6-Day Northern Afghanistan Tour with Balkh, Mazar-i-Sharif and Panjshir

• Visit the Blue Mosque (Shrine of Hazrat-e-Ali) and Darul Aman Palace. The palace was built in the early 1920s as part of King Amanullah Khan's efforts to modernize Afghanistan.

• Go to the Kabul National Museum, which once housed over 100,000 items dating back several millennia. With the beginning of the civil war in 1992, the museum was looted numerous times, resulting in the loss of 70% of its collection. Since 2007, several international organizations have helped recover 8,000 artefacts.

Overnight stay at Asayesh Guest House.

• Journey to Mazar-i-Sharif and pass through Salang. The pass crosses the Hindu Kush Mountains, but it is now bypassed through the Salang Tunnel, which runs underneath at a height of about 3,400 m.

Overnight stay at Arsalan Guest House.

• Journey to Balkh, an ancient city and a centre of Buddhism, Sufism, and Zoroastrianism.

• Visit Haji Piyada Mosque (the Walking Pilgrim), the Tomb of Rabia Balkhi, Khoja Parsa Mosque, and Bala Hisar - the ancient citadel built by Alexander the Great when he destroyed the Kurush (Persian empire) and crossed the Amu Darya (Auxus River).

• Visit the blue-tiled Mosque of Ali and see the crazy game of Buzkashi.

Overnight stay at Arsalan Guest House.

• Journey back to Kabul and, on the way, visit Takht-i Rustam (Haibak), named after Rustam, a king in Persian mythology.

• Visit the adjacent Buddhist caves and stupas on top of a hill north of the Hindu Kush passes. It represents the earliest link to the evolution of Buddhism.

• Journey to Panjshir and visit the Tomb of Ahmad Shah Masood.

• Have lunch at the river bank and travel back to Kabul.

Overnight stay at Asayesh Guest House.

• Depart for the airport.