Holiday in Tehran

What makes Tehran special as a destination?

Tehran is a city of extremes and contrasts — a 7-million metropolis (15 million in the region) that stretches from the dry plains at an altitude of 1,200 meters to the snow-capped Tochal peak at 3,964 meters. In northern Tehran, you can ski in the morning and trade saffron and carpets in the bazaar in the afternoon — a range that few other capitals in the world can offer. The Golestan Palace (UNESCO) is Tehran's architectural jewel: an ensemble of palaces, mirror halls, gardens, and pavilions from the Qajar dynasty, whose marble throne hall and mirror work showcase an opulence that highlights Persian craftsmanship at its peak. The adjacent Grand Bazaar of Tehran, one of the largest covered markets in the world, is a labyrinth of 10 kilometers of vaulted corridors where spices, carpets, gold, copper goods, and saffron are traded — some merchant families have been at the same stall for generations. The National Museum of Iran preserves artifacts that span 7,000 years of Persian civilization — from ceramics from Susa to Achaemenid reliefs from Persepolis to Sassanian silver bowls. The Sa'd Abad and Niavaran palaces in the northern part of the city showcase the life of the last Shahs with a mix of splendor and surprising intimacy. What makes Tehran truly unforgettable, however, is Iranian hospitality: in hardly any other country in the world will you be welcomed so warmly as a guest. You will be invited for tea, asked to dinner, gifted pomegranates, and engaged in conversations that reveal the gap between the Iran of the news and the Iran of the Iranians — and that may be the most important experience you take away from Tehran.