Tehran, a large, bustling city at the foothills of the Elburz Mountains, has been the capital of Iran since the 18th century. It's worth spending a day there just to see its museums. Don't miss the Golestan Palace (gardens and mosaic mirrors) and the Azadi Tower (built and still standing in honor of the 2,500 years of Persian history). Also worth seeing are the Bagh e Melli Gate, the ethnological museum, the Khomeini and Sepahsalar Mosques, the fascinating Decorative Arts Museum (displays of Persian paintings and objects in miniature), the Carpet Museum and the truly fabulous National Museum of Iran (archaeological museum with displays from the past 6,000 years).
Other glittering highlights of the city are the Shah's crown jewels and the jewel-encrusted Peacock Throne in the Jewels Museum (actually a bank vault). Also spend time in the enormous (and exciting) covered bazaar, and go window shopping along fashionable Valiasr Avenue.
Sneak a look at the former U.S. Embassy, which was once called the "U.S. Den of Espionage" and was used as a training school for the Revolutionary Guards (do not take photographs). A shop in front sells copies of secret documents that were shredded before the embassy was seized and were painstakingly put together by revolutionary students afterward (during our last trip, we were hurried away from the embassy and not allowed into the shop—but such conditions regarding tourists seem to change frequently). Near the former embassy, you can get a nice view of the mountains to the north of the city from the restaurant at the top of the Mashhad Hotel.
Just outside town, on the road to Qom, the Iranian government has built a rather bland-looking shrine to Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic revolution. A little farther north is the main cemetery for the victims of the Iran-Iraq War—one of the largest cemeteries in the world.
We recommend going to the mountains north of Tehran for a view of the city and a relaxing walk: The city's noise and chaos can get to you. One suggested day trip is a visit to the tallest mountain between the Himalaya and the Alps, Mount Demavend (18,386 ft/5,600 m—take a mule ride through the scenery). Other day trips include the Elburz Game Reserve (wild sheep, gazelles, etc.), Rhages (a major city in ancient Medea) and Varamin (Friday Mosque and Mongol tombs). Other diversions include "forecasting" (gambling is illegal in Iran) on the horses at Nowruzabad Jockey Club or waterskiing at Karaj Dam, an hour west of the capital.
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