Koryo Tours has been working on our Afghanistan itineraries for several months. As always, we wanted to bring you something special. 

And this one is certainly not a copy-and-paste itinerary. 

Our Afghan Sisters women’s tours to Afghanistan have been carefully curated, both on the ground and behind the scenes, in partnership with local Afghan women and a local licensed tour company. 

It aims to explore the best that Afghanistan has to offer, as well as explore the lives of Afghan women in context. You will travel alongside local women as we move from Kabul to Herat to Bamiyan to Kandahar and finally Mazar, travelling by both air and road. We’ll be accompanied by one main female tour guide and have local tour female tour guides in some of the provinces we visit, too. 

We will tick off the highlights whilst also enjoying an itinerary crafted around taking part in multiple women-focused activities (listed below). 

Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, the lives of Afghan women have been severely restricted over the years, with work and study becoming more and more difficult. The idea behind the women-focused activities below is not to simply be observers on the sidelines exoticising their lives or somehow “prove” that women’s lives are “not so bad”.

Rather, we aim to explore the complexities of women’s lives, foster cultural exchanges and a greater understanding, and support those trying to break the mould.

Below, we go over our Afghanistan women’s tour itineraries in greater detail. 

Afghanistan With Women Tour Itineraries
Afghan Women-Focused Activities
Responsible Travel to Afghanistan
Ensuring Safety
Women in Afghanistan
Giving Back: Women's Retreat Centre

Want a more traditional Afghanistan tour itinerary?
Explore our Travel Afghanistan February 2025 Tour

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Afghanistan With Women Tour Itineraries

Our Afghan Sister tours to Afghanistan alongside Afghan women are crafted to give you a well-rounded insight into the lives of Afghan women. 

As well as visiting the most liberal provinces where we can partake in multiple women-focused activities (see more below), we find it just as important not to experience the more conservative side, too. 

This is why our Afghan Sisters itineraries all feature Herat, Bamiyan, and Kandahar. 

Herat and Bamiyan both offer a more liberal travel experience. Whilst Kandahar provides an insight into the ultra-conservative. 

Bamiyan & Herat 

Herat, located in Afghanistan’s west and close to Iran, has been a cultural hub throughout the years. The diverse ethnic landscape has shaped it today to be what a local female described as ‘the same as before the Taliban takeover’. 

Bamiyan welcomes many foreign and domestic tourists every year. Close to Kabul offering some incredible mountain views and home to Afghanistan’s first national park, many Afghans choose Bamiyan as a weekend holiday destination. Perhaps this plays a role in maintaining liberal values in some areas of the province. 

In these provinces, there are multiple factories we have the option to visit run and staffed by local females. There is a local craft market with over 300 licensed female sellers, and multiple organisations dedicated to the empowerment of women and children. Plus, there is even a trendy local coffee shop run by women. 

Kandahar

This is often cited as Afghanistan’s most conservative province. Kandahar is located in the south in Afghanistan’s Pashtun region. 

It is the headquarters of the Taliban and Pashto is the common language spoken here. 

You may see fewer women walking the streets here. The majority will likely be covered in a full burqa; if not a face covering with modestly coloured dressed. It is unlikely you will find a woman here dressed very elaborately in different colours. 

We don’t work with any local women in Kandahar (yet). Instead, our trip here provides an insight into the difficulties and restrictions on local women. 

We will visit the local market and have a walk around the women’s area; largely staffed by men, but you may see one or two female sellers. 

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Responsible Travel to Afghanistan

It is, however, important to note that our Afghanistan tours with women still remain largely on the ‘tourist trail’ in terms of the areas we visit. These areas and cities are naturally more ‘liberal’ than some areas deep in the countryside or small villages. 

Often, within these areas, it is rare to even see a woman leave her house and 

We do not claim nor pretend that with this tour you can fully comprehend the life of every Afghan woman. 

