Afghanistan in 3 to 20 days
The empty niches of the Bamyan Buddhas, the blue lakes of Band-e Amir, the white pigeons of Mazar, the tiles of Herat and a minaret alone in a gorge: Afghanistan a day at a time, from a long weekend to three weeks. Choose how long you have.
The route
- Kabul2 days
- Panjshir1 day
- Bamyan3 days
- Ghor2 days
- Herat3 days
- Kandahar2 days
- Ghazni1 day
- Kabul1 day
- Mazar-i-Sharif3 days
- Kabul2 days
Day-to-day spending, before hotels~86,000 AFN (1,325 USD)
Photo: Suliman Sallehi
- Morning Travel permits at Afghan Tour1,000 AFN
On Shash Darak Road; list every province you will visit. Allow half a day; closed on Fridays.
- Afternoon Babur's Garden350 AFN
The Mughal emperor's terraced garden above the city.
Sleep Kabul: guest houses 800 to 2,000 afghanis, mid-range hotels from 3,000.
Photo: Qasim Mirzaie
- Morning The National Museum100 AFN
Buddhist sculpture and the Begram ivories; photos 200 afghanis extra.
- Afternoon Darul Aman Palace500 AFN
The restored 1920s palace, usually with a guide.
- Evening Bibi Mahru hill
Sunset over Kabul.
Eat Kabuli palaw at Bukhara or Andkhoy Bastan.
Sleep Kabul: guest houses 800 to 2,000 afghanis, mid-range hotels from 3,000.
Photo: Hamidzada Photography
By road: Several checkpoints; Panjshir must be on your permit. Since June 2026 women visitors have been turned back.
- All day The valley and the river
Walk by the river and lunch on fish at a teahouse. Be back before dark.
- Afternoon Ahmad Shah Massoud's tomb
Phones are taken at the gate; no photographs.
Sleep Kabul: guest houses 800 to 2,000 afghanis, mid-range hotels from 3,000.
Photo: Naqibullah Khaliqi
By road: Via Maidan Shahr and the Unai and Hajigak passes; in winter, the Shibar road to the north.
- Evening Bamyan bazaar
A walk in the bazaar facing the cliff of the Buddhas.
Sleep Bamyan: guest houses and small hotels in town.
Photo: Ali Azad
- Morning The Buddha niches500 AFN
Two empty niches in the cliff and monks' caves with fragments of painting. One ticket covers several sites.
- Afternoon Shahr-e Gholghola
The ruins of a city destroyed in 1221, with the whole valley below.
- Evening Dragon Valley
A split ridge that legend says is a slain dragon.
Eat Palaw and aush noodle soup in the bazaar.
Sleep Bamyan: guest houses and small hotels in town.
Photo: Mahdi Ansel
By road: Via Yakawlang; the park has its own permit.
- All day Band-e Haibat and the six lakes250 AFN
Walk the rims of the dams, take a pedal boat and drink tea by the water. Afghan women have been barred since 2023; foreign women are sometimes turned back.
Sleep Bamyan: guest houses and small hotels in town.
Photo: Wasim Mirzaie
By road: Paved to Yakawlang, then dirt; you need a 4x4.
Sleep Chaghcharan: a simple guest house.
Photo: AhmadElhan · CC BY-SA 4.0
By road: Off-road and hard; the footbridge was washed away in the 2024 floods. Best in September and October.
- Evening The minaret
Camp under the minaret or sleep in a basic teahouse; a UNESCO World Heritage site in danger.
Sleep A tent or a teahouse by the minaret.
Photo: Artacoana · Public domain
By road: Dirt as far as Chisht, then paved. Leave at first light.
Sleep Herat: hotels in Shahr-e Naw or near the citadel.
Photo: Mehdi Khoshnejad
- Morning The Great Mosque
The blue tilework, and the tile workshop behind it. Non-Muslims outside prayer times.
- Afternoon The Musalla minarets and Gowhar Shad
Leaning minarets and the tomb of Queen Gowhar Shad. Free to see.
Sleep Herat: hotels in Shahr-e Naw or near the citadel.
Photo: Marius Arnesen · CC BY-SA 2.0
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- Morning Gazargah
The shrine of an 11th-century poet and mystic on a hill east of Herat.
- Afternoon The bazaar and the glassblowers
Herat's blue glass, old caravanserais and silk shops.
- Evening Pul-e Malan
The old bridge over the Hari Rud south of the city.
