of Jhelum, also makes Rohtas a bit of an expedition, a true daytrip consuming an entire day's travel.  Rohtas easily beats Taxila, the other near-to-Islamabad UNESCO World Heritage Site, in impressiveness and enjoyability, though Taxila wins hands down in antiquity and historical significance.

Rohtas Fort was built in the 16th century by Sher Shah Suri, a Pashtun military commander who took over the Subcontinent out from under Mughal Emperor Humayun (son of Babur, the Empire's founder) and ruled it for a five year period from 1540-45.  Sher Shah Suri built Rohtas Fort to protect his newfound territory from Humayun, who had fled to Iran to seek assistance from the Safavids based in Esfahan.  Humayun returned to India in 1555 after Sher Shah Suri had died and left his Kingdom behind to less successful heirs.  Humayun marched his troops past an undefended Rohtas Fort, and re-established the Mughal Empire.  Humayun's son, Akbar, would prove to be the greatest of the Mughals, and the Empire continued until it was overthrown by the British in 1857.

And so, to speak accurately, Rohtas is definitely not a Mughal Fort; it is, however, a Mughal-era one and highly reminiscent of the great Mughal forts.  Its state of ruin and somewhat desolate location, together with the existence of a village persisting within its outer walls, are somewhat similar to Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's great capital near Agra.  Although no building such as Fatehpur Sikri's Friday Mosque remains, Rohtas's scale is nearly comparable and its setting perhaps even more beautiful, than Fatehpur Sikri, and Rohtas exhibits well the classic defensive structures found in forts of that era (and all forts for that matter).  Rohtas is not only outstanding as a piece of military architecture, but for certain structures found inside, which I detail below.

Below is a map of the site.  The large red line cutting through is, approximately, the path of the main road.  This is the road that connects to GT Road, well off of the map in the direction indicated.  The road cuts through two of the main gates in the main outer wall that contains Rohtas Village.  The Citadel, to the left of the main road on the map, is the ticket-controlled area that is preserved as a historical site.  Green arrows and lines indicate walking directions and trails, while places of interest are underlined in red.

Places to visit, perhaps in the following order:

• Before parking your car in the main parking lot, you may want to drive over to the museum, which is built into the wall near Sohail Gate, where the road exits the fort at the bottom of the map.  Though small, the displays are surprisingly modern and informative.  You can also drive out the gate, to take a look at the walls on that side of the fort.  You may notice on the map that the road continues to a mountain called Tila Jogian.  There are said to be interesting historical sites on the top of this mountain, but I have not yet been.
• Returning to the main parking lot, you can buy your admission tickets and enter the citadel through Shah Chandwali Gate.
• Here, you find yourself in the main "museum" area of the fort.  The most notable structure is the Haveli Man Singh, which can be climbed for great views.  Most of the structures in the citadel are, as you can see, heavily damaged, and the whole area is fairly desolate.  Walls can also be climbed for more views.  Walking around the various edges of the fort you can see why this site was selected--ridges along the sides make it highly defendable.
• Along the upper left of the map above is the river.  Usually shallow enough to cross, the area along the river provides the finest views of the fort.  I would suggest first checking out the small Badshahi Mosque, just under the Kabuli Gate on the map, and that exiting through that gate, stopping to check out the impressive well.  The area between the river and the fort, and the area just across the river, provide amazing views.
• On the upper left you can see a box which indicates the Temple of Baba Nanak.  An old Sikh Temple with a tank used by local boys for swimming, and Hindi or Punjabi (?) inscriptions in Devanagari rather than Urdu script, there is also a small building that can be entered for views.  You can re-enter the citadel through another gate, which contains more interesting structures that can be explored.
• Now that you're done exploring the citadel, you can explore the sites in the "village" area of the fort, as well as the wall that appears on the right side of the map.
• The most exciting structure in the fort, other than its walls and gates, is probably the large step well, identified as "Baoli" on the map above, to the right of the museum.  The step well is huge and a superb example of step wells generally--probably at least fifty times as deep as Losar Baoli in Islamabad.
• Just north of the step well, and within site, is a small Hindu Temple, now in ruins.
• Exiting the fort through a small door or gate on the right side of the map above, you will found surprisingly beautiful terrain.  A narrow gorge, along which you will encounter shepherds and maybe a few odd characters with small axes for chopping wood (see practicalities below), a series of trails (marked as a green line on the map above) will take you along the walls and out toward the main road.  This is a surprisingly beautiful route, with many splendid views of the fort, which I highly recommend.  Taking the entire length of the green line outlined above would take less than an hour.  Please note that it may be difficult to find shortcuts back into the fort from some of these areas--you really have to commit to walking the whole route.

More Practicalities

Rohtas is off of the Grand Trunk Road, the medieval route that connects Kabul to Calcutta.  Driving from Islamabad to the Rohtas turnoff, which is after the small market town of Dina and before the bigger city of Jhelum, takes about an hour and a half or two hours along the busy road.  It is a right turn heading down from Islamabad.  From GT Road to the fort itself takes about 15-20 minutes.  Supposedly, there have been security instances at Rohtas in the past (something about a Russian ambassador being mugged (??)), and so the local police are likely to provide local police escorts once you are at the site.  I do not know if this is really a necessary precaution, but they are friendly (they may even speak some English!) and provide a little extra piece of mind when doing some of the walks outside of the walls, where you are likely to come across funny little men with axes.

There is not much food to be purchased at Rohtas--pack a picnic lunch.