Madyan, Pakistan

Madyan is a popular hill station, located in Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is well known from his beauty and is called Switzerland of Asia.

A hilly station of Swat valley height from sea level 1,320 m and about 55 km from Mingora, the mountains have closed in and the valley is almost snug. Here one senses why Swat valley is so popular among the tourists. There are a lot of embroidered shawls in the Bazars of Madyan. At 1,321 metres (4,335 feet) above sea level, Madyan is neither as cool nor as beautiful as Miandam, but it is a larger town and has many hotels in all price ranges and some good tourist shopping. Antique and modern shawls, traditional embroidery, tribal jewellery, carved wood and antique or reproduced coins are sold along the main street. This is the last Swati village, offering interesting two-and three-day walks up to the mountain villages... ask in the bazaar in Muambar Khan's shop for a guide. North of Madyan is Swat Kohistan where walking is not recommended without an armed guard. The central mosque at Madyan has carved wooden pillars with elegant scroll capitals, and its mud-plastered west wall is covered with relief designs in floral motifs

In November 2007 it was reported that the town had been taken over by Islamist miltants led by Maulana Fazlullah.