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Iran Travel Guide
Iran is located between the Persian Gulf and the Oman sea in the south and the Caspian Sea in the north; with an area of 1,648,195 km² (the 18th largest country of the world), it is almost three times the size of France or approximately smaller than Alaska. The population is 83 million people in 2020. Tehran is considered as a capital of Iran. Mashhad, Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz and Ahvaz are other major cities. Iran is included 31 Provinces, 324 counties (shahrestans) and 89 cities.
The land was historically known as Persia. The Persian Empire was one of the strongest empires of the ancient world.
Persian handicrafts have a wide variety of choices in different parts of the country and there are also the best souvenirs for the tourists. The most famous among them is Persian carpet.
For more information about the Iran provinces handicrafts, please click on the map.
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Bushehr
Bushehr is a port city and the capital of Bushehr Province placed on the Persian Gulf in south of Iran. Bushehr has hot summers, mild winters and nice springs.
This province covers an area of 23,168 km and It is surrounded by the provinces of Khuzestan and Kohkilouyeh-va-Boirahmad on the west and Fars on the east.
The main products of Bushehr are: dates, citrus fruits, wheat, grain and tobacco.
The current city of Bushehr was built in the Afsharid era (1736–1796). It is one of the centres where Lanj or Lenj boats are made.
The province has ten counties: Asaluyeh, Bushehr, Dashtestan, Dashti, Deyr, Deylam, Jam, Kangan, Ganaveh, and Tungsten.
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Hormozgan
Hormozgan province is located in the south of Iran faces the Persian Gulf. It has an area of 70,697 km2, covering 3.4% of the country with a population of 1,450,000 people and its capital is Bandar Abbas.
The province has 14 islands located in the Persian Gulf that the largest one is Qeshm.
This province has always been considered as transportation pole of the country.
Hormozgan has been created during the Achaemenid era. Marco Polo visited the port of Bandar Abbas in 1272 and 1293. He described trading in Persian jewelry and silk of Indochina, and pearls from Bahrain in the bazaars of the port of Hormuz.
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Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari
Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari is known as the Switzerland of Iran. This province is considered as a very beautiful place to be for the tourists in hot seasons.
Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, with the center of Shahrekord city, is one of the mountainous regions of Iran.
The province has different unique traditions and rituals relevant to the 'tribal' lifestyles. Special forms of music, dance, and clothing are notable.
This province includes 6 cities of Shahrekord, Boroujen, Farsan, Lordegan, Ardal, and Kouhrang along with 26 towns, 25 districts, 50 administrative divisions (dehestans), and 967 villages.
One of the most beautiful and elegant areas of this province is the Koohrang region that it located in the northwest of the province, and Chelgard ski resort is one of the famous ski centres in the country.
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Hamedan
Hamedan province covers an area of 19,493 km² and its population is almost 1.8 million people.
Hemedan province consist of 8 counties of Hamedan, Malayer, Toyserkan, Nahavand, Asad Abad, Kabudrahang, Bahar, Razan.
Kurdish, Azeri, Luri, and Persian language are spoken amongst the people of this Province.
The city of Hamedan is believed to be between the oldest Iranian cities and one of the oldest in the world.
The special nature of this old city and its historic sites attract tourists during the summer, located approximately 360 km from Tehran. The essential symbols of this city are Ganjnameh board, Avicenna and Baba Taher monument.
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Ilam
Ilam is a city in and the capital of Ilam Province that is located in the west of Iran, surrounded by mountains and some forest slopes enjoying a pleasant and moderate climate. This city is located in Iran’s border areas (from the west with Iraq). It has also a political location and an administrative centre.
The common language of Ilam is Kurdi and it is the third biggest kurdish city in Iran. All different ethnics speak in Kurdish with some difference in dialect. The greatest part of the people who live in Ilam are Muslim and they believe of Davazdah Imam of Shia.
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Kermanshah
Kermanshah province is one of the ancient places of Iran located in the west part of the country. The long history of culture and art has made it a treasure of grand historical constructions and attractions to visit.
The foundation of Kermanshah is attributed to Tahmurth Deoband - the legendary king of the Pishdadians.
The province’s capital is Kermanshah and this province include 14 districts (Shahrestan).
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Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad
This province is in the south-west of Iran, and its capital is Yasuj. It covers an area of 15,563 km2. The people generally speak Lurish language. The province is mainly mountainous in terrain, part of the Zagros range.
There are more than 250 tourism attractions in the province including historical monuments and natural beauties.
Yasuj as a capital, it has a great history. This ancient city namely before Tal khosrow that has 2000 years of rich historical record.
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Lorestan
Lorestan province, covering an area of 28,559 sq. km, located in the west of Iran. Oshtorankooh summit is the highest point with the altitude of 4050 m.
Lorestan province is amongst ancient Iranian regions having antique monuments and today it is one of the interesting regions of Iran for visiting. Existence of valleys, rivers, wonderful lakes, wetlands, water falls, plains and... are between the tourism attractions of this region.
Khoram Abad is the capital and largest city of this province. The main other cities are Boroojerd, Dorood Azna, Aligoodarz, Nourabad, and Aleshtar.
