Bamyan

The cliff-carved Buddhas of Bamyan — monumental figures dating to the 3rd–5th centuries CE and destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 — made this high-altitude city in central Afghanistan one of the country's most visited places. The valley they once dominated is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Danger, recognized as the most significant expression of western Buddhism. Bamyan also joined UNESCO's Creative Cities Network in 2017 for crafts and folk arts, and the world's oldest known oil paintings were discovered in its caves in 2008. Band-e-Amir National Park lies a couple of hours to the west.

• Population61,863
• Nearest water from center0.9 km
• Nearest mountain from center4.1 km
• UNESCO within 50 km5