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Naqsh-e Jahan Square is one the most popular Isfahan attractions, especially also, due to the fact that many other Isfahan attractions are located in or around this square. This gorgeous palace located within Naqsh-e Jahan Square is one of the most beautiful Isfahan attractions and is surely worth some of your time. The bazaar actually links the Naqsh-e Jahan Square to the Masjed-e Jameh (which is located some distance away from the square), so the best way of travelling in between the square and the Jameh mosque is to walk through the bazaar to experience the buzzing vibe and activity, and perhaps get some shopping done too! Unlike many of the Isfahan attractions, Jameh Mosque (Friday mosque) of Isfahan is not located in the large Naqsh-e Jahan Square, but rather within the historical centre, being also one of the earliest religious buildings in Iran.

A couple of hours away from Isfahan, lies the Varzaneh desert, a spectacular area of silent golden sand dunes, close by Varzaneh town, which is known to be one of the most accessible deserts in Iran due to its proximity to the popular destination town of Isfahan. We were directed to a little bus, more like a minivan, which seemed ready to depart and which actually dropped us off at our chosen guesthouse (Negaar Varzaneh Traditional Guesthouse) at our request. We understood that both Negaar Varzaneh Traditional Guesthouse and Hafez Traditional Guesthouse offer Varzaneh desert tours to different parts of the area, including Varzaneh desert tours at sunrise and sunset, as well as tours to the town, so we decided that staying at one of these two guesthouses would make sense. The different guesthouses offer various other tours including those around Varzaneh town, as well as tours to observe and learn about traditional Persian medicine, an ancient desert village, hiking tours and traditional Hammam experiences.

Before planning our independent trip to Iran, we had never heard about Palangan village in Iranian Kurdistan, an area of Iran located on the west side of the country bordering Iraq. Here is what we believe are the best things to do in Kermanshah in one day: See the rock carvings and inscriptions on Mount Bisotun Strictly speaking, Mount Bisotun is not within Kermanshah city but in a city called Bisotun in the Kermanshah province, but it is extremely easy to get to Mount Bisotun from Kermanshah city. in our independent travel to Iran guide) and asked the driver to take us to the main savari (shared taxi) station from where we intended to get a shared taxi to Bisotun (65,000 rial / 6,500 toman for the Snapp! ride). Upon our exit from the Bisotun site, we came across a seller who promised to find us a private taxi that would take us to our next destination, Taq-e Bostan, back in Kermanshah city, for 300,000 rial (30,000 toman).

Our hotel was offering the trip for €10 each, and although we had initially thought of getting from Tabriz to Kandovan via public transport, which is the more complicated way of getting there, we eventually decided that we preferred using the private taxi offered by the hotel, given that the price seemed quite affordable for a private trip of this length. We think that taking this route is a far more complicated and time consuming option when compared to taking a comfortable private taxi all the way from Tabriz to Kandovan, and at the end of the day would only save you a few euro. Kandovan village is quite small, so we spent all our time going up and down the houses and peering inside any time we thought it was ok to do so, discovering view points, and generally just observing locals going about their daily chores. If you have the time for a second day trip out of Tabriz (assuming that you would first take a day trip to Kandovan as described above), you would do well to consider going on a day trip to the Armenian St. Stepanos Monastery near Jolfa, close to the Aras River and the border with Armenia.