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Clifton Beach is Karachi’s most famous beach, why is it worth going there? 

What to know about it?

The Karachi beach is between eight and nine kilometers long and it is not far from the city center. 

  1. As later you go, as it gets more crowded, it can get really crowded!
  2. Better not to wear a bikini, when deciding to go swimming.
  3. When it’s windy, it can get really painful, with the flying sand, have a cover for your face!
  4. The first part of the water is not deep at all, actually I haven’t seen anyone swimming, just walking through the water.

What can you expect seeing?

It is a crazy beach, that’s for sure! From camels walking around, as a tourist attraction, over to snake charmers, to cars driving around. This is not a beach, as you may know from other countries. Here it feels that everyone can do whatever they want to do. 

While being on the beach, there was always something new interesting to see. With thousands of people and a crowded beach of this length, this can be expected maybe a bit. 

The camels are not treated well, I guess, with being decorated and needing to carry a bunch of tourists every day. Often you can see kids, taking the camels for a walk, to get more tourists to ride the camels. 

Due to the fact that Pakistan is not a crazy touristic country, most of the people are Pakistanis, who go there for a daily trip, or just after work. Actually I haven’t seen any other traveler from Europe, for example. 

Karachi Beach

My experience

When the host said, “let’s go to a beach”, I expected to go for a swim and have a great time. The completely opposite happens. I had fun, but the rest was the opposite. 

Arriving at the beach, getting a strong hit from the wind, which made me realize that I for sure need to cover up.

The walk to the water was really long and during the walk to it, it was possible to see the beach. Many camels walking around, having cars driving on the beach. Thousands of people walked around, some with their clothes in the water, others just watching the surroundings. 

The most unique person was for sure the snake charmer, who tried to make his snake dance. After that didn’t happen, he hit the snake on the head and tried again. After the snake didn’t dance again, he just threw it away for a meter of distance. It was super weird to watch, but the person looked like being on some drugs as well.

The snake charmer at Karachi Beach

Summary

The Karachi Beach, or in this case the Clifton Beach, is not made for a beach day. It is for sure an attraction and also free to enter, 24/7. You are able to see many things, some things you might not like and other ways around. 

When you don’t like it crowded, then in general Pakistan is not the country to visit. But when coming really early in the morning, you should be able, seeing this place in a less crowded way. 

If you have time, during your time in Karachi, then it is for sure something to check out and you don’t need so long for it. 

I would love to hear your experiences about this place, or questions. Share it with me in the comments. 

Pakistan Stories: Karachi Beach  – a different world

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Written by

Nico Koch

I am Nico Koch from Hamburg in Germany and happy that you are interested in seeing the world through my eyes and want to join me on my journey.