Things to Do
From trekking the Wakhan Corridor to browsing centuries-old bazaars — authentic experiences, far from the crowds, that bring Afghanistan to life.
Things to do
From high-altitude trekking to centuries-old bazaars, Afghanistan rewards travelers who come with curiosity, patience, and a good local guide.
Kabul
Visit Wazir Akbar Khan Mosque
A hilltop replica of Masjid al-Aqsa above Kabul, its striped dome and chandelier-lit interior open to visitors year-round.
Climb to the Wazir Akbar Khan flagpole
The hill above Wazir Akbar Khan carries the country's largest flagpole — and with it the widest panorama over the capital, best at dusk.
Walk the Gardens of Babur
Terraced Mughal gardens in Kabul, laid out for the empire's founder, with shaded walkways and views over the old city.
Tour Darul Aman Palace
A neoclassical 1920s palace on a Kabul hilltop, badly damaged in decades of conflict and fully restored by 2019 — one of the city's most striking landmarks.
Explore the National Museum of Afghanistan
A collection spanning the Buddhist, Islamic, and pre-Islamic eras, near Darul Aman Palace — one of the best introductions to the country's layered history.
Spend an afternoon in Shahr-e-Naw
Kabul's modern commercial quarter — cafes, bookshops, and the shaded green of Shahr-e-Naw Park in the middle of it all.
Browse a local bazaar
Hand-knotted carpets, raw lapis lazuli, dried fruit, and copperware — bargaining is expected, and part of the experience.
Watch a cricket match
Cricket is the national game, and matches at Kabul's international stadium draw enormous, good-humoured crowds.
Visit Paghman Palace
The royal palace and triumphal arch at Paghman, set in gardens laid out in the 1920s under King Amanullah.
Unwind at Paghman Lake
A quiet lakeside park outside Kabul, with walking paths, lamplit promenades, and views over the hills at dusk.
Ride horses in Paghman
Saddled horses wait along Paghman's main road, a favorite weekend outing for Kabul families escaping the summer heat.
Relax at Qargha Lake
A reservoir just outside Kabul ringed by cafes and picnic spots, popular with locals for boating and lakeside walks on weekends.
Take a boat out on Qargha
Pedal boats and small motorboats run from the Qargha shoreline through the warmer months.
Swim in the summer heat
Swimming is a summer staple at Qargha and the city's public pools — facilities are basic, and local modesty norms apply.
Bamyan
Visit the Bamiyan Buddha niches
Stand before the cliffside hollows that once held the world's tallest standing Buddhas, and explore the caves honeycombing the valley walls.
Swim and boat at Band-e-Amir
Afghanistan's first national park, a chain of deep blue lakes held back by natural travertine dams, set against red desert cliffs.
Climb to Shahr-e-Gholghola
The “City of Screams” — the ruined citadel above the Bamyan valley, besieged and razed by Genghis Khan's army in 1221.
Explore Shahr-e-Zahak, the Red City
Fortress ruins above the Bamiyan valley dating back roughly 1,500 years, still guarded by crumbling watchtowers on the cliffs.
Herat
Explore the Citadel of Herat
Climb the ramparts of the Citadel of Alexander, a fortress that has watched over Herat for more than 2,000 years.
Visit the Friday Mosque of Herat
The 13th-century Great Mosque, its courtyard walls covered in some of the finest glazed tilework in Central Asia, still maintained by resident craftsmen today.
See the Musalla Minarets
What survives of Queen Gawhar Shad's 15th-century Musalla complex — a handful of leaning, tile-clad Timurid minarets standing alone on open ground.
Wander the Old City of Herat
The walled quarter of covered bazaars and caravanserais, where glassblowers and tile-cutters still work by hand.
Balkh & Mazar-i-Sharif
See the Shrine of Hazrat Ali
Mazar-i-Sharif's turquoise-tiled Blue Mosque draws pilgrims year-round, and bursts into color each spring during the Nowruz tulip festival.
Visit the Green Mosque of Balkh
A 15th-century Timurid shrine complex near the Mother of Cities, named for the turquoise “Turkish Green” tilework covering its walls and dome.
Walk the ancient city of Balkh
The Mother of Cities — Bactrian ramparts, the Nine Domes mosque, and one of the oldest continuously settled sites on earth.
Kandahar
Visit the Kharqa Sharif
The Shrine of the Cloak, said to hold a cloak of the Prophet Muhammad — the most revered site in the city, and rarely opened.
See the Mausoleum of Ahmad Shah Durrani
The gilded tomb of the founder of modern Afghanistan, standing beside the Kharqa Sharif in central Kandahar.
Wander the Old City of Kandahar
Bazaars, orchards, and the pomegranate trade that has carried the city's name for centuries.
See Aino Mina
A planned township on Kandahar's northern edge — wide boulevards, parks, and new-build housing, a striking contrast with the old city.
Khost, Paktia & the southeast
Picnic in the highlands
Picnicking is the region's social ritual — families spread carpets in the pine forests and river valleys right through the summer.
Hike the pine forests of the southeast
The mountains toward Paktia and Khost hold rare stands of pine and cedar forest, with terraced villages tucked into the valleys below.
Logar
See a blue-domed mosque in Logar
South of Kabul, striking modern mosques with tiled blue domes and slender minarets rise above small provincial towns, lit dramatically after dark.
Badakhshan
Trek the Wakhan Corridor
Multi-day routes through Pamir foothills, past Kyrgyz yurt camps and some of the most remote high-altitude terrain in Asia.
Stand under the Pamir peaks
Badakhshan carries the highest ground in the country — the Pamir and Hindu Kush ranges meet here, and Noshakh, Afghanistan’s highest peak at 7,492m, sits on the border.
Fayzabad, the provincial capital
The province’s main city, strung along the Kokcha river in a narrow valley — the staging point for almost every journey into the region.
Follow the Kokcha river
The Kokcha cuts through the province on its way to the Amu Darya, past the lapis lazuli mines that have supplied the world’s blue pigment for six thousand years.
Baharak, where the valleys meet
A town at the confluence of the Kokcha and Warduj rivers, ringed by high mountains — the junction where the routes to the Wakhan, Fayzabad, and the Warduj valley all cross.
The Warduj waterfall
In the Warduj valley east of Baharak, meltwater falls out of the high mountains — one of the region’s few genuinely easy stops.
Nuristan
Drive the valleys of Nuristan
Forested slopes, timber villages stacked up the hillsides, and river gorges — the greenest country in Afghanistan, and often called its Kashmir. The roads are the attraction as much as anything at the end of them.
Ghor
Journey to the Minaret of Jam
A remote, soaring 12th-century Ghurid tower rising from a river valley — a UNESCO World Heritage site few ever reach.
Panjshir
Drive the Panjshir Valley
Sheer mountain walls and river-cut villages north of Kabul — a scenic day trip through the Hindu Kush foothills.
Parwan & the north road
Cross the Salang Pass
A dramatic Hindu Kush crossing at nearly 3,400 meters, linking Kabul to the north through hairpin roads and a Soviet-built tunnel carved straight through the mountains.