Things to Do in Afghanistan in March

March is probably the best month for the Bamiyan Valley. The two giant niches where the Buddhas once stood, blown up by the Taliban in 2001, are now empty cavities at 2,590 m (8,497 ft) that feel more powerful for what's missing. A 20-minute climb on a path cut into the cliff leads to a smaller niche with a view that resets your sense of scale. Below, almond orchards are in full bloom; above, the Koh-i-Baba range is still white. Daytime temperatures hover around 12 °C (54 °F), clear and sharp rather than hazy. Trails are muddy most mornings, waterproof boots are essential.

Band-e-Amir's six lakes are hemmed by natural travertine dams, calcium carbonate ridges formed over thousands of years by mineral springs. In March, snowmelt from surrounding peaks pushes the lakes to their yearly high. Waterfalls over the dams, reduced to trickles by August, roar loudly enough to hear from the opposite shore. The most visited lake, Band-e-Haibat, spans about 6 km (3.7 miles) and takes roughly two hours to walk around its northern shore. The 75 km (47 mile) drive from Bamiyan town is mostly unpaved, allow 2.5 to 3 hours each way in dry weather, longer after rain, and plan so you're not on the final stretch after dark. Count on a full day, not a quick add-on.

The Blue Mosque, officially the Shrine of Hazrat Ali, built and rebuilt over centuries in the Timurid style with turquoise and lapis tiles that catch the March afternoon light and force your eyes to adjust, is Afghanistan's most important intact building. The pigeons in the courtyard are, for reasons nobody can properly explain, entirely without fear: they land on outstretched hands, perch on shoulders, and treat the crowds with the indifference of animals that have never been threatened. Around Nowruz, on March 20-21, the Janda Bala ceremony takes place here: a sacred banner raised on the shrine's flagpole at first light while tens of thousands of Afghans push forward in the courtyard below, believing that touching the flagpole brings blessing for the coming year. The ceremony starts before sunrise, arrive after 6am and you'll be watching from far back. Mazar sits at only 357 m (1,171 ft) above sea level, much lower than Kabul, so March afternoons here can hit 25°C (77°F), warmth that lingers into the evening.

The Kabul Museum in the Darulaman district contains what survives of what was once one of Central Asia's best archaeological collections, Kushan gold, Bactrian ivories, Gandharan sculpture from sites across the country. The collection is a shadow of its pre-civil war size. The building itself served as a military position during the 1990s fighting, and you can see that history in the walls. The curators who kept what remained through all of it deserve your visit, and what pieces are left are notable. In the Shahr-e-Naw district, the National Gallery of Afghanistan holds Afghan miniature painting and contemporary work that most foreign visitors miss entirely. Bagh-e-Babur, the garden built by Mughal emperor Babur in the 16th century, heavily restored in the early 2000s, becomes pleasant in March as the trees start to bud and Kabul families bring their Nowruz picnics. Babur himself is buried here, a fact that tends to stop visitors mid-step.

The Panjshir Valley stretches about 150 km (93 miles) northeast of Kabul, reachable by a paved road that tracks the river upstream through gorges where the walls narrow enough to block out the afternoon sun. The valley floor is farmland, mulberry trees and grape trellises still bare in early March, showing the first pale-green buds by late in the month, and the river running through it carries the grey-green of glacial silt as snowmelt begins. The Soviet-era tank graveyard along the banks, BTR armored vehicles half-submerged in the current or rusting at odd angles on gravel bars, is an open-air museum nobody arranged: the history simply settled there and remained. Ahmad Shah Massoud's tomb sits above the village of Jangalak, a plain structure that draws a constant flow of Afghan visitors who make the journey with a reverence the site's modest scale doesn't immediately convey. March keeps most casual tourists away, so the chai khanas along the road have time to sit over a pot of green tea rather than rushing through a line of customers.