Yazd

A UNESCO-listed mud-brick city in the desert, with a skyline of windcatchers, Zoroastrian Towers of Silence and a fire temple, plus desert villages nearby.

Yazd lies in central Iran, wedged between the Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut deserts. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and home to Iran's largest community of Zoroastrians. Its mud-brick old town was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2017. To cope with intense heat and scarce water, locals developed windcatchers (badgirs), underground qanats and yakhchal ice houses, and the windcatchers rising all over town give Yazd its distinctive skyline. The highlights are concentrated in the old town: the Jameh Mosque and the neighbouring Rokn od-Din Mausoleum, the lanes of the Fahadan quarter and Alexander's Prison, the Lari House, and, at the southern edge of the old town, the Amir Chakhmaq Complex and bazaar. In the evening, head to a rooftop café to watch the sun set over the windcatchers. Zoroastrian sights include the Fire Temple and the Towers of Silence on the southern outskirts; you can also visit Dowlatabad Garden to see the tallest windcatcher in Iran, and in the evening watch a traditional zurkhaneh strength ritual. There are two classic day trips: north to the shrine of Chak Chak, Meybod and the old village of Kharanaq (about 50–70 km); or south to Pahlavanpour Garden in Mehriz, Saryazd Castle and the ancient Jameh Mosque of Fahraj, with the option of catching the sunset at a desert camp. The train from Tehran takes about 6–7 hours and the bus from Isfahan about 4–5 hours; Yazd also has a domestic airport. Mar–May and Oct–Nov are the most comfortable months; summer days often exceed 40°C, while winter nights drop close to 0°C. Iran has a strict dress code, and women must wear a headscarf. Allow 2–3 days.

Top sights

• Historic City of Yazd (Fahadan) – A UNESCO World Heritage mud-brick old city with many windcatchers and winding alleys. At dusk, climb to a rooftop café to watch the windcat…
• Jameh Mosque of Yazd – A 14th-century congregational mosque. The two minarets at the entrance are among the tallest in Iran, and the blue tiles on the arches are…
• Amir Chakhmaq Complex – A landmark complex with a three-tiered niched façade, a city emblem of Yazd. You can climb to the top for views of the square and the old c…
• Towers of Silence – Two Zoroastrian sky burial towers on hills on the city's southern outskirts. Until the mid-20th century, bodies were left here to be eaten…
• Dowlatabad Garden – A Persian garden World Heritage Site. The windcatcher about 33 meters high on top of the octagonal pavilion is the tallest mud-brick windca…
• Seyed Rokn al-Din Mausoleum – A 14th-century mausoleum with a blue-tiled dome that stands out prominently over the old city's rooftops. The interior dome is richly decor…
• Saheb A Zaman Zurkhaneh – A traditional gym housed in an ancient underground water reservoir, where in the evening you can watch Persian strongman exercises accompan…
• Yazd Atash Behram (Fire Temple) – A Zoroastrian temple housing a sacred fire said to have burned for over 1,500 years. The flame can be seen through glass.
• Yazd Water Museum – A qanat museum housed in an old merchant's mansion, where you can go underground to see real water channels and learn how this desert city…
• Alexander's Prison & Davazdah Imam Mausoleum – Two landmarks in the Fahadan quarter, the legendary 'Alexander's Prison' and the 11th-century Davazdah Imam Mausoleum, are essential stops…
• Lari House – A courtyard residence of a 19th-century merchant family, with several wind towers, carved wooden doors and stained-glass windows, a classic…
• Khan Bazaar – A vaulted traditional bazaar in the southern old city, good for Yazdi sweets, handwoven textiles and spices. Most shops close on Fridays.
• Narin Castle, Meybod – The old town center of Meybod is home to an ancient mud-brick castle, with layered rammed-earth walls built on a small hill. Climb to the t…
• Meybod Pigeon Tower – A cylindrical Qajar-era mud-brick pigeon tower with about 4,000 nesting niches. Its droppings were once a key fertilizer for desert farmlan…
• Meybod Ice House & Shah Abbasi Caravanserai – A cone-domed ancient ice house, a Safavid-era caravanserai and a post-station museum share one site, showcasing desert ice storage and Silk…
• Chak Chak (Pir-e Sabz) – A cliffside shrine in a barren mountain, the holiest pilgrimage site of Zoroastrians. Water drips inside a cave, and legend says it once sh…
• Kharanaq – An abandoned village of mud-brick houses, over a thousand years old, in a mountain valley. It has a swaying minaret and a caravanserai, and…
• Pahlevanpur Garden – A Qajar-era Persian garden in the town of Mehriz, where water from the qanat flows through the grounds. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Per…
• Saryazd Castle – A desert fortress with multiple mud-brick walls that once served as the village's 'ancient bank', where residents stored grain and valuable…
• Jameh Mosque of Fahraj – One of Iran's oldest surviving mosques, a plain early Islamic mud-brick building near desert camps.

Where to eat

• Talar Yazd Restaurant – An established Yazd restaurant opened in 1985, famous for Ash-e Sholi and Gheimeh Yazdi, popular with both locals and t…
• Silk Road Restaurant – A hotel restaurant next to the Jameh Mosque in the Old Town, set in a Qajar-era courtyard and famous for camel meat ste…
• Khan-e Dohad Traditional Restaurant – A traditional restaurant in a historic mansion, specializing in chicken tahchin and kebabs, with a highly praised atmos…
• Fooka Cafe & Restaurant – A cafe-restaurant near the Jameh Mosque with a rooftop overlooking the windcatchers of the Old Town, serving Yazdi dish…