Khanspur is one of the tourist mountain resort towns of the Galyat area of Pakistan. Khanaspur is a settlement in the Ayubia area and is located in Abbottabad District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. During British rule it was occupied by a detachment of British infantry. Main Local areas of Khanaspur are Darwaza, Dhara, Riyaal and Longaal. The nobels of Khanaspur are: (NAJIAL’s) Lal Khan Abbasi(Late), Sajawal Abbasi(Late), Muhammad Imran Abbasi, Abid Imran Abbasi, Majid Imran Abbasi and Saqib Imran Abbasi.
The beauty of Khanaspur lies in the light, unlike any other tourist mountain region in Pakistan including Northern Areas. Fiercer, stronger, and sharper light silhouettes the mountain resort and scattered houses on slops in ever-changing patterns against the skyline. The sunlight plays with the green nooks and crags of the Khanaspur landscape, tossing out long shadows that ripple across the green gorges, sometimes through tall pine and fir trees. It turns the hills from opal in the morning to sapphire to gold to silver and finally to dross before descending swiftly in a bright red ball in the evening.
It is the light of sculptors, not painters, who love the soft diaphanous hues and tones. Out of that light come the great image of green hills and the long, clean lines of the spurs separating craggy countryside from the plains. In the background of photogenic natural settings, Khanaspur weather proves fickle, switching from sunshine to downpour and again to sunshine in minutes. The rain that falls over the land and blots out the sun can be seen in the red, grey and brown layers in the cliffs that plunge dramatically into the horizon.
Of the many spots that lie dotted around Murree, perhaps Khanaspur is one of the best. Whereas the beauty in most resorts in this area has been marred by detritus of tourism, one can still have Khanaspur to himself because most families coming to beat the heat stay put in Murree. Situated between Murree and Nathia Gali, Khanaspur is relatively quiet where one can find privacy as well as unmarred vistas of the green hills together. Away from the hustle and bustle of the life in the fast lane, in Khanaspur one can enjoy a sense of solitary elation at that height: to mediate, and have a rendezvous with life. No hurrying up. In the area, one sees mostly older men and women strolling along the contours or working in fields or following fodder-laden donkeys coming down from uphills, repose written all over their faces. Younger ones usually move out to cities in search of better opportunities.
Visible cultural fusion takes place in areas that see heavy tourists’ traffic from all over the country and abroad. Hill-village culture is gradually changing: from plain rustic to urban. Walk on any of the trails interlacing the area, talk to the locals, may be in one of the many makeshift tea houses doing business in nowhere kind of a place or take up any of the serene hikes, and you will find them politically alive and well aware of the hot national and international issues, discussing these in pleasant Punjabi blended with flavours of Potohari and Kashhmiri dialects.
Away from and overlooking Khanaspur town, there is a villa-type guest house carved out of the rock that is situated near camping ground. The villa is clean, with sufficiently stocked kitchen, sitting room, bedroom, veranda, and two umbrellas and tables in the courtyard. The setting of the villa — simplicity, intimacy, and environs – is perfect with the fine view in front and the forest behind. If it is just to get away from it all this is the place — to sit in the veranda and daydream or simply count your blessings. But if you are an environmentalist, a short walk out of the room and you are in the middle of the backwoods.