Saidpur is a small five-hundred-year-old village embedded in the slopes of the Margalla Hills above Islamabad's E-7 sector. The restored core consists of a single cobbled lane lined with whitewashed houses, a Mughal-era step well, a Hindu temple and an old Sikh gurdwara, all carefully preserved.
It is the easiest place in Islamabad to get a feel for what the area looked like before the planners arrived. The lane is now mostly given over to restaurants, art galleries and craft shops, but the setting in pine forest under the cliffs is genuinely lovely. Come for late lunch and walk on into the hills.