How to cross the Wagah Border between Pakistan and India

In yet another of our overlanding adventures we travelled from Kyrgyzstan to India on public transport. The third border-crossing of the trip was from Lahore (Pakistan) to Amritsar (India). We’re currently at it again, and most recently crossed this border in January 2024.

The Wagah border is the only crossing-point open to foreigners to travel by land between Pakistan and India. This post is a guide to travelling from Lahore to Amritsar (or vice versa) across the Wagah border.

Before you go

Get your visas ahead of time: neither India nor Pakistan does visa on arrival. In 2019 Pakistan introduced an e-Visa system. Bring printed copies of your e-Visa grant notice.

If you’ve got the double entry e-Visa for India, your first entry to India on that visa has to be through one of the approved airports – you can’t come by land from a neighboring country. So to cross the Wagah border from Pakistan to India with an e-Visa, you must have already entered India the first time on that visa by air and exited at any border, making Wagah your second entry. If you are overlanding from Europe or Central Asia (as we were) don’t get the e-Visa. Instead, get the regular India Tourist Visa. It costs more and you have to get it from an Embassy/visa service ahead of time, but it lasts longer than the e-Visa, is usually multiple entry, and allows entry by land on first arrival.

There are money changers on the Pak side of the border and ATMs in Atari (the closest village) on the Indian side.

The border is open daily from 10.00 to about 16.00. But due to the famous border-closing ceremony that takes place every afternoon in the stadium purpose-built on the border, you can’t cross after 15.00-15.30. Make sure you arrive well in advance of that. In the winter, the border show and closure is a bit earlier, check before setting off.

You can watch the closing ceremony on either side. Rather than trying to cross first and then watch the show, I’d suggest making a separate trip out of it another day. No bags are allowed at the show.

The route

You can get from Lahore to Amritsar in about 3-4 hours. The border itself is very straightforward and only takes about an hour, depending on how many people are crossing (probably not too many). Having crossed it 4 times, this guide is from the perspective of my latest trip – from Pakistan to India. If you’re going in the opposite direction it’s basically the same procedure in reverse*.

Lahore to the border

To get from Lahore to the border, book yourself an inDrive or flag a rickshaw in the street. The last couple of times we did this, it cost around 1200 – 1500 PKR.

It takes about 45 minutes to get from Lahore to the first checkpoint near some shops, where your ride will drop you.

*If you’ve just arrived from India, there’s usually some kind of transportation from Pakistan Immigration that will drop you off at the car park on the road out of the border area. Taxis and rickshaws lurk there, and you can take one to Lahore.

Crossing the border

Your ride will drop you off at Pakistan’s first checkpoint. The guards will search male travelers and their luggage there – female travelers, you’ll be pointed to a little building further along where you can go in for a totally cursory pat-down and quick glance at your bag.

Walk up the road about a kilometer towards the stadium. Or, wait in the car park on the right side of the road for a ride to take you. Everybody will try to convince you to take a ride so you don’t have to walk another step: your call.

You’ll be pointed into the big Immigration building. They’ll take your details down at a desk right inside the door. You’ll fill out a departure form, and they might x-ray your bags. Everyone is incredibly friendly, it’s practically delightful to cross this border.

After the bag check you’ll queue up (or when I did it, be the only person) at the desk for the final passport check and stamp.

Then out you go, and walk the last bit to the stadium. Show your passport to the soldier at the gates and go on through. Show your passport to the Indian soldier standing on the other side a few metres away.

Immediately after the gates you’ll exit the stadium to the right and go to a building sort of beside it. They’ll check your passport and your bags and then you wait there for the bus service. It’s free and a very short trip, but mandatory.

The bus takes you to Indian Immigration services. One of the first officers you’ll meet is an ancient Golden Retriever (assuming she is still alive. Update in 2024 – we met a young German Shepherd who’d been training for a year. I hope the Golden has retired). After the dog checks your bags humans will check them again. Fill out the arrival card and go to the desk to get your stamp.

After that you’ll be told to load your bags into the x-ray and wait for Customs. If you wait more than a few minutes and they seem to forget about you: go up to the Customs desk and just ask them to process you. They’ll run your bags through the machine, ask you some questions, and send you on your way.

Walk out of the building towards the parking lot. Taxi drivers will be on you in an instant (this is India, after all).

The border to Amritsar

You can take a taxi straight to Amritsar from the parking lot for about 1600 INR (the prices are sign-posted) or, continue walking right out through a couple of checkpoints to the main road. Look for a taxi there or take a rickshaw to the bus stand in Atari where you can catch a bus to Amritsar. It takes about an hour to get to the city.

*There are a couple of ways to get from Amritsar to the border:

• take a bus from the Amritsar bus stand to Atari. Get a rickshaw the last couple of kms.
• take a seat in a share-taxi from around the Golden Temple area for a couple hundred INR per person. The touts will hassle you constantly about this. It’s a good idea if you are just going to watch the show. If you are going to cross you probably won’t make it in time.
• take your own taxi. Again, the touts will find you – just bargain.

Read More

For more about travelling in these two countries and things to see and do while you’re at it, check out my other posts about Pakistan and India.

I also wrote a story about my experience crossing the border the first time: India to Pakistan: Crossing the Wagah Border.