The hook
A honey-coloured desert city of mud-brick lanes and rooftops bristling with windcatchers, ancient towers that funnel breezes down into the houses, and a fire that Zoroastrians say has burned without pause for over a thousand years.
01Why it's worth it
Yazd is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and among the finest surviving examples of adobe desert architecture. Its old town is a warm-toned maze of mud-brick alleys, courtyards, and domes, crowned by badgirs, tall windcatcher towers ingeniously designed to catch and cool the desert air, an ancient form of air-conditioning. Yazd is also a heartland of Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian religion of fire; its fire temple keeps a flame said to have burned continuously for many centuries, and on the city's edge stand the eerie "towers of silence," where the dead were once left exposed. Climbing to a rooftop café at sunset, with windcatchers and domes stretching to the desert and the call to prayer rising, is the quiet magic of the place. It is atmospheric, unhurried, and deeply old.
02How to experience it
Wander the old town on foot to get pleasantly lost among the lanes and windcatchers, and climb to a rooftop terrace for sunset over the domes. Visit the Zoroastrian fire temple and the towers of silence on the outskirts. Avoid high summer, and check current travel advice before planning.