Yazd city is one of the best historical places of Iran and today it is recognized by UNESCO. Although Yazd is the 15th largest city of Iran, but it is famous for many Iranians and also foreign tourists for it’s attractions particularly historical attractions of Yazd which are mostly famous.
For centuries some religious minorities of Iran (like Zoroastrians) have been living in Yazd. Yazd is an ancient city and it is to be said that it was established in Sassaniad era (Ancient Iran, before Islam). The name “Yazd” is also an ancient Persian name which means: God and the name was originally derived from “yazdegerd” one of the Sassaniad kings.
The city is located in the center of Iran, between Isfahan, Shiraz and Kerman and it is the center of Yazd province. This historical city has many interesting places to see today, which lets you enjoy and fun particularly if you are interested in history and culture. You may book yazd hotels and tours and visit the city and around, which many historical places are located.
In this list you may read about some of the best historical attractions of Yazd:
when many people talk about Yazd hotels, Yazd tours and issues about this historical magnificent city, one of the first important things they remember is Zoroastrian Fire Temple in Yazd. In Persian language it is called “Atash kadeh” and it is one of the best Zoroastrian fire temples in the world. Many people including Iranians and foreign tourists have visited the place.
Zoroastrian religion is an ancient religion which was the official religion of Iran before Islam (until 1400 years ago). Now these days there are some Zoroastrian minorities remained in Asia and middle east (In countries like: Iran, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Azerbaijan republic and…), Europe, Australia and north America (United states and Canada).
If you want to know more about this ancient religion, it’s prophet (Zoroaster), Zoroastrian minority in Yazd and other cities, their culture and other issues you may visit Yazd Fire temple. It is strongly recommended. In addition, the garden of fire temple and the little pool in the yard makes it an amazing picturesque place. If you want to take selfies and enjoy remembering Iran and Yazd, one of the best places would be Yazd Fire temple.
The Zoroastrian museum of Yazd is one of the best place to know about history of Yazd and Zoroastrian religion. The museum was established by a Zoroastrian from India “Pashootan G Markar”. That’s why sometimes the museum is called: “Markar Museum” of Yazd.
The Museum of Zoroastrian history includes several parts which can inform you about:
• About the founder of museum (Pashootan G Markar), his biography and other Zoroastrian philanthropists who helped formation of the museum.
• About The Zoroaster, the ancient prophet of Iran and the world and also about his book “Avesta” and Gathas (one of the important parts of Avesta).
• Zoroastrian women’s traditional dress.
• Zoroastrian foods and culture.
• Zoroastrian religious ceremonies and festivals.
• Zoroastrian holy sites and places.
• About Zoroastrian priests or clerics called: “Mobad”, their traditional dress and their religious performance in Fire temples.
Visiting the museum would be an excellent experience for you. Many tourists who visited Museum of Zoroastrians History and Culture, called it great and amazing. Most of them rated the museum: Excellent or very good in their reviews. This would mean how satisfying at this place.
Not only the museum is great for people who are interested to the Zoroastrians and their traditions but also it would be interesting for history lovers or anyone who researches about history.
The staffs are so nice and welcoming. Fortunately the Museum is not far from The Fire temple. It would take almost ten minutes walking.
When you book Yazd hotels (Iran hotels located in Yazd), one of the interesting places which people of Yazd or tour guides might recommend you is visiting Yazd old town. The old town of Yazd is actually the old part of the city which have been populated for many centuries but during the last century Yazd was modernized and was expanded.
Today when you visit Yazd old town, means you travel to the history of this beautiful city. You might walk in the old alleys and visit old buildings (for instance: traditional houses or ventilations) interesting for all visitors. Local people are so nice and you will find an area with peace, calmness and silence. There are some café and restaurants in this part of city with nice view. Most of them have balconies which you can see the city from there and enjoy having delicious meals.
One of the tourists who recently visited this part of Yazd in Iran, was so excited that she said about her experience: Words can’t express how wonderful is Yazd old town. Everything there was like a nice and calm dream.
Kharanagh is a village located almost 85 kilometers far from Yazd. It has two parts: the old part – which is abandoned - and the new part which local people still live there. The village is famous for it’s nice atmosphere, beautiful area, historical houses, old bath, old Caravanserai (roadside inns for travelers), Kharanagh bridge, Kharanagh water reservoir (In Persian: ab Anbar) and other historical sites.
Furthermore the nature of areas around is amazing and the wild life of Kharanagh is interesting. You might see some of the local animals and birds like: Goat, ewe, rams, sheep, wild cat, Caracal and…
If you want to book Iran hotels in Yazd, and interested to visit Kharanagh, don’t worry. There are tours from Yazd which take you to this magnificent village and then bring you back to Yazd. So booking Yazd hotels, does’nt necessary mean just visiting Yazd city.
One of the interesting museums in Iran and specially in Yazd is water museum. This museum was established in one of the traditional houses of Yazd. Yazd is located in a dry region of Iran and for thousands years people of Yazd used to store water. Today you may visit Yazd water museum and enjoy it’s environment. You can find some useful information and see some old documents about distributing water decades ago.
Moreover the structure of museum building is worth seeing.
Another historical attraction of Yazd which belonged to the Zoroastrians. The towers used to bury the corpses until 1950s. Today it is just one of the historical attractions of yazd with nice atmosphere around and you can see the traditional architect of buildings around.
It is located in Shahidane Ashraf boulevard.
Chak Chak is one of the Zoroastrian pilgrim sites located about 70 kilometers far from Yazd. It has an interesting story about this holy place which is about Nikbanu, (Third Yazdegerd’s daughter) who scaped from being captured by Arab invaders. Her father was the last Sassaniad king of Iran.
The story tells that when Nikbanu came to the area, the rock face opened up and saved her. This looks like a miracle but since many centuries ago, many Zoroastrians pilgrim the Chak Chak. There is a small river there which is to be said that the river itself was appeared by a miracle.
Chak Chak is one of the most famous Zoroastrian historical sites around Yazd.
Dowlat Abad gardenis a beautiful garden in Yazd. There are plenty of cypress trees and other kinds of trees and also beautiful plants. There is a water channel inside the garden and a wind catcher building (ventilation) with amazing architect. The garden is a dreamy place and has a calm environment.
The garden was built almost two centuries ago.
At the end there other numerous historical attractions in Yazd like Alexander Prison, Amir Chakhmaq square and… which are strongly recommended.