This is a 7-day tour to Kabul, Bamyan and Band e Amir national park, Mazar e Sharif & Balkh District, which starts and ends at the Kabul airport.
Available Group Tours To Join:
If none of these dates work for you, you are welcome to book this tour package for your preferred dates. In such cases, we will actively promote the tour to gather more travelers to form a group.
This tour package is also available as a private tour, allowing you to travel on any date of your choice with a personalized experience.
If this package does not match your interests, please contact us. We will be happy to design a custom itinerary tailored to your preferences, travel style, and schedule.
Pick up by the tour guide and driver. Hotel check-in and a short briefing of the tour by the guide. Breakfast or lunch if needed.
Money exchange and going to a tailor shop for the local outfit/shirt.
Touring Kabul depending on what time remains: First of all, we will take you to BiBi Mahroo hill (the big flag) to have a bird’s eye view of Kabul city.
Visiting the oldest market, Mandawi bazaar and the Bird market. Walking around Pul-e-Khishti Mosque (1793-1800), Nadir Pushtun Wat, Chahar Chatta bazaar and Pul-e-Bagh-e-Omumi to catch the atmosphere of Kabul, meeting people and their daily life and culture.
Visiting the Shah-Do-Shamshira Mosque (1544) relates to an early legend concerning the arrival of Islam in Kabul.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Overnight: Kabul
Departing Kabul towards Mazar-e-Sharif by a flight.
Registration at the Afghan tour department and Hotel check-in.
Visiting the Blue Mosque of Mazar-e-Sharif, built in 1136 by the great Seljuk Sultan, Sanjar. Genghis Khan destroyed it in 1221, having heard there was great treasure beneath its pillars. The reign of the Timurid Sultan Husain Baiqara rebuilt it in 1481.
Walking around the city center and Bazaars. Walking around Banjara Bazaar to see the people and their daily life, culture and lifestyle.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Overnight: Mazar
Balkh, is a town of prodigious antiquity where Zoroaster preached sometime between 1000 and 600 B.C. Under the Kushans, when Buddhism was practiced throughout Afghanistan, many holy Buddhist temples flourished in Balkh. The Arabs, the bearers of Islam, called Balkh the Mother of Towns, so impressed were they with its magnificence but in 1220 Genghis Khan left it utterly devastated. Balkh was abandoned for Mazar-e-Sharif in 1866
A short drive to Balkh District.
Visiting Masjid-e-Haji Piyada or Nuh Gunbad Mosque, 9th century A.D.
A visit to Khwaja Abu Nasr Parsa Mosque and to the tomb of Rabia Balkhi The first woman of the Islamic period to compose poems in Persian
A visit to the ruins of Bala Hisar-e-Balkh built by Alexander the Great 329-327 B.C.
Visiting the ruins of the Mawlana Jalaluddin Balkhi (known in the west as Rumi) abbey. Rumi was born in Balkh in 1207. Perhaps the most eminent sufi poet of all time.
Visiting Burj-e-Ayaran tower (the city wall).
Drive back to Mazar e Sharif.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Overnight: Mazar
This is a 12-hour drive passing through Salang Tunnel (Hindu Kush mountains). Altitude of 3363 m: 11034 ft. and 2,7 km: 1,7 mi. long, built in 1964 by Soviet Union.
We will drive through another fascinating road, Dara-e-Ghurband, through the Shibar Pass. It winds along beside the Ghorband River.
We will pass Sia Gird district and many local bazaars and markets.
Many stops on the way for photography and lunch
Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Overnight: Bamyan
Registration with the provincial Afghan Tour department.
Visiting the UNISCO Heritage Sites, the ruins of Buddha Statues (once tallest standing Buddhas in the world), the Large Buddha, 55 m: 180 ft high (late 5th to the early 7th centuries A.D.). The Small Buddha, 38 m: 125 feet high (the 3rd or very early 4th centuries A.D.). Both were demolished by the Taliban in 2001.
Visiting the ruins of Gholghula City (The City of Screams). Build by Ghaznavids (977-1186) and demolished by Genghis Khan in 1221.
Hiking and sightseeing around Band-e-Amir Blue Lakes. Altitude: 2916 m: 9567 ft. There are five lakes in all.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Overnight: Bamyan
After breakfast, we will leave Bamyan for Kabul. This is a 4-hour beautiful drive, traveling through the fascinating Hajigak Pass (3700 m: 12,140 ft.), with stops at picturesque rest areas to refresh and take unforgettable photos.
A visit to the ruins of Zuhak City (Red City) on our way. The fortress is believed to have been founded between 500-600 A.D. by the Hephthalites, around the same time as the Buddhas of Bamyan were created and demolished by Genghis Khan in 1221.
After lunch in Kabul, a visit to the iconic Babur Garden built by the Mughal Emperor Babur Shah, 1528 CE.
Our last visit today, Ziarat-e-Sakhi or Sakhi Shrine built in 18th century.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Overnight: Kabul
We will take you to Chicken Street (antique market). You will find all kinds of handicrafts, Afghan handmade Rugs, gemstones, calligraphy, glass miniatures and oil paintings, antique and ornamental works in Chicken Street.
Visiting more of Kabul depends on what time remains.
Breakfast and lunch
Finally, after a 7-day trip to Afghanistan with lots of unique experiences and heart touching stories we will drop you at the Kabul airport for your flight back home.
End of the tour.