Sleep Herat: hotels in Shahr-e Naw or near the citadel.
Photo: Abdul Wali · Public domain
By road: Daylight only. Kandahar was struck in September 2026: ask the week you go.
- Evening Registering in Kandahar
Kandahar asks for a local permit, and separate permission for the Kherqa Sharif and Ahmad Shah's tomb.
Sleep Kandahar: hotels in the city.
Photo: Asmatullah Kharoti
- Morning Ahmad Shah Durrani's tomb
The tiled dome of Afghanistan's founder. Ahmad Shah Baba's house reopened to visitors in January 2026.
- Afternoon Chilzina
Babur's forty steps and their rock inscription, over the old city.
- Evening The covered bazaar
Pomegranates, dried fruit and Kandahari embroidery.
Sleep Kandahar: hotels in the city.
Photo: Tal Surasky
By road: Some sections are being rebuilt.
- Afternoon The minarets of Ghazni
The star-shaped minarets of Masud III and Bahram Shah, from the 12th century.
- Evening Sultan Mahmud's tomb
The tomb of the greatest Ghaznavid king.
Sleep Ghazni: simple hotels.
Photo: Sadullah Habibi
- Morning Ghazni's citadel
Mud-brick walls above the town.
Sleep Kabul: guest houses 800 to 2,000 afghanis, mid-range hotels from 3,000.
Photo: Qasim Mirzaie
By air: Kam Air or Ariana, about 5,250 afghanis.
- Afternoon The Blue Mosque350 AFN
The tiled courtyard and its pigeons; non-Muslims do not go inside the shrine.
Sleep Mazar-i-Sharif: hotels near the shrine.
Photo: Nasim Fekrat · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Morning The Bala Hissar and the walls
Get the Balkh permit in Mazar first.
- Afternoon Noh Gonbad and the Green Mosque
One of Afghanistan's oldest mosques, and the shrine of Khwaja Parsa.
- Evening Buzkashi (in winter)
Fridays from November to mid-March.
Sleep Mazar-i-Sharif: hotels near the shrine.
Photo: AhmadElhan · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Afternoon Bagh-e Jahan Nama, Kholm
The palace and garden by the Kholm gorge on the way back.
Sleep Mazar-i-Sharif: hotels near the shrine.
Photo: Mohammad Husaini
- Afternoon Chicken Street
Carpets, lapis and embroidery to take home.
Sleep Kabul: guest houses 800 to 2,000 afghanis, mid-range hotels from 3,000.
Photo: Suliman Sallehi
Sleep Kabul: guest houses 800 to 2,000 afghanis, mid-range hotels from 3,000.
Before you go
Permits
Foreign visitors need a travel permit naming every province they stay in. Since September 2025 it is issued in Kabul by Afghan Tour, the state tourism office on Shash Darak Road, and is reported at 1,000 afghanis a province; allow half a day. Register again at the information and culture office in each province. Band-e Amir and Balkh have their own permits, and Kandahar asks for a local one. Reports say a guide is now required.
Getting around
Every domestic flight goes through Kabul: there is no flight from Mazar to Herat, so link them through Kabul. Kabul to Herat is about ten flights a week, Kabul to Mazar about seven, and Kabul to Kandahar twice a week. Bamyan and Jam are reached only by road. See today's flights, the roads and passes and getting around.
Safety
Every Western government advises against travel to Afghanistan in 2026. Read the safety advice, go with a local guide or operator, travel by day, and never photograph checkpoints, soldiers or officials. Pakistan struck Kandahar, Paktia and Khost in September 2026; no tour goes to the eastern border provinces. Ask about Kandahar, Panjshir and the Jam road the week you go.
Women
Afghan women have been barred from Band-e Amir since 2023 and, since June 2026, turned back from Panjshir. Foreign women are usually allowed in but are sometimes refused at Band-e Amir and the Blue Mosque. Some operators run women-only tours with women guides.
Money
- Group tours cost about US$200 to 350 a day, everything included.
- On your own: a local meal 200 to 300 afghanis, a car with a driver 2,000 to 4,000 a day, a guide about US$30 to 50.
- Bring clean US dollars and change them at a sarraf: see today's rate.
The daily costs above are for fees, food, transport and flights, not hotels.
When to go
April to June and September to November. Jam is best in September and October; Band-e Amir is cold from November. Buzkashi is played on Fridays in Mazar from November to mid-March. See the weather and the visa you need, and for one city in depth, Kabul in 3, 5 or 7 days.
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