Journeys into the valleys with guides who are from them, planned around the season and the roads. From a day in Kabul to a week in the high country.
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Explore Nuristan and beyond
The main journey runs from Kabul east through Laghman and Kunar into the valleys of Nuristan. Around it we arrange days in Kabul, Jalalabad, Laghman and Kunar, and quieter, more comfortable versions of the same routes. Choose one to start a conversation.
We quote each trip for your dates and group size. As a guide to the order of cost, other tour operators publish from around US$500 to 700 for two days into the valleys from Asadabad and around US$1,900 for a week from Kabul, with guide, vehicle, permits, accommodation and meals included.
3 days · From Jalalabad or Asadabad
The Pech valley in three days
The shortest real visit: up the Pech to Wama and the lower Waygal, a night in a village, and back. For travellers already in eastern Afghanistan, or with little time.
Day 1: Jalalabad to Asadabad along the Kunar, then west up the Pech to Wama. Walnut terraces, the first tiered houses, a night with a family or in the district guesthouse.
Day 2: A day on foot in the Waygal valley: villages above the road, the carvers' workshops, lunch by the river. Return to Wama or Nangalam for the night.
Day 3: Down the Pech to Asadabad and Jalalabad, with time for the bazaar.
Included: Guide from the province, four-wheel drive and driver, permits, accommodation and meals.
The classic journey: the road east to the plains, the Pech valley to the provincial capital, the high Parun villages, and the Waygal valley on the way back.
Day 1: Arrive in Kabul. Rest, briefing, an afternoon in the old city if you want it.
Day 2: Kabul to Jalalabad through the gorge and Surobi, then on to Asadabad. Night in Asadabad.
Day 3: Up the Pech through Nangalam and Wama to Parun. A long day on a mountain road; arrive for the evening light on the peaks.
Day 4: The Parun valley: the six villages, Pashki and Kushteki, a walk to the summer pastures if the season allows.
Day 5: Parun to the Waygal valley. Villages, carving, an evening with a family.
Day 6: Waygal down the Pech to Jalalabad.
Day 7: Jalalabad to Kabul, with a stop at Surobi. Departure or a further night in Kabul.
Included: Guide from the province, four-wheel drive and driver throughout, permits, accommodation and meals from Kabul back to Kabul.
Eastern Nuristan, home of the Kom and the Kata: the tiered timber villages of Kamdesh, the upper Bashgal to Bargi Matal, and the country Robertson wrote about in the 1890s.
Day 1: Arrive in Kabul.
Day 2: Kabul to Jalalabad and Asadabad.
Day 3: North along the Kunar, then west into the Bashgal to Kamdesh.
Day 4: Kamdesh: the stacked villages, the archery ground, the carved mosques.
Day 5: Up the Landai Sin to Bargi Matal, at the head of the valley.
Day 6: A day in the upper valley: forest paths and the high villages.
Day 7: Back down the Bashgal and the Kunar to Jalalabad.
Day 8: Jalalabad to Kabul.
Included: Guide from the province, four-wheel drive and driver, permits, accommodation and meals.
The eastern valleys need the most careful planning. We run this route only when conditions allow and will say so plainly.
The itineraries above are starting points, and every trip is planned to order. Here is what happens after you write to us.
1
Tell us when, and what
Your dates, how long you have, what you want to see and how you like to travel. A day in Kabul and a week in the high valleys are very different trips.
2
We plan around the season and the roads
The passes open from roughly April to October and road conditions change through the year. We build the route for the month you are travelling in, not for a brochure.
3
You travel with guides from the province
Our guiding team is from Nuristan, with family in the villages you pass through. That is how doors open, and how we look after you.
4
We adapt as we go
Mountain travel is unhurried. If the weather turns, the route changes; if a village asks you to stay for tea, you stay for tea.
Who you travel with
Abdulrahman Chonish
Head of Tours & Guiding, Nuristan
Abdulrahman receives and guides visitors across Nuristan. From Waygal and of the Chonish tribe, he has lived and worked throughout the province, and his deep local network lets him reach every part of the region. He speaks Nuristani, Farsi, Pashto, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese and English.
Nuristan ground handling: the days the other itineraries leave out
Foreign tourism to Afghanistan has grown every year since 2022: about 5,200 foreign visitors in 2023 and more than 9,500 in the first eleven months of 2025, by the ministry's count. Western operators now sell group trips at 2,450 pounds to almost 10,000 US dollars a head, but almost all of them run the same loop of Kabul, Bamiyan, Band-e-Amir, Mazar and Herat. Of the itineraries on sale for 2026 and 2027, a few now include Nuristan, mostly as a short visit to Parun. The rest leave the province off the map. Going beyond Parun, into Waygal, Kantiwa or the other valleys, takes a partner inside the province.
We are that partner. Our team lives in the province, speaks its languages, knows which road is open this week and which family will put a group up in Parun, Waygal or Kantiwa. For a licensed operator we handle the ground: permissions, guides, vehicles, accommodation, meals and the honest call on whether a valley should be visited at all. The operator keeps its client, its contract and its duty of care; we make the Nuristan days work.
