Pakistan, now here's a tough one. A large but little travelled country. We might have a rough idea of what the country looks like, e.g. the Himalayas in the north, the Indus river running through it, and we'll be able to name a few of the large cities like Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore, but from a tourist perspective the country remains a little bit of a mystery. You might be able to find the odd tourist going into the mountain area, but try to find a tour or trip report that properly covers the country, and you've got a hard task at hand. 

So we've got a bit of a challenge here. Therefore let's start with the easy part, the cities:

• First of all, of course, Islamabad, the capital of the country.
• Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, also makes sense.
• Lahore, Pakistan's second-largest city and arguably the most attractive, is also a no-brainer.
• Then there's a group of cities like Multan, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and Gujranwala that are all rather large, but we're less sure about if and which to include. Peshawar seems to be one of the more touristic of the bunch so we include it, as we do with Multan, which boasts the impressive Shah Rukn-e-Alam mausoleum and is nicely located in central Pakistan and thus gives us better geographical coverage.

Next, it makes sense to focus on the main tourist area of the country: the mountainous north. We could have opted to take it as a whole as one destination, but it's too diverse with too many destinations scattered around so this wouldn't do it justice, we're going to split it up:

• Pakistan's mountainous north is typically split up by valley so there's a start. Most people will be familiar with the Hunza valley, arguably the best known of the valleys and located on the northern border with China, and this is therefore a sure inclusion.
• The Kaghan Valley with the stunning Lake Saiful Muluk is also a strong contender and gets included.
• Then there are the Kalash Valleys and the area around it, on the border with Afghanistan, another popular area. However, instead of Kalash Valley we include the town of Chitral, a popular resort town that serves as a hub for the surroundings and we feel is more inclusive. It'd be hard to visit anything in the region without passing by Chitral. 
• We're also looking at the Swat Valley, but the destinations in the north are adding up now and we feel its tourist appeal has waned somewhat in recent years so opt against inclusion.
• However, we are drawn to the K2 because it's such an iconic mountain, and gives us some cover in the northeastern part of Pakistan's Himalayas. Unfortunately, it is not the easiest to get to, so instead we take the town of Skardu, which is a hub for the K2 range including the Gasherbrums, but also for the Deosai Plains. 
• Four destinations in the mountains is arguably enough though there are still many more valleys and popular resort towns north of Islamabad that we could have included so it's not 100% satisfying and we feel there's some room for debate here. One last note is for the Karakorum Highway, a major draw, but it runs through the Hunza Valley anyway so does not have to be included separately. 

So what else? While Pakistan doesn't have the equivalent of an Angkor, Bagan, or even Hampi, there is some cultural heritage that warrants inclusion.

• The best known sites are arguably the ruins of Taxila, near Islamabad, and those of Mohenjo Daro, further south along the Indus, both UNESCO World Heritage. We include both. 
• But there are more, for example the Rani Kot fort, the Rohtas Fort, Takht Bari, Harappa, Nagar Parkar, and Thatta. All can make a case, but we decided to pick the impressive Derawar Fort instead, newly admitted on the UNESCO list, and located in the Cholistan Desert which gives us better coverage in western Pakistan. 

We've got twelve destinations now, which seems reasonable for Pakistan. We've furthermore got a good mix of nature, culture, and cities, though we're missing a beach destination (though many of Pakistan's best beaches are near Karachi). Looking at the map, we've got a decent geographical spread though it's still a bit slim in the south and most of all in the western Balochistan province, where we have no destinations. Perhaps the cities of Omara or Gwadar on the coast? Or provincial capital Quetta? Or Hingol National Park? Or perhaps even Balochistan as a whole, though it almost borders Karachi so would not tell us too much. None can fully convince us so we're leaving it for the moment, but would love to hear your thoughts on this.