Yazd

Introducing Yazd

With its winding lanes, forest of badgirs, mud-brick old town and charismatic accommodation, Yazd is one of the highlights of any trip to Iran. Wedged between the northern Dasht-e Kavir and southern Dasht-e Lut, it doesn’t have the big-ticket sights of Esfahan or Persepolis, but as a whole, and in the context of its relationship with the desert, it is at least as enchanting. It is a place to wander and get lost in the maze of historic streets and lanes (and your imagination), before returning to a hotel that is itself a piece of Yazd’s history. It’s also an ideal base for day trips to several evocative villages and towns.

Yazd has been known for its silks and other fabrics since before Marco Polo passed through. And while weaving remains an important industry, it is tourism on a far grander scale than Polo would have imagined that has been booming since the traditional hotels began opening. While nothing like Qom, Yazd is a fairly conservative town, especially in the older parts. It is also home to Iran’s largest population of Zoroastrians. Yazd can be quite cold in winter and is boiling hot in summer, but not humid.

Last updated: May 25, 2009