Rather, it aims to explore the lives of various Afghan women in context, as much as possible. 

Indeed - we are a travel company. We are not an NGO. However, humanitarian work is at the heart of a lot of what we attempt to support. We believe in responsible, ethical tourism and believe that this carefully crafted itinerary goes a step towards contributing positively to the local population. 

ETHICAL TRAVEL TO AFGHANISTAN

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Afghan Women-Focused Activities

Below is a sample of the female-focused activities we take part in in Afghanistan.

Note: not all of these activities are included in every tour. 

Each activity is subject to change and availability. 

Cultural

• Visit local craft and artisan markets with over 300 licensed female vendors. 
• Visit a local village and take an embroidery class with local artisans who make a 
living selling their creations.
• Visit the shrine of the first female Persian poet.
• Visit a local family, meet the women and hear their stories, cook dinner together and enjoy dining in traditional Afghani style. 

Food & Drink

• Have a meal at a restaurant owned and run by females with female chefs.
• Take a break and enjoy some well-needed coffee at Late Cafe. This is a cafe managed and operated by girls, exclusively serving female customers, creating a safe social space for women.

Educational

• Enjoy a cooking class making traditional Afghan dumplings (vegetarian & meat). 
• Take part in an English class for girls.
• Visit an educational institution where all teachers and students are female, offering a variety of classes including tailoring, graphic design, computer, and English.

NGO Visits

• Visit three organisations (names not provided) dedicated. 
• The first is an organisation dedicated to women's development, offering English classes, laundry services, kindergarten, and various other activities aimed at empowering women.
• The second is an organisation that employs mostly young women. It provides English and computer classes, online programs, self-help groups, and tailoring classes. 
• The third is a community centre offering diverse programs such as English and computer classes, along with a kindergarten, all aimed at supporting women's education and development.

Business

• Take a trip a factory where both the owner and staff are women, specialising in tailoring.
• In the next factory, women make pickles. Both the owner and staff are women.

Leisure

Visit a local Women’s Center, tour the different areas including a volleyball 
court, a market, a playground, and a conference hall, and enjoy various cultural exchange activities, including a lesson in Persian.

Stroll around a family park, managed by two young women.

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Ensuring Safety

Safety on tour is our most important consideration. Both for our tour participants, and our local partners. Safety is absolutely paramount. 

We have taken a large number of safety measures and precautions to ensure our tours to Afghanistan are as safe as possible. 

Nevertheless, we cannot foresee the unforeseeable. Travel to Afghanistan should not be taken lightly and it is not advised for those who are not frequent travellers. 

We have a whole piece on staying safe in Afghanistan which includes a sample of the safety measures in place to ensure the safety of our trips. 

It includes adopting a ‘more is more’ approach; there is no reason to do the bare minimum in terms of respect. We also travel with safety vehicles and visit only areas deemed safe enough for tourists. 

You can see the full list here
How to Stay Safe Travelling to Afghanistan.

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Local Afghan Women 

Working with local Afghan women is of course sensitive in itself. This is why we respect the choices, decisions, and final word of our local partners. 

You may be wondering, isn’t it illegal for women to work in Afghanistan? 

This is an issue far too large to cover in one blog post. 

Whilst women in a large context are not able to work or study, there are some realms where this is openly permitted. You will hear of many licensed female dentists, walk around markets of licensed female sellers, and see women working in the hospitality industry throughout your trip. 

Nevertheless, these women are of course much less frequently seen than men.

The women we work with have established themselves as tour guides and do not hide this fact neither in front of locals nor in front of the government. 

Giving Back. 

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Giving Back: Women’s Retreat Centre 

The women’s retreat centre we visit on this trip (not named here for security reasons) will receive a percentage of each tour’s profits.

We stay overnight at this retreat centre as an exclusive to our ‘Afghan Sister’s Women’s Tour’, not on our mixed group or other departures. 

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Koryo Tours
Afghanistan Tours