Iran
With a warren of over 700 rooms, this 2000-year-old structure receives few visitors. Its crumbling outline makes a dramatic backdrop to the tiny village…
Must-see attractions in Iran
Iran
This spacious modern museum predominantly features 19th-century decorative arts, but the bottom floor has some 3000-year-old bronzes and ceramics from the…
Iran
Tucked away in a quiet mini park, this two-storey tomb tower (dating from 1115) may have started out as a Sassanian fire temple, like many Iranian Islamic…
Qeshm Island Geopark Headquarters
Qeshm Island
Head here if you're after information about the island's Unesco-listed geopark.
Iran
Sidelined in a small park near a large roundabout, the mosaics and turrets of Darbe Khoushk Gate are a Qajar remnant of Qazvin’s once-vast city walls.
Iran
Crumbling mud and eroded stone battlements tumble down a rocky hill next to the road, a poignant reminder of a disastrous 19th-century war with Russia.
Southeastern Iran
Close to the turning for Shafiabad and Dehseif, a passageway leads down to an unusually accessible stretch of qanat, an underground water channel.
Iran
Philosopher Soravardi’s bust can be seen on a library wall. The 1851 Baha’i massacres were perpetrated in lanes behind the wall.
Iran
This beautiful mosque dedicated to Hossein catches the setting sun perfectly from its western face. It's off Ferdosi St.
Iran
Madraseh cells line the inner courtyard of this sizeable 1826 mosque, accessed through a spired portal on Imam St.
Iran
The seven-span Pol-e Jajim is the most famous of Ardabil's restored bridges across the Baliqli Chay (Fishy River).
Qeshm Island
This crumbling edifice is Qeshm Town’s best-known sight. It was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century.
Iran
The covered bazaar is extensive and attractive, covering the triangle between Imam Khomeini and Beheshti Sts.
Iran
A delicate shrine to Seyyed Ibrahim set inside peaceful grounds right in the centre of the city.
Iran
This small but impressive 13-arched Sassanid bridge once served as Shushtar's entrance gate.
Iran
The most appealing of Ardabil's restored bridges is the cute three-arched Pol-e Ebrahimabad.
Iran
Ganjnameh (literally 'Treasure Book') is so named because its cuneiform rock carvings were once thought to be cryptic clues leading to caches of Median…
Tehran
There's nothing subtle about the graphic displays (suitable for adults only) in the one-time prison of the shah’s brutal secret police. A prime example of…
Iran
This ancient wall once stretched 190km from the Golestan Mountains to the Caspian Sea; like its equivalents in China and England, Alexander’s Wall was…
Iran
Domestic tourists flock from miles around to see the mausoleum of Abulqasim Ferdosi (c 940–1020), the great 11th-century poet credited with preserving…
Tehran
Closed for renovations until 2018 this Qajar period building in the Niyavaran Cultural Historic Complex was once Nasser-al Din Shah’s harem before later…
Iran
A low, arid, red-brown ridge scalloped into corrugated hills follows the Garmsar–Qom Hwy south. Look closely and you'll see it's pocked with giant entry…
Haft Tappeh Archaeological Site & Museum
Iran
You need to be a tomb junkie or have an animated guide to get the most out of this dusty, partially excavated Elamite burial site. In stark contrast, the…
Esfahan
Visitors flock five times a day to this tiny mosque in a courtyard of pines for the sole purpose of watching as the caretaker ascends the minaret and…
Iran
In the last 15 years, unfettered building has smothered this once-pretty shepherds' village with the multistorey holiday homes of rich city dwellers, but…
Iran
The Aynekhane is Bojnurd's most eye-catching historical building. Fronted by Qajar-era picture tiles and four blue towers that look best in morning light,…
Southeastern Iran
A now-dry underground water cistern has been converted into a one-room museum of water technology demonstrating how desert cities like Qa'en traditionally…
Iran
According to local Assyrian Orthodox Christians, St Mary’s was founded by St Thomas on the grave site of one of the Biblical magi, the pre-Islamic Persian…
Iran
‘I am Cyrus, the Achaemenid King’ reads the cunieform inscription on a pillar of Cyrus' palace complex. The minimal ruins of what must have been a grand…
Iran
If you're visiting Neishabur by car, a gently amusing side trip is the 10km excursion east of Omar Khayyam's tomb to this little fantasy hamlet with its…
Southeastern Iran
Driving east to west across the Lut Desert you'll see plenty of mirages, but when you reach Rud Shur, amazingly, the water is no mirage. Though usually…
Southeastern Iran
Old Afin is an extensive spread of ruined mud buildings on a series of knolls around a shattered former Jameh Mosque. With a backdrop of low triangular…
Southeastern Iran
Some 500m beyond the western end of the new village, Marghoob's deserted old section is a fine example of an abandoned mountain village, with its approach…
Tehran
Tehran’s biggest cemetery is interesting primarily because it’s the main resting place for those who died in the Iran–Iraq War (1980–88). Like windows…
Esfahan
Once the most luxuriously decorated palace in Esfahan, the interior of the small Hasht Behesht Palace has been extensively damaged over the years, but it…
Esfahan
This mosque, next to the Bazar-e Bozorg, has one distinguishing feature: it has an enormous brick minaret that looms over the adjacent square. It may not…
Iran
Experts still debate the purpose of this massive, brick-domed 14th-century building, which looks especially impressive when floodlit at dusk. The most…
Iran
Set amid semi-desert 1.5km due south of Oljeitu Mausoleum, this bright-turquoise-topped, lonely tomb was built by Safavid Shah Tahmasp to honour Hasan…
Iran
Locally known for being a former home of Turkmenistan's 'national poet' Makhtumkuli, the visually forgettable village of Haji Qoshan is one of the points…
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