Permissions and gates
The provincial letters, the registration your clients need in Kabul, and the entry gates, where the authorities charge 200 to 500 afghanis a vehicle. We tell you the current rules before you sell the departure, not after.
Guides from the province
English-speaking guides who grew up in the valleys you are visiting, with family in the villages you pass through. That is how doors open and how a group is looked after.
Vehicles and drivers
Four-wheel drives with drivers who work these roads every month, from Asadabad, Jalalabad or Kabul, priced per day with fuel.
Where your clients sleep
Guesthouses in Parun and the district centres, and family homestays in the villages where there is nothing else. We say in advance what each night is: a bed, a mattress on a carved veranda, a shared bathroom or none.
Routes and timing
The Pech valley road to Parun and Kantiwa, the Waygal valley, Kamdesh from Kunar, and what each takes in each season. Built around the roads as they are, with a night in Asadabad or Nangalam where the distance demands it.
The honest call
If a road is cut, a valley is tense or the weather is turning, we tell you and we change the plan. We will not take a group somewhere the people there say should wait.
Afghanistan trips on sale, as published by each operator on 6 October 2026
Western tour operators selling Afghanistan for 2026 and 2027, and whether they include Nuristan
Operator
Trip
Price
Nuristan
Koryo Tours
Travel Unseen Afghanistan, 18 days, August 2027
From 6,500 US dollars
Yes: Parun, three to five hour hikes
Untamed Borders
Afghanistan in 10 Days, November 2026
3,200 US dollars
No
Untamed Borders
Afghanistan Central Route, 16 days
4,500 US dollars
No
Lupine Travel
Afghanistan Highlights, 9 nights, November 2026
2,450 pounds
No
Rocky Road Travel
May Afghanistan Tour, 10 days, 2026
3,190 US dollars
No
We quote per day for guide, vehicle and driver, and per night for accommodation and meals, against your itinerary and group size, in writing. The operator remains the seller of the holiday, holds the client contract and the insurance, and carries the duty of care; we provide the ground plan, the people and the local knowledge, and we put in writing anything we think you should tell your clients. We also work directly with experienced travellers who ask us for a private trip, on the same honest terms.
Two things we say plainly to every operator. The British government advises against all travel to Afghanistan, including on organised tours, and the United States rates the country at its highest warning level; most ordinary travel insurance is void there, and the specialist policies that exist must be read closely. And the province's roads and rivers set the pace: the July 2026 flood cut the Pech valley road to Parun in places, and every itinerary has to carry slack for that.
Photographs from our own team's recent travels in the province: turquoise water, fishing with the locals, and two guests from the Netherlands who arrived unannounced in the Sewketra valley of Waygal and were welcomed in the Nuristani way.
Abdulrahman Chonish, who leads our tours, cooling off in the river in the Kuraj valley, Mandol
A turquoise lake high in the mountains
Abdulrahman fishing with the locals on the Dani Pajagal river, Du Ab
Abdulrahman walking guests from the Netherlands up the Sewketra valley, Waygal
Arriving at a village house in the Sewketra valley
We quote each trip for your dates and group size, with guide, vehicle, permits, accommodation and meals included. For the order of cost, other tour operators publish from around US$500 to 700 for two days into the valleys from Asadabad and around US$1,900 for a week from Kabul.
How do I arrange a Nuristan tour?
Write to us through the contact page or on WhatsApp with your dates, group size and what you want to see. We reply with a route, a quote and the paperwork you will need. Nothing is booked or paid online; the trip is confirmed with you directly.
Which months do your tours run?
From April to October, while the roads into the valleys are open. The most reliable months are June, September and early October; July and August bring thunderstorms and a risk of flash floods. Our page on Nuristan's weather goes through the year month by month.
What should I pack for my Nuristan tour?
Comfortable clothing, sturdy footwear, any personal medication and essentials for changeable mountain weather.
Do you work with tour operators as a ground handler?
Yes. For licensed operators abroad we arrange the Nuristan days of an Afghanistan itinerary: permissions and gate fees, guides from the province, four-wheel drives and drivers, guesthouses and homestays, meals, routes and timing, quoted per day and per night in writing. The operator keeps its client contract, insurance and duty of care.
Do tour operators go to Nuristan?
A few operators now include Nuristan in their Afghanistan trips for 2026 and 2027, mostly as a short visit to Parun; the rest run the loop of Kabul, Bamiyan, Band-e-Amir, Mazar and Herat without it. Afghan operators licensed in Kabul will take private groups there with a local partner. For an operator that wants more than a day in Parun, we arrange the Nuristan days on the ground.
Get in touch
Plan your Nuristan journey
Ready to plan a visit, source Nuristani products, or discuss an investment? Your message goes to Obaid, who is from Nuristan, and his team in Afghanistan and the UK. We reply to every message.
