Ardebil

This place is so important in terms of Islamic architecture. King Ismaeil I and several of important Safavid heads were buried in this historical complex. The architecture of this place is similar to architecture of Renaissance and shows the pure Eastern art through use of tiles, designs, windows, bricking and Mogharnas (arched places decorated with paintings). This historical place is one of masterpieces of Islamic era, which was built upon an old Mongolian-era structure.

Three specialized museums of archeology, Museum of stone and specialized Sheikh Safi library and Chini-khane-Museum are located in this complex. Chini-khane-Museum with about 400 years old is situated in Eastern part of main hall of this complex. The designer of this part was Sheikh Bahaei, who was one of the most famous scientists of Safavid Era.

This area with 400 acres is an ancient area near to Meshgin Shahr that is comprised of three parts: a defensive castle, a temple and Ghusha Tape. The castle and temple were built in 1450 BC and Ghusha Tape in 7000 BC. There are more than 300 menhirs with different heights in this city which looked like a human without mouth.

According to archeological discoveries on this area, it was found that the first people came to Ardebil in copper era. This area has been registered in list of national important historical areas.

Chini-khane-Museum is another touristic attraction of Ardebil city, which is 400 years old. It is situated in Eastern part of main hall of this complex. The designer of this part was Sheikh Bahaei, who was one of the most famous scientists of Safavid Era. This museum is a hall comprised of four king rooms and arched room. For building this museum, colorful mogharnas and nice Islamic design have been used. This museum has high resistant to earthquake which is an interesting point.

This museum with over 1800 square meters is located in Sheikh Safi complex. Simple and patterned pottery, glass stuffs, blue & white china are some of things displayed in this museum.

Shourabil Lake is a lake in Ardebil city, which is located in University Street. Mohaghegh Ardebili University, Medical Sciences University and Payam-e-Noor University are located on this street. This lake is a natural attraction and researchers have found that this lake is even older than Urmia Lake. Shourabil is a within-city natural lake. This lake was too salty in the past, but its saltiness has been reduced by adding fresh water in a way that it is used to raise salmons. Its area has been increased to 180 acres.

This place has many sport, cultural and entertainment facilities like boating, running field, cycling stadium, zoo, hotels (touristic complex of Kosar and Shourabil Hotel), an open amusement park and a roofed one. Hunting in this lake is forbidden.

The Yakhagan cave is located 77 kilometers south-east of Khalkhal city, in western part of Talesh Mountain range (Masule Dagh). It is 2400 meters above the sea level, it is in western part of a mountain named Yakhgan Daghi (Buzkhane Daghi). The diameter of the entrance opening is about 50 centimeters and leads to a wide area through a narrow 10-meter corridor.

There is a pool in the floor of the cave, with depth of 20 cm and 5.1 high. This pool was created through collecting drops of waters resulted from distillation (steam of water come to the cold wall and then converts into water). Stalactites created in the ceiling of this cave are so attractive.

Meshginshahr suspension bridge is the tallest and longest cable suspension brindge in the Middle East, which has been built at 80 meters above Khiav River and Jungle park of Meshginshahr City. It is 2 meters wide and 365 meters long. This bridge has been designed and built by regional experts and the knowledge of building it is domestic.

This bridge was part of touristic complex of Khiav to Girduli and was built in an area 130 acres and cost more than 4000 billion Rials. This touristic complex has club halls, suits, ballooning site, aerial sports, rotating restaurant, handicrafts mall, amusement park and other entertainment facilities. Meshginshahr suspension bridge is the largest suspension bridge in the Middle East.

Manafzadeh House is an old and valuable structure in Ardebil which was built in the first Pahlavi king era. This house is about 100 years old and is more than 1000 square meters.

It was built by Haj Mohammad Ali Me’mari in central part of Ardebil upon order of Hossein Gholi Sadeqi. It is now considered as one of the most famous buildings in terms of architecture and building style at that time.

This house, which is like a mansion is rectangular and has some decorative items like stringcourse, dual and geometric designs. This place has been registered as National Heritage of Iran on Saturday, February 1, 2003 with serial of 7401 and now is run by Ardebil Office Art.

Sar’ein is a small t town cated in west of Ardebil and capital of town Sar’ein City. This town is famous for its hot-water springs and is considered as touristic attraction sites of Ardebil Province. Each year in summer, many domestic and foreign tourists come to see this place. One of the attraction of Sar’ein is Gurgur Fall, about 15 km away from Sar’ein.

Sar’ein has several hot-water mineral springs, which come from Sabalan Mountain. These springs are the most famous touristic attraction of this city. We really do not know how many springs are there, but we know that there are tens natural hot water springs in this city and areas around it.

Heyran defile is part of Astara-Ardebil road, which includes Heyran, Haji Amir Bala, Haji Amir Paein, Noh Bin. These areas are considered part of Gilan Province geographically.  This amazing defile faces to mountains covered with trees on one side and on the other side it faces to a valley which Astarachi river crosses it. The height of this defile is 1500 meters above the sea level and for this, it is considered as the most famous road of Iran.

Gondola lift of Heyran is amazing and you can go from Heyran to the heart of Fandoghlu Jungle. This 1700 meters way takes you towards the clouds. One of the special beauties of this area is Fandoghlu Jungle that you can enter to it by gondola lift. This jungle is more than 16,000 acres. The best time to travel to this jungle is summer in which the weather is cool and mild. Different plant and animal types are this jungle including hazelnut, Carpinus, beech, oak, musk willow, nastaran, raspberry, kash, primrose, chamomile, ferns, guildig, and animal species such as pheasant, quail, golden eagle, Otter, fox, wolf, brown bear, and cuckoo, which allows you to see them in close range.