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Markazi
Markazi Province in center of Iran, is considered to be the industrial capital of Iran. Arak, is the largest and city capital the of the province. It borders with Tehran, Alborz and Ghazvin provinces northwards; Hamedan eastwards; Lorestan and Esfehan southwards; and Tehran, Ghom and Esfehan eastwards.
Markazi province has 29,530 kilometer square area.
The districts are Arak, Saveh, Tafresh, Khomein, Farahan, Delijan, Shazand, Ashtiyan, Komijan, Zarandiyyeh, and Khondab.
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Zanjan
Zanjan province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran with largely Azerbaijani population.
Its capital is Zanjan city. This province has an area of 36,400 km² and it is 330 km from northwest of Tehran.
Zanjan is the happiest province in Iran. The counties in this province are: Abhar, Ijurd, Khodabaneh, Khorramdarreh, Zanjan, Tarom, Mahneshan and Soltaniyeh.
Azaries are the main ethnic group in the province and the cities and villages of the southwest are more the Kurdish population.
In the past timees, Zanjan's name was Khamseh, which means province with five tribes and also Zanjan city was a major city in pre-historic Azerbaijan.
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Ardebil
The history of the province is as old as the Achaemenid empire (550-330 BC). Safavid Shah Ismail started nationalized the government from this part of the country. The capital of the province is Ardabil city that it's about 70 km from the Caspian Sea and 210 km from the city of Tabriz. Ardabil is a historical city and its name probably comes from the Zoroastrian name of Artavil which means a holy place. The majority of the people of province are ethnic Azerbaijanis.
Ardabil is also known as one of the world heritage site: The sanctuary and tomb of Shaikh safi ad-Din, eponym of the Safavid Dynasty.
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East Azarbaijan
This province is one of the Turkish provinces of Iran that it is located in north west of Iran, in Azerbaijan region. East Azerbaijan province covers an area of 45,560 km. The capital of this province is Tabriz metropolis. Maragheh, Marand, Bonab, Ahar and Mianeh are the other important cities of the province. It is also the safest province with the lowest crime in whole of the country.
Between the all attractions of the province, Tabriz's historic market (Bazaar) is the world's first registered UNESCO heritage market.
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West Azarbaijan
This province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran and it is located in North west of the country. It has borders with Turkey, Iraq and Nakhchivan and also the provinces of Zanjan, Kurdistan and East Azerbaijan. The Province of West Azerbaijan covers an area of 39,487 Km. The capital of this province is Urmia city and it is the 10th most populated city in Iran. The city's inhabitants are more Iranian Azerbaijanis who speak the Azerbaijani language. Lake Urmia is also one of the world's largest Salt Lake that located near the Urmia city.
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Kordestan
Kurdistan province is situated on the western border of Iran and in the south of the Azerbaijan region. The ethnicity is primarily Kurdish who speaks Kurdish language and traditional clothes are very common between the Kurdish. The province of Kurdistan has an area of 28,817 Km2. Sanandaj is the capital of the province with a mainly Kurdish population. Other major cities are Marivan, Saqqez, Baneh, Qorveh, Bijar, etc.
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Tehran
Tehran is one of the largest city in Iran and capital of the country with a population of 14 million and It has also an area of 18, 814 square kilometers. 200 years ago, Tehran was a small city that has established by Agha Mohammad khan Qajar and today it is the richest province and has more than half of the industries in Iran like automotive, chemicals, electrical, etc and also many universities, parks and museums. The best time to visit Tehran is April to early June and late September to early November.
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Razavi khorassan
Khorsan Razavi province is one of the largest province of Iran, whose centre is Mashhad, the capital of religious tourism in Iran. Mashhad hosting the shrine of Imam Reza has caused millions of domestic and foreign tourists to visit this province every year. Khorasan has been an important part of Iran in different historical periods but the story of this city is a little different. From about the ninth century AH, the old birch slowly left the centre of attention and Mashhad developed and expanded.
Khorasan Razavi province is a small part of historical Khorasan. In 2004, Greater Khorasan province was divided into three provinces: North Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan and south Khorasan.
Razavi Khorasan is bordered by Turkmenistan to the north, Afghanistan to the east and the provinces of North Khorasan and Semnan to the west and northwest. This province reaches South Khorasan from the north. Binalood peak with a height of more than three thousand meters is the highest point of Khorasan Razavi province. This province is generally considered as a semi-arid region of the country. In terms of temperature, it has not summers and relatively cold winters.
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North khorassan
One of the three provinces of ancient Greater Khorasan is called North Khorasan. This province is located in the northeast of Iran and is one of the less known areas in terms of tourism. Different ethnic groups of Fars, Kurds, Turks and Turkmens live together in this region. North Khorasan province with an area of about 28,179 square kilometers, consists of 8 cities: Bojnourd (centre of the province), Shirvan, Esfarayen, Maneh and Samolghan, Raz and Jirgalan, Jajarm, Farooj and Garmeh.
The artifacts discovered in this province show its ancient history. The ancient site known as Pahlavan and Heidran Mountain in Jajarm are more than 12,000 years old. The oldest pre-Islamic monument (Espakho stone monument) in the west of Maneh and Samolghan, five kilometers north of the Asian highway in the village of Espakho, is another proof of this claim.
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