Little-known attractions in Yazd, reveal a different side of this historic desert city. Beyond the well-known landmarks, city hides unsuspected treasures and, in some ways, has remained off the beaten track for tourists. From its little-visited historic quarter to its traditional crafts, Yazd boasts many forms of cultural tourism. We present seven little-known attractions in Yazd, highlighting the city’s uniqueness and inviting you to a renewed, unsuspected exploration.
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If you love traditional Iranian architectural style and are at peace in ancient Iranian houses, then you must visit Yazd, city of pomegranates, delicate Qottab pastries, starry desert skies, the city where the eternal flame has been preserved, the city that solemnly celebrates the ancient Mehregan festival. Yazd’s traditional houses and ecolodges, with their colorful orsi windows, cisterns, taqi arches and wind towers, bear witness to the splendid architecture of Iran’s desert cities.
The best time to visit Yazd is autumn or spring, when the scorching desert sun softens and the cold nights come to life. That’s when the city’s dirt streets, caressed by the breeze, invite leisurely exploration. In this article, we present 7 little-known attractions in Yazd, ideal for discovering another facet of this thousand-year-old city.
A public place with baths, Aboul Ma’ali, one of the old baths transformed into a traditional restaurant in the ancient city of Fahadan in Yazd, is a historical examples of public baths of this Qajar era, built of bricks, river pebbles, plaster and sarouj. This traditional bath-turned-restaurant is one of Yazd’s little-known attractions, combining history and hospitality.
The Mirror Palace Museum is a beautiful residence set in a large garden, with a mix of traditional and modern architecture. The building features plasterwork, mirror mosaics and colorful orsi-style windows. It was built in the Pahlavi era for the philanthropist businessman Sarrafzadeh. Today, the mansion houses a museum displaying historical objects such as old lamps and chandeliers. The Palace of Mirrors, rarely seen on the classical tour, is one of Yazd’s little-known attractions not to be missed by lovers of refined architecture.
The Zeinaldin caravanserai is one of Yazd’s hidden treasures. It’s a remarkable architectural innovation dating back to the Safavid era, implemented by Mohammad Sultan Yazdi, a first-rate architect, over 400 years ago. Circular in shape, with an original view of the sky, this caravanserai is now an ecolodge. Its shahneshin has been restored on its north side, and two staircases lead up to its roof, offering a view of the depths of the desert plain. Located 60 km along the Yazd-Kerman road and less than 500 m from the highway, the Zeinaldin caravanserai is one of Yazd’s hidden gems, offering both architectural beauty and desert views.
If you’d like to visit an unusual cemetery, head for the Tower of Silence, 15 kilometers as the crow flies from Yazd behind the town of Safaiyeh. The ancient Zoroastrians had a tradition of taking the deceased to a higher altitude than the plains, to the site of a dakhmeh, where the body was exposed to wind and sun, and thus available to carrion birds for the final stage of decomposition.
The Zoroastrians believed that earth and fire were sacred and should not be defiled by a corpse, and that this practice was therefore better than burying or burning bodies.
The dakhmeh is built of mud bricks and plaster to prevent the body from rotting and the contaminant from penetrating the soil. The circular structure is divided into three concentric zones reserved respectively for men, women and children, with an “Astodan” pit in the middle where the body was exposed to the elements – and to scavengers – and deposited once the flesh had dissolved.
The Tower of Silence is located in the Dakhmeh mountain range, 15 kilometers southeast of Yazd.
The Zarch qanat, in fact, stretches for over 100 kilometers, making it the longest qanat in the world, with over 2,000 wells along its course. It originates in Fahraj, stretches through the villages of Dehnow and Akramieh and ends in the city of Zarch, passing through Yazd. Close to Yazd’s Jameh Mosque, one of the branches of this qanat can be reached by 60 steps and leads to a place where the faithful perform ablution.The Zarch qanat, with its miles of underground passages, is one of Yazd’s little-known attractions, emblematic of Persian hydraulic engineering.
The Naji Garden is a majestic park housing a house from the Qajar period belonging to a certain Naji. The garden’s magnificent setting, laid out in the direction of Najafabad’s qanat street, is a reminder of the importance attached to qanat systems in desert towns. This discreet garden is one of Yazd’s little-known attractions, illustrating the harmony between architecture and environment.
Built in the Qajar period by Haj Mohammad Hossein Yazdi, the Six Windcatchers Water Reservoir is a unique monument. Its name comes from the fact that it has six wind catchers that ventilate the structure and keep the water cool. The reservoir is located in Yazd’s Six Windcatchers Alley.
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