Each city in Iran has experienced different empires. There were many different capitals over the years. This is why you can have unique experiences all throughout Iran. We recommend you visit the most famous ones:

Isfahan

There isn’t a lot known about Esfahan’s ancient history, but we do know that is has been around a long time since the Ateshkadeh-ye Esfahan (Esfahan Fire Temple) and pillars of the Shahrestan Bridge, both from the Sassanid period, still stand. In the late 10^th century, Esfahan was a walled city with hundreds of wealthy homes and dozens of mosques. The Seljuks made Esfahan their capital in 1047.

The Buyid period saw an explosion of construction and by the late 10th century the walled city of Esfahan was home to dozens of mosques and hundreds of wealthy homes. In 1047 the Seljuks made Esfahan their capital and during the next 180 years it was adorned with the magnificently geometric Seljuk style of architecture, several prominent parts of which remain. The Mongols ended this period of time and it wasn’t until 1587, when the reign of Safavid Shah Abbas I began, that Esfaha became a glorious city again. Abbas made Esfahan the capital. During this time there were many artistic advances, including carpet weaving. The carpets were so popular that people as far away as Europe wanted them. 100 years after Abbas’ death, the dynasty was destroyed and the capital was moved to Shiraz and then to Tehran.

Shiraz

Shiraz is mentioned in Elamite inscriptions from around 2000 BC and it was an important regional centre under the Sassanians. However, Shiraz did not become the provincial capital until about AD 693, following the Arab conquest of Estakhr, the last Sassanian capital (8km northeast of Persepolis, but now completely destroyed). By 1044 Shiraz was said to rival Baghdad in importance and grew even more under the Atabaks of Fars in the 12th century, when it became an important artistic centre.

When Mongols and Tamerlane rampaged Shiraz, the people of Shiraz were spared because they chose to pay tribute instead of being slaughtered. Since they avoided destruction, Shiraz enjoyed the Mongol and Timurid periods, which became eras of development. The encouragement of enlightened rulers, and the presence of Hafez, Sa’di and many other brilliant artists and scholars, helped make it one of the greatest cities in the Islamic world throughout the 13th and 14th centuries.

Shiraz remained a provincial capital during the Safavid period, when European traders settled here to export their famous wine. By the mid-17th century Shiraz had entered a long period of decline. Things got worse when the earthquakes came.  Then came the Afghan raids of the early 18th century. And then there was an uprising led by Shiraz’s governor in 1744, which quickly ended after a siege by Nader Shah.

Yazd

Yazd is said to be the ‘oldest living city on Earth’. This might be a difficult claim to verify, but it is widely believed the site has been continually inhabited for about 7000 years. Two reasons this city has been around for so long are that it is located on important trading routes, and it tends to remain diplomatic. Another reason is that commercial prosperity never really translated into real political power. When Marco Polo passed this way in the 13th century, he described Yazd as ‘a very fine and splendid city and a centre of commerce’. It was spared destruction by Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, and flourished in the 14th and 15th centuries, with silk, textile and carpet production. Like most of Iran, Yazd fell into decline when the Safavids were defeated and remained little more than a provincial outpost until the last shah extended the railway line to Yazd.

Kerman

Kerman is one of Iran’s oldest cities and has always been an important center on the trans-Asian trade routes.Kerman was probably founded in the early-3^rd-century AD by Ardashir I, founder of the Sassanian dynasty. Kerman does not have a peaceful history. Its history is a tale or rising and falling.

From the 7th century, Kerman was ruled in turn by the Arabs, Buyids, Seljuks, Turkmen and Mongols and then a further succession of invaders and regional despots until the Qajar dynasty. It wasn’t until the 19^th century that Kerman gained security under the central government in Tehran.

Kerman’s was able to survive so well because of commerce. You can still see caravanserais around the bazaar. Trade moved more to the sea in the 16th century, so Kerman relied more on the production of carpets. Carpets are an important trade item in Kerman today.

Gilan

Historically, Lahijan and Fuman were Gilan’s main centres. Rasht (previously Resht) developed in the 14th century, but the population was massacred in 1668 by the forces of Cossack Brigand Stepan ‘Stenka’ Razin. They also sank Persia’s entire Caspian navy. After this happened, the Russians cleared spaces in the forest to allow for Resht’s growth. In 1899 a Russian company built a road to Qazvin and Gilan became less isolated from the rest of Iran. By WWI, 60,000 people lived in Gilan. Four international consulates were in Gilan too. From 1917 it was the center of Kuchuk Khan’s Jangali (‘Forest’) Movement, an Islamic, Robin Hood–style rebellion.

The shah was upset with Iran because he believed that Iran was a sell-out to oil-hungry Britain. Kuchak Khan joined forces with communist-agitators and set up Gilan as the ‘Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran’. However, radical- leftists and land-owning Muslim nationalists made very prickly bedfellows. Once Kuchuk Khan had ejected the infidel communists from his ‘government’, his Russian backers slipped away leaving Gilan prey to the efficient new regime of Reza Khan (later Shah Reza Pahlavi) who’d taken over Persia in a February 1921 coup. Reza Khan first dealt with Azadistan (temporarily independent Tabriz/Azarbayjan) then attacked Gilan. Most of Rasht’s pretty wooden houses were burnt, Kuchuk Khan was executed, and his severed head was brought to Tehran for public display.