The hook
The Persian city of poets, roses, and nightingales, where a mosque's stained-glass windows scatter the morning sun into a carpet of colour, and locals still gather at the tomb of a beloved poet to read his verse aloud.
01Why it's worth it
Shiraz has long stood in the Iranian imagination for gardens, wine (in centuries past), and above all poetry: the medieval poets Hafez and Saadi are buried here, and Hafez's garden tomb remains a genuine place of pilgrimage where Iranians come to read his verses and open his book at random for guidance, a moving glimpse of how alive poetry is in the culture. The city is gentle and green, dotted with classical Persian gardens, and its showstopper is the Nasir ol-Molk mosque, the "Pink Mosque," whose prayer hall floods with jewel-coloured light when the early sun pours through its stained-glass windows. Shiraz is also the base for visiting Persepolis nearby. Warm, unhurried, and steeped in Persian culture at its most lyrical, it is many travellers' favourite Iranian city.
02How to experience it
Be at the Pink Mosque soon after opening for the coloured light through the glass, then wander the gardens and the bazaar. Visit Hafez's tomb in the evening when Iranians gather to read; someone may share a verse with you. Use it as your base for Persepolis, and check current travel advice first.