Afghanistan holds some of the most remarkable places in Asia: the Bamiyan valley, where the niches of the two great Buddhas destroyed in 2001 still stand in a cliff of cave monasteries; the travertine-dammed lakes of Band-e-Amir; the Mughal garden and old bazaars of Kabul; the tiled Blue Mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif; and, in the far north-east, the Wakhan Corridor between the Hindu Kush and the Pamirs.
It is also a country that most Western governments, including the UK, the US and Australia, advise against travelling to at all. Standard travel insurance does not apply, the de facto authorities require a visa, permits and registration, and trips can be cancelled at short notice. We set all of that out on each trip page before anything else, and we would rather you read it there than discover it later.
From US$ 1,590 /person
The Silk Road heritage, Hindu Kush valleys and turquoise lakes of central and northern Afghanistan — Kabul, the Bamiyan cliffs, Band-e-Amir and the Blue Mosque at Mazar-i-Sharif.
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From US$ 2,450 /person
Overland and on foot into Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor — Wakhi villages, the Panj valley forts and high summer pastures beneath the 7,000 m peaks of the Hindu Kush.
View trip & itineraryMost Western governments, including the UK, the US and Australia, advise against all travel to Afghanistan, and we think that advice deserves to be taken seriously. Consular help is very limited, standard insurance is void, and departures may be cancelled at short notice. Each trip page sets out the risks, the insurance and the rules in its first section of Good to know.
The 8-day Bamiyan, Band-e-Amir and Kabul tour is a cultural trip with short walks and two long road days. The 12-day Wakhan Corridor expedition is a remote trek to 4,300 metres, entered from Tajikistan, for experienced trekkers only.
Yes. You need an Afghan visa before travel, issued by missions of the de facto authorities, and inside the country a tourist permit and registration in each province. We arrange the permits and provide the visa support letter, and confirm the current process at the time of booking. The Wakhan trip also needs a Tajik visa allowing re-entry and a GBAO permit.
Foreign women do visit, but dress rules apply — hair, arms and legs covered — and restrictions on women's access to parks, including Band-e-Amir, and on travel have been applied unevenly since 2022. Please talk to us before booking so we can tell you what we know about the current position.
No. Both statues were destroyed in March 2001. Visitors see the vast empty niches where they stood and the cave monasteries around them, which remain one of the great sites of Central Asia — see the Bamiyan tour.
Photographs: Tracy Hunter from Kabul,, Afghanistan (CC BY 2.0); Petar Milošević (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
Tell us who is travelling and roughly when. A trip planner — not a call centre — replies within three hours between 9am and 11pm Pakistan time with a day-by-day itinerary and the full price, per person, with nothing hidden underneath it.
