Kerman & The Kaluts

Kerman has been a major city since the Sassanid era, flourishing as a centre of trade on the southern Silk Road and later under Safavid patronage, when Ganjali Khan built the complex that still bears his name. The "American Kerman" pistachio variety, now widely grown in California, was developed from cuttings brought from this region in the 1950s. The surrounding Lut Desert's Gandom Beryan plateau has recorded surface temperatures among the highest ever measured anywhere on Earth.

Ganjali Khan Complex (17th century) bundles a bazaar, bathhouse, caravanserai, mosque and mint into a unified Safavid urban ensemble — among the finest outside Isfahan. Rayen Castle, the second-largest adobe structure in the world, once enclosed an entire small city within its walls. Shazdeh (Prince's) Garden near Mahan — a UNESCO-listed Persian garden — feeds its terraced pools entirely by qanat-channelled snowmelt from the surrounding bare desert mountains.

Kerman is Iran's pistachio capital, and the local Grand Bazaar is the best place to buy premium black and green cumin, saffron and dried fruits. Kolompeh (date-and-walnut pastry) is the city's best-known sweet. The shrine of the Sufi mystic Shah Ne'matollah Vali near Mahan remains a gathering place for dervishes and a striking example of six centuries of layered architectural devotion.

The Kaluts of Shahdad, roughly 2.5–3 hours away, are best visited at sunrise or sunset when light transforms the clay towers — an overnight desert camp here offers some of Iran's finest stargazing. Bam and its UNESCO-listed Arg-e Bam citadel, severely damaged in the 2003 earthquake but under active restoration, lies about two hours to the south-east. Mahan, 35 kilometres from Kerman, combines Shazdeh Garden with the Ne'matollah Vali shrine in a half-day trip.

Kerman is the gateway to some of Iran's most otherworldly landscapes. The Kaluts of the Lut Desert — vast wind-sculpted sand towers in the officially hottest place recorded on earth — are unforgettable at sunset. In the city, the Ganjali Khan Complex gathers a Safavid bathhouse, bazaar, caravanserai and mosque around one square. Rayen Citadel, a smaller cousin of Bam, is a beautifully preserved medieval adobe fortress. The lush Shazdeh (Prince's) Garden near Mahan is a UNESCO Persian Garden cascading improbably out of the desert, and the nearby Shah Nematollah Vali Shrine dazzles with tilework and mystic significance.