Things to do in Kerman
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Kerman
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is the best window, with gardens in full flow and the Lut still visitable at sunset and dawn early in the season.
Summer in the city is hot, and Shahdad and the Lut routinely exceed 50 degrees C air temperature. Do not plan a Lut trip.
Autumn is the second best window and the best desert season, with October and November first choice for the Kaluts.
Winter days are cold and quiet, nights at or below freezing in the city, and the Lut is manageable by day but bitter at dawn.
What's on
- Nowruz around 20 to 21 March
The Persian New Year, about two weeks of national travel, full hotels and festive, crowded gardens and shrines.
- Sadeh late January
The Zoroastrian mid-winter fire festival, celebrated with particular strength in Kerman at dusk.
- Yalda Night 21 December
The winter solstice gathering, with pomegranates, watermelon and readings of Hafez in family homes.
Best things to do in Kerman
Ganjali Khan Complex
Safavid square, caravanserai, mosque and bathhouse in one complex, and the natural starting point for old Kerman.
Ganjali Khan Bathhouse
Frescoed Safavid bathing halls turned into a museum, the finest interior in Kerman and a lesson in daily life.
Vakil Bazaar
One of Iran's longest covered bazaars, for copper, spice, pistachios and kolompeh, stitched into the old city.
Jame Mosque of Kerman
Kerman's congregational mosque near the bazaar, a tiled and quiet courtyard to visit outside prayer times.
Gonbad-e Jabalieh
A huge stone dome on the city's edge, of uncertain age, that survived because it was not built of mud brick.
Harandi Garden Museum
A Qajar garden holding Jiroft and Shahdad archaeology and a music museum, and calm context before the desert.
Fathabad Garden
A restored Qajar garden on a long water axis, and the original model for the grander Shazdeh Garden at Mahan.
Moayedi Ice House
Iran's largest adobe ice house, a conical dome that kept winter ice through the desert summer without power.
Where to stay in Kerman
Central Kerman
first trip, food and driver pickups
Near the bazaar and Ganjali Khan, with the Shahbaz and Tourist hotels, Shardo Guesthouse and most restaurants.
Sadoughi Boulevard
full service hotel base
Home to the Kerman Pars Hotel, with easier airport access and a conventional large hotel setup.
Tehran Road
budget base and tour desk
Home to the Akhavan Hotel, valued less for its rooms than for its long running help arranging desert and citadel tours.
Shahdad
one desert night only
For a dawn Kaluts visit from Kashkiloo Ecolodge or the desert camp, not as a general base for a Kerman trip.
Think twice about
- East of Bam toward the Pakistan border
The area east of Bam is a higher risk border zone with a risk of banditry. Bam is the limit of a normal trip.
- Remote Lut Desert interior
Extreme heat, no water, no signal and no infrastructure. Enter only on a guided programme and never alone or self-driven.
Best restaurants in Kerman
Keykhosro traditional hotel and restaurant
A traditional house restaurant for a full Kerman dinner, the local top end for bozghormeh and kebabs.
Emarat Mehr Restaurant
A garden restaurant for fuller Iranian lunches and dinners, calmer than the bazaar rooms for a group table.
Kerman Max Restaurant
The place guides name for Kerman dishes, above all bozghormeh, abgoosht and kebabs on the local menu.
Hamam Vakil (Teahouse and Restaurant)
A historic bathhouse in the bazaar turned tea house and restaurant, for dizi and tea under the domes.
Kabab Khoraan
A busy, no frills local kebab house at local prices, full of Kerman families on an ordinary evening.
Wheelie Cafe
A small modern cafe for coffee and a planning break, in a city where evenings mean tea and cafes, not bars.
SirBurger
A local burger shop for one fast, familiar meal on a long Iran trip, ordered at the counter and paid in cash.
Outdoor things to do in Kerman
Kaluts of Shahdad
Wind carved yardang ridges in the Lut, best at sunset and dawn with a guide, a 4x4 and a hard return time.
Gandom Beryan
A basalt plateau famous for a record land surface heat reading, reached only on specialist cool season tours.
Shur River
A white salt river valley deep in the Lut, for multi day guided 4x4 programmes only, never independent trips.
Shahdad Desert Camp
A simple desert camp night outside Shahdad, for dark skies and a dawn start among the Kaluts the next day.
Shazdeh Garden
A terraced Qajar garden in desert hills at Mahan, water falling in pools between the gate and the pavilion.
Shah Nematollah Vali Shrine
An active Sufi shrine in Mahan with turquoise minarets and a domed tomb, visited quietly and fully covered.
Arg-e Rayen
A largely intact mud brick walled town that shows what Bam was, and the best citadel visit from Kerman.
Arg-e Bam
The largest adobe fortress city in the world, partly rebuilt after the 2003 earthquake that devastated Bam.
Best hotels in Kerman
Kerman Pars Hotel
Kerman's five star by local standards, the most full service hotel in the city behind a desert programme.
Shahbaz Traditional Hotel
A restored Qajar house in the centre, the best reviewed traditional stay in Kerman and easy for the bazaar.
Kerman Tourist Hotel
A renovated four