The Persian Diaspora's Most Beautiful Cities

Isfahan: Half the World

“Isfahan is half the world,” the Persian proverb claims, and standing in the Naqsh-e Jahan Square — one of the largest public squares ever built — the claim feels modest. The Safavid capital perfected the art of the urban ensemble: mosque, palace, bazaar, and garden arranged around a single public space of breathtaking scale.

For the heritage traveler, Isfahan represents the continuity of Persian architectural ambition. The techniques that built Persepolis — the integration of water, garden, and ceremonial space — are refined here across two millennia of accumulated knowledge.

Shiraz: The Garden City

Shiraz is where Persia becomes poetry. The tombs of Hafez and Saadi draw literary pilgrims from across the world. The Eram Garden — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — demonstrates the Persian garden tradition at its most refined: geometry, water, fragrance, and shade composed into an experience that is simultaneously architectural and sensory.

The Diaspora Cities

Beyond Iran, the Persian diaspora has shaped cities from Los Angeles to London, from Tel Aviv to Toronto. These communities carry forward Persian traditions of hospitality, scholarship, and aesthetic refinement. The Persian diaspora traveler will find familiar patterns — the centrality of the garden, the importance of the shared meal, the reverence for poetry — expressed in new contexts.

To travel through these cities is to understand that Shushan was never just one place. It was a pattern of civilization that propagated outward and continues to shape how communities gather, celebrate, and remember.