Itinerary

1. Day 1: Arrival in Islamabad

   • Arrive at Islamabad International Airport, meet with our guide, and transfer to the hotel.
   • Visit the Afghan Embassy and Explore Taxila
   • In the morning at 8:30 a.m., drive to the Afghanistan Embassy with the required documents, fill out the visa form, and pay the fee for an Argent visa. When you are free from the embassy, visit Taxila's famous archaeological site and museum. Lunch at Taxila, and in the evening, drive back to Islamabad for an overnight stay in the hotel.

2. Day 2: Collection of Visa and Explore Islamabad

   • Morning visit to Islamabad and collection of Visa from the Embassy.
   • In the morning, visit the Pakistan Monument and National Museum. Around 11 am, collect your visa from the Afghanistan embassy and enjoy lunch in Islamabad. After lunch, drive to Peshawar, the ancient living city. On arrival, visit Khyber Old Market and overnight in a hotel.

3. Day 3: Peshawar – Kabul

   • In the morning, drive to the Torkhum border, with a short break at Peshawar and the famous Khyber Pass. On arrival at the border, visit the Pakistan site customs and Migration office and cross the border of Pakistan to enter Afghanistan. Lunch at Jalalabad, and after lunch, drive to Kabul. On arrival, check into your hotel.

4. Day 4: Explore Kabul

   Explore the capital of Afghanistan, visit the national museum, King's Palace, and old market, and after lunch, visit Garden Babur, which was built in 1504 by the Mughal Empire. In the evening, visit the local market and Ziarat-e-Sakhi. Overnight in a hotel.

5. Day 5: Kabul- Bamyan

   Early in the morning, drive to Bamyan through Chahar Qaleh, stop for pictures and a tea break, and on arrival, transfer to the hotel. After lunch, visit the famous Bamyan Buddha area, and in the evening, visit the market. Overnight in Hotel.

6. Day 6: Day Free in Bamyan

   • After breakfast, drive to Band-e Amir National Park. Afghanistan established its first national park on April 22, 2009, to promote and protect the natural beauty of a series of intensely blue lakes created by natural dams high in the Hindu Kush. Band-e-Amir is a chain of six lakes in the mountainous desert of central Afghanistan. Drive back to Bamyan to visit The ruined Buddha. The ruined Buddhas are the main reason that most people visit Bamyan. Although some feel that to visit at all is to reward cultural vandalism and desecration. Created in the 6th century, they long were the largest in the world and a pilgrimage site for Buddhists. Over the centuries, they were damaged by various invaders, and in 2001, the Taliban declared them 'un-Islamic,' rolled in tanks, and destroyed them completely. All that remains are the 'footprints.' But there are many interesting caves and inside, many of the caves have remains of painted frescoes.
   • The Buddhas were built by the Gandharan Kingdom, which ruled the area a few centuries BCE. For that kingdom's capital and better-preserved art of the same period.
   • Caves are abundant throughout the mountainside; many of them used as residences. It's best to observe from a distance, out of respect for the residents and for your safety.
   • Shahr-e Gholghola. A ruined fortified citadel situated on a hill just east of Bamiyan, providing some of the best views of the entire valley.

7. Day 7: Bamyan – Pol-e- Khomri - – Mazar-e-Sharif

   • Today, you will visit the most attractive areas of Bamyan and Pol-e-Homri, have lunch at Pol-e-Khumari and drive to Mazar. On the way, visit Takht-e Rustam (just off the Balkh road, between Mazar and Pol-e Khomri). A 5th-century Buddhist stupa and Buddhist cave complex. Unlike most stupas, Takht-e Rustam is not built atop the ground but dug out from the bedrock. On arrival in Mazar, transfer to your hotel. After lunch, visit the local market. Overnight in Hotel.

8. Day 8: Explore Mazar-i-Sharif- Balkh

   • With a population of more than 485,000 (2020), Mazar-e Sharif is the 4th largest city in Afghanistan. It was founded in the 12th century after a local mullah dreamt of the secret site where Ali bin Talib, the Prophet's cousin and the fourth caliph of Islam, had been buried (outside of Afghanistan, most Muslims believe that Ali is buried in Najaf, Iraq). A shrine, which was rebuilt as the Blue Mosque, was constructed on the site, and the city of Mazar grew around it.
   • Historically, this region was known as Bactria; its capital was Balkh, and Mazar was a smaller town nearby. However, Balkh was abandoned due to disease in the mid-19th century, and Mazar assumed the role of the capital of the region, a position it has maintained ever since.
   • Qala-i-Jangi. A fortress 30 minutes from Mazar-e Sharif that became infamous during the American-backed defeat of the Taliban by the Northern Alliance, when video footage of US and UK soldiers appeared on television sets around the world, firing into the rebelling Taliban prisoners, and an American Taliban was taken prisoner - one of the few survivors. The uprising started right after the death of an American CIA agent.
   • Balkh was historically an ancient place of religions, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism, and one of the wealthiest and largest cities of Khorasan since the latter's earliest history. The city was known to Persians as Zariaspa and to the Ancient Greeks as Bactra, giving its name to Bactria (Greeks called the city also Zariaspa). It was mostly known as the center and capital of Bactria or Tokharistan. Marco Polo described Balkh as a "noble and great city". Balkh is now, for the most part, a mass of ruins situated some 12 km.
   • Drive back and overnight in the Hotel.

9. Day 9: Mazar-i-Sharif – Kabul

   • Today, after breakfast, drive back to Kabul, have lunch at Pol-e-Khomeri, and cross the famous Salang tunnel to Kabul. On the way, you will stop for pictures and tea. On arrival, transfer to the hotel.
   • Fly Kabul to Homeland.

10. Day 10: Departure

    • Today you will fly back home after your amazing adventure in Afghanistan. End of the tour.