MINARET OF JAM – AFGHANISTAN GROUP TOUR

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 Shah-Do-Shamshira Mosque (1544) relates to an early legend concerning the arrival of Islam in Kabul.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: 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.

Registration with the Provincial Afghan Tour department.

Visiting the UNISCO Heritage Sites, the ruins of the 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), one of the eight UNISCO Heritage Sites in Bamyan. Build by Ghaznavids (977-1186) and demolished by Genghis Khan in 1221.

A visit to the another UNISCO Heritage Sites, the ruins of Zuhak City (Red City). 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.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Bamyan

A full day hiking and sightseeing around Band-e-Amir Blue Lakes Altitude: 2916 m: 9567 ft. There are five lakes in all.

We will continue our drive to Yakawlang district to make the next day’s drive shorter.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Bamyan

After breakfast, we will set off on a scenic drive towards Firuzkuh, the provincial capital of Ghur province. The journey takes 8 hours, passing through majestic valleys and traditional villages.

Several stops on the way for rest, lunch and photography.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Firuzkuh

We will leave our hotel early for a 5-hour drive to the minaret.

Hiking and sightseeing around the UNISCO Heritage Site, Minaret of Jam: 213 foot: 65 meters. Only the Qutb Minar in Delhi, directly inspired by the Jam minaret, stands higher, at 238 feet. The Minaret of Jam is, therefore, the second highest minaret in the world.

We will continue our drive to Chish-e-Sharif for another 7-hour drive. 

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Chisht-e-Sharif 

Early departure towards Herat. This is a 7-hour drive through villages, mud houses and local bazaars with some stops for photography, lunch and refreshment. 

Registration at the Provincial Afghan Tour department and hotel chick-in.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner 

Overnight: Herat

Visiting Masjid-e-Jami or Friday Mosque. The form in which it stands today was originally laid out on the site of an earlier 10th century mosque in the year 1200 by the Ghorid Sultan Ghiyasuddin (died 1202). Today’s restoration of the mosque continues a tradition of architectural decoration of Timurid (15th century).

There is a Madrasa (Islamic school) inside the mosque where students continue a tradition active in the mosque since the 10th century.

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. Genghis Khan and Amir Timur (Timuri Lang) fought beneath its walls and it was the heart of the Timurid Empire for a hundred years (1405-1506) after that fighting.

Walking around the old city of Herat. The four main bazaars of the old city come together at a center square called the Chahrsuq or Four Bazaar. In addition to the old shops lining the streets there are several covered bazaars in the vicinity. covered bazaars are now rarely to be seen outside of Herat and visitors are encouraged to include a visit to a a few of these bazaars.

You will visit the neighborhood of Jewish Afghans who were forced to leave their country years ago and their Synagogues and bath.

Visiting the Caravanserais located on Silk Road around Chahrsuq.

Visiting the Malan bridge 1100AD.

Visiting the Musallah Complex, designed and built (1417) under Queen Gawhar Shad, wife of Shah Rukh, son of Amir Taimur (Taimur Lang), artistic director. Most of these great works of art were irretrievably demolished under the direction of Amir Abdurahman and British troops in 1885 and some of them were subsequently downed by earthquakes. Only three examples remain:  1- Queen Gawhar Shad’s mausoleum, (inside are the tombstones of the Queen 1457, her son Baisunghur and various grandsons and great-grandsons), 2- the mausoleum of Mir Ali Sher Nawai (died in 1501), the prime minister of Sultan Husain Baiqara (1468-1506), last of the Timurid rulers in Herat. 3- The 5 minarets out of a total of 20 minarets, (4 of them stood at the four corners of a Madrassa built by Sultan Husain Baiqara).

A visit to the Shrine of Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, the celebrated Sufi poet and philosopher who was born in Herat in 1006 and died here in 1088. Here Shah Rukh built many buildings which were lavishly decorated with brilliant tilework. Work began in 1425. 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

We will depart Herat for our road trip to Kandahar. This is an 8-hour drive and we will pass Farah and Helmand provinces visiting lots of mud houses, bazaars and beautiful mosques on our way. We will stop many times to take photos and having lunch.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Kandahar

Kandahar, the political capital and second largest city of Afghanistan. The most sensitive and conservative province in Afghanistan.

Registration with the Afghan Tour department.

A drive to the old bazaar of Kandahar, the four principal bazaar streets meet in the center of the city (Martyrs’ Square) with hundreds of old shops and markets.

Visiting the shrine of the Cloak of the prophet.

Visiting the Mausoleum of Ahmed Shah Durrani, the founder of Afghanistan who ruled an empire from Kandahar (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 by Mohammad Kamran son of the Mughal Emperor Babur Shah. A rock-cut chamber high above the plain at the end of the rugged chain of mountains forming the western defense of Kandahar’s old city.

Last visit today to the Read mosque and to the shrine of BaBa Wali Kandahari.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Kandahar

We will continue our drive to Kabul. This is a 10-hour trip passing Zabul, Ghazni and Wardak provinces with many stops at picturesque rest areas to refresh and take unforgettable photos.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Overnight: Kabul