13-Day Herat, Kandahar, Bamiyan & Mazar-i-Sharif

Your guide meets you at Kabul airport and, after a pause at the hotel, opens the tour in the old city: the Shah-Do Shamshira Mosque, the bird-sellers and pigeon lofts of Kah Faroshi, and the mausoleum of Timur Shah Durrani, who moved the capital here from Kandahar in 1776. Sunset is from Wazir Akbar Khan Hill, with the whole bowl of Kabul turning gold below. Overnight in Kabul.

You fly west to Herat in the morning and cross the Malan Bridge into the old Timurid capital. The citadel of Qala Ikhtyaruddin comes first, with the Herat National Museum inside its walls, followed by the Friday Mosque — the Masjid-i Jami — where twelve minarets and acres of glazed tile show why Herat was 15th-century Asia's city of art and learning. You finish among the coppersmiths and silk-sellers of the Old City bazaar. Overnight in Herat.

The morning belongs to Gazurgah, the hillside shrine complex where the Sufi saint Khwaja Abdullah Ansari (1006–1088) is buried and where Heratis still come to pray among carved marble tombstones. Bring a headscarf and modest dress for the visit. In the afternoon you fly back to Kabul and take the evening to rest before the southern leg begins.

The flight south to Kandahar runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and lands you in the city where Ahmad Shah Durrani unified the Afghan tribes in 1747 and founded the modern Afghan state. You visit his mausoleum and the shrine of Mirwais Hotak, then the Kherqa Sharif — the Shrine of the Cloak, keeper of a robe attributed to the Prophet Muhammad — and the Red Mosque. The day closes with the climb up Chihil Zina, the Forty Steps, cut into the rock above the old city. Kandahar is conservative even by Afghan standards, so dress carefully and let your guide steer photography around the shrines.

Early risers are rewarded first: the Red Mosque seen in the pre-dawn blue hour, red brick against a deep indigo sky. The rest of the day unwinds through the Arghandab Valley, where pomegranate, grape and apricot orchards line the river — Kandahari pomegranates are famous across the region, and in season you will taste them at their best. After the Sarpuza Fortress you drive south to the dunes to watch the desert take the last light.

A short 55-minute flight returns you to Kabul, and the rest of the day is deliberately left free. Use it to rest, catch up on photographs and laundry, or wander near the hotel with your guide. The mountain leg of the tour starts tomorrow, and the early starts begin again with it.

An early departure opens the road day to Bamiyan, around seven to eight hours with the Ghazni stop included. In Ghazni you take in the two Ghaznavid minarets with their carved terracotta, the tomb of Sultan Mahmud, the Soviet hardware of the Military Open Air Museum, and the citadel. The final hours climb into the Hazarajat to Bamiyan, where you check in for a three-night stay. Motion-sickness tablets are worth having for the mountain switchbacks.

The whole day is spent in the Bamiyan valley. You climb Shahr-e Zuhak and Shahr-e Gholghola, walk the Kakrak Valley niches, and stand beneath the vast empty niches of the 55-metre and 38-metre Buddhas, surrounded by the cliff's monastic caves. Tea in a cave house with a local family follows. The day also includes a visit to the Hussain Naveed English School — founded by one of Darya's own founders and featured by VICE World News in 2022 — where travellers are welcome to sit in on a class.

A 4WD day trip runs to the six travertine-dammed lakes of Band-e Amir, with a boat crossing, the lakeside shrine of Hazrat Ali, and a picnic lunch above the blue water. The park sits at 2,900 metres, so treat the walking gently and keep drinking water. You are back in Bamiyan in the late afternoon with time for the market.

First light sees you on the road north for the eight-to-nine-hour drive to Mazar-i-Sharif. The break in the journey is Samangan: the rock-cut stupa of Takht-i Rustam, carved whole from the bedrock, and the cave bazaar beside it. You descend to the northern plains and reach Mazar in the evening. Overnight at the Arsalan Mazar.

You begin at the Blue Mosque, the tiled shrine of Hazrat Ali that anchors the whole city, then drive out to Balkh — ancient Bactra, birthplace of Rumi and, by long tradition, of Zoroaster too. The old city's circuit covers the Khwaja Abu Nasr Parsa Mosque, the sweeping earthen walls of the Bala Hisar, and the 9th-century No Gonbad Mosque. Back in Mazar you visit the Baba Mazari Mausoleum and end in the bazaar. Bring a headscarf for the shrine and small afghani notes for the stalls.

The southbound drive of seven to eight hours pauses at Kholm for the royal garden of Bagh-e Jahan Nama before climbing to the Salang Pass, where the Soviet-built tunnel of 1964 carries the road through the Hindu Kush at 3,400 metres. It is a day of big scenery rather than stops, so settle in and enjoy it. You sleep in Kabul.

The tour closes with the Shewaki Buddhist Stupa, the gardens and imperial tomb of Bagh-e Babur, and the Id Gah Mosque before your transfer to the airport for an afternoon departure. Book outbound flights for 17:00 or later to keep the last morning unhurried.