Mazār-e Sharīf
Mazar-i-Sharif or Mazar-e-Sharif is a city in northern Afghanistan, serving as the capital and largest city of Balkh Province.
Mazar-i-Sharif or Mazar-e-Sharif is a city in northern Afghanistan, serving as the capital and largest city of Balkh Province. It has 12 city districts (nahias) and an estimated population of 568,013 people. Hafiz Abdul Rahman Himat is the current mayor of the city. His predecessor was Mohammad Kazim Tariq.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Mazār-e Sharīf
3 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Blue Mosque
The Mausoleum of Imam Ali, also known as the Blue Mosque, is a mausoleum and mosque complex located in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital and largest city of Balkh Province in northern Afghanistan. It is a popular tourist attraction in the middle of the city, which is visited all year long by all people regardless of religion or sect.
1.1 km · mosque and mausoleum in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan · Wikipedia - 02Balkh University
Balkh University is the largest public university in Mazar-i-Sharif, which is the capital of Balkh Province in northern Afghanistan. Established in 1986, the university has about 18,000 students.
1.5 km · university · Wikipedia - 03Mazar Hotel
Mazar Hotel is a hotel in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. The hotel is decorated in 1930s decor, featuring all high ceilings, grand dining rooms and pillars.
0 m · building in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
In the way of sights Mazar has little to offer the visitor other than the Blue Mosque, although some of the modern monuments built atop traffic circles are worth a photo.
- 01Blue Mosque
The shrine marks the burial site of Ali bin Talib, the Prophet Mohammad's cousin and the fourth caliph of Islam.
- 02Qala-i-Jangi
- 03Takht-e Rustam
From Wikivoyage: Mazār-e Sharīf, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Restaurant menus are usually only available in Dari. It is probably easiest to use AI to translate. Food stall abound on the streets surrounding the Blue Mosque. Bagels with green vegetables, tomato and french fries are especially good. Fruit shakes, soft drinks and tea are also available. Perhaps obviously, be very careful about what you choose to eat.
- 01Mansoor Restaurant
Delicious local and Western food with a Trumpian decor.
- 02Kefyat Hotel
- 03Rayhan Restaurant
From Wikivoyage: Mazār-e Sharīf, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Mazār-e Sharīf
- Airports
- Mazar-i-Sharif (MZR), 8 km · Bokhtar (KQT), 202 km · Dushanbe (DYU), 254 km
- Stations
- Mazar-i-Sharif Airport, 8.3 km
- Kabul → Mazār-e Sharīf306 km · quickest by air, 4h 3m · $130–200
- Guzara → Mazār-e Sharīf547 km · quickest by air, 6h 56m · $210–300
- Kandahar → Mazār-e Sharīf581 km · quickest by air, 6h 46m · $190–280
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Mazār-e Sharīf
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Mazār-e Sharīf. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inThe back road from Herat via Maimana is a very rough 3-day journey requiring a 4wd vehicle with back country preparation, and is no longer considered safe.
- Get inWalk the rest of the way across the bridge, get stamped in by the Taliban, and then take a shared taxi to Mazar for AFN 150-300 or a private taxi for AFN 800-1000 (2026).
- Get aroundZaranj (tuk-tuks/auto-rickshaws) are also plentiful and even cheaper.
- Go nextShared taxis head to the Uzbekistan border (better rates when taking one from the bus terminal, 200-400 Afs (2026) depending on your negotiating skills; otherwise city rates apply) - taking 30 minutes on a good tarred road through the desert.
From Wikivoyage: Mazar-e Sharif, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-07.
- 01314 km
- 02454 km
- 03676 km
- 04989 km
- 051,102 km
If you know how people move in Mazār-e Sharīf – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Mazār-e Sharīf
- Takhteh Polhuman settlement in Afghanistan8.7 km
- Nahr-e Shahihuman settlement in Afghanistan3 km
- Shirabadhuman settlement in Afghanistan8 km