After breakfast, we will depart Kabul for our road trip to Ghazni, a thriving Buddhist center in the 7th century A.D. The dazzling capital of a powerful empire, the Ghaznavid Empire 994-1160 A.D. This is a 3-hour drive.

Registration with the provincial Afghan Tour department.

 A visit to the minarets of Ghazni, built by Sultan Mas’ud III,  1099-1114 and the other was raised by the last king of the dynasty, Sultan Bahram Shah 1118-1152.

A visit to Bala Hesar Citadel. The old city of Ghazni is clustered closely around the foot of the citadel and you can see that mud houses and bazaars that are still inhabited by people.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Ghazni

We will depart Ghazni for our road trip to Kandahar. This is a 6-hour drive and we will pass Zabul province visiting lots of mud houses, bazaars and beautiful mosques on our way. We will stop many times to take photos and having lunch.

Registration with the provincial Afghan Tour department.

Touring Kandahar, meeting people and experiencing their daily life and culture.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Kandahar

A drive to the old bazaar of Kandahar or Char Suq, the four principal bazaar streets meet in the center of the city with hundreds of old shops and markets.

We will drive around the Shahidanu Chawk or Martyrs’ Square.

Visiting the shrine of the Cloak of the prophet.

Visiting the Mausoleum of Ahmed Shah Durrani, the founder of Afghanistan, (1747-1772).

Visiting the Tomb of Mir Wais Hotak, the Ghilzai chieftain who declared Kandahar’s Independence from the Persians in 1709.

A visit to the Chihlzina or Forty Steeps, built in 1531. A rock-cut chamber high above the plain, a forty steps, lead to the chamber, inscribed with an account of Moghul conquest in Persian.

Another visit to the Read mosque.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Kandahar

We will continue our drive to Herat. This is an 8-hour trip passing Helmand and Farah province with many stops at picturesque rest areas to refresh and take unforgettable photos.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Herat

Registration with the Afghan Tour department.

Visiting the Masjid-e-Jami or Friday Mosque, built in the year 1200 by the Ghorid Sultan Ghiyasuddin.

There is a Madrasa (Islamic school) inside the mosque where students learn Islamic subjects on it’s own tradition.

Walking around the old city of Herat.

You can visit the neighborhood of Jewish Afghans and their Synagogues and bath.

Visiting the Caravanserais located on Silk Road around Chahr Suq.

Visiting the Musallah Complex, 1417 under Queen Gawhar Shad, wife of Shah Rukh, son of Amir Taimur (Taimur Lang).

Visiting the Citadel of Alexander the Great 330 B.C. and built in its present form by the Kart Malik Fakhruddin in 1305 A.D.

A visit to the Shrine of Khwaja Abdullah Ansari 1425, the celebrated Sufi poet and philosopher who was born in Herat in 1006 and died here in 1088.

Inside the shrine there is a most remarkable and must see sarcophagus, called the Haft Qalam Stone (Seven Pens) which is fashioned of black marble and dates from the reign of Sultan Husain Baiqara (1468-1506).

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Herat

Departing Herat towards Mazar-e-Sharif by a direct flight (Thursdays only)

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.

We will head to Band-e-Amir Blue Lakes. Hiking and sightseeing. 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.

Visiting Bala Hisar fortress.

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.

Finally, after a 12-day tour to Afghanistan with lots of unique experiences and heart touching stories we will drop you at the Kabul airport for your flight back home.
Brdakfast and lunch

End of the tour.