Qazvin is a pleasant city with a wonderfully restored caravanserai-turned-arts precinct, some quirky museums and a handful of decent eating options. Famed for carpets and seedless grapes, it was once the capital of all Iran, but for most foreign travellers it’s primarily the staging point for excursions to the famous Castles of the Assassins and trekking in the sensational Alamut Valley. The city centre is Azadi Sq, widely known as Sabz Meydan. The bazaar and alleys to its southeast are the most atmospheric areas for random strolling.
Qazvin’s tourist attractions include natural sights, historic spots and public spaces. Each era is represented in the city’s great host of historic monuments. Qazvin’s top sights include the spectacular historic sites of Qazvin and the breathtaking natural beauty of its counties. These mesmerizing spots contribute to the city’s economy. Until a couple of years ago Qazvin depended on farming, herding and food manufacturing and had a small share of tourism industry of Iran. But the great diversity of tourist attractions has made Qazvin’s tours popular all through the year.
Chehel sotoun: When Qazvin took its turn as Iran’s capital, this attractive, colonnaded cube was Shah Tahmasp’s royal palace. Built in 1510, it was greatly remodelled in the Qajar era. Set in the town’s central park, it looks especially photogenic at night, with its delicate balustrades floodlit and its back-lit coloured-glass windows glowing through the foliage. It now serves as a calligraphy museum.Qazvin contains three buildings built by Russians in the late 19th-early 20th century. Among these is the current Mayor’s office (former Ballet Hall), a water reservoir, and the Cantor church, where a Russian pilot is buried. The Russian Church of Qazvin.
It also contains several archaeological excavations dating back 9000 years. There are also 23 castles from the Ismaili Assassins nearby as well. And in the middle of the city lie the ruins of Meimoon Ghal’eh, one of several Sassanid edifices in the area. There are few buildings from the Safavid era, when it was capital of Persia. Perhaps the most famous of the surviving edifices is the Ali Qapu mansion, today a museum in central Qazvin. Darbe Khoushk Gate: Sidelined in a small park near a large roundabout, the mosaics and turrets of Darbe Khoushk Gate are a Qajar remnant of Qazvin’s once-vast city walls.Qazvin Museum, spacious modern museum predominantly features 19th-century decorative arts, but the bottom floor has some 3000-year-old bronzes and ceramics from the Alamut Valley.
