Lapis Lazuli
A joint Afghan-German guesthouse, this is deservedly popular with international workers. Rooms are tidy if sometimes small, and bathrooms are shared.
Afghanistan Hotels, Hostels & Accommodation
Maimana Municipal Hotel
Maimana Municipal Hotel is a dusty 1930s edifice, with reasonable rooms filled with creaking furniture. The hotel is woefully low on bathrooms – just two for nearly 20 bedrooms.
Shibirghan Hotel
If you need to stay the night, the Shibirghan Hotel is the best option. It’s on the northern edge of the main square – look for the phone towers and football pitch. Rooms are adequate, but nothing fancy.
Spinghar Hotel
This large state-run hotel is set in large gardens in the centre of town. Everyone has stayed here at one point, from Soviet officers to the Taliban’s Arab cohorts. Most rooms are en suite and are decent-sized if unexciting.
Star Club
Reportedly offering similar accommodation to the Marco Polo Hotel, the Star Club was temporarily closed at the time of research. It’s right on the river, slightly upstream from the Pamir Club.
Marco Polo Hotel
Also known as Number One Guesthouse, this is a basic hotel with hard beds. The shared bathrooms are pretty basic, with squat toilets, but there’s a pleasant garden that overlooks the river.
Nawa Guesthouse
A basic guesthouse with six tidy rooms and a helpful manager. It’s centrally located, near the main moneychangers’ area. Food is available, as is hot water (on request).
Eqbal Hotel
Chist-e Sharif has a busy bazaar and several chaikhanas for eating and sleeping. The Eqbal Hotel is the pick of the bunch, with decent food, ice-cold drinks and airy rooms.
Hotel Ishan Awliyan
One step up from a chaikhana, this 1st-floor hotel has a handful of private rooms with two beds and a beaten-up sofa apiece – a little dingy but perfectly serviceable.
Chist Hotel
The Chist Hotel, a kilometre out of Chist-e Sharif, is a large white modern building built in the aftermath of the Taliban’s ouster, but has yet to open its doors to customers.
Kunduz Hotel
If you’re after a solid Afghan business-class hotel, this is it. Set in large grounds, the rooms are equally spacious, all with a fridge and a bathroom with water heater. Another popular option for wedding parties.
Andkhoi Hotel
The only hotel in town is the Andkhoi Hotel, a big pink-and-blue building on the northeast corner of the square. Rooms are basic but big, with simple shared bathrooms.
7 Days Guesthouse
This is an unpretentious place also aimed at expats. Rooms are large, and have attached bathrooms with plenty of hot water. The management is extremely helpful, and can organise simple meals for guests, taken in a garden lit up with fairy lights.
Heetal Heritage Hotel
At the edge of Wazir Akbar Khan, and in the lee of Bibi Mahru Hill, the Heetal gets cleaner air than many places in the city. Perhaps that’s why it flags itself as Kabul’s first eco-friendly boutique hotel.
Shahr E Nau Guesthouse
Easily spotted by its pink external walls, the Shahr-e Nau Guesthouse is a decent place. Rooms come in a variety of shapes and sizes, with up to three beds, making this a good deal if there’s a few of you, but less so for solo travellers.
Jamil Hotel
This hotel was popular with backpackers until recently, when the police banned it from accepting foreign guests. We’ve listed it in the hope that improved security will allow travellers to return in the future.
B’S Place
One of the first of the post-Taliban guesthouses, B’s Place has six rooms with shared bathrooms, decorated in traditional Afghan style.
Golden Star Hotel
One of Kabul’s newest hotels, this literally towers above all others from its vantage point attached to the Kabul Business Centre. Rooms are exceedingly comfortable and well-appointed with all facilities.
Mama Najaf
Two communal rooms sit above a chaikhana, up some extremely rickety wooden stairs. There’s a simple bathroom and toilet, but for hot water you’ll need to head for the hammam (20Afg per person) across the street.
Kabul Lodge
A well-established guesthouse, the Kabul Lodge is impeccably run with helpful and efficient management. Rooms are large (with en suite) and there’s a great restaurant, open to non-guests from 6pm.
Salsal Guest House
This is a great new addition to the budget hotel scene, and the pick of the ultra-cheapies. Carpeted rooms are small but on the cosy side, with a fan and decent bedding.
Yasin International Guesthouse
This guesthouse is attached to the Yasin BBQ Restaurant and has six rooms with bathrooms. They have plans for expansion in the near future. Like the Continental, it is comfortable and secure but somewhat overpriced.
Bamiyan Hotel
This is Bamiyan’s oldest hotel and one of the few still run by the ATO. The luxury yurts the hotel boasted in the 1970s have been rebuilt, offering one of Afghanistan’s most novel accommodation options.
Park Hotel
Built in the 1930s, the Park is Herat’s oldest hotel – Robert Byron stayed here while writing The Road to Oxiana. It’s a cavernous, colonial-style place complete with creaky beds and overstuffed chairs, and surrounded by pine trees.
Guesthouse
There is a small government-run guesthouse next to the minaret. Rooms are simple, but the mattresses are comfortable and the shower is one of the most welcome you’ll take in the country. Meals are hearty.
Gandamack Lodge
A perennially popular option with visiting media, the Gandamack Lodge is run by Peter Jouvenal, the acclaimed cameraman and Afghan expert. Now in larger premises with a nice garden, rooms are comfy and tastefully decorated in colonial fashion.
Pashtoonistan Hotel
This hotel was popular with backpackers until recently, when the police banned it from accepting foreign guests. We’ve listed it in the hope that improved security will allow travellers to return in the future.
Safi Landmark Hotel
You can’t miss the Safi, part of the Kabul City Centre tower block in bright green glass. The lobby speaks of understated service and a glass elevator whisks you to your room, many of which overlook the shopping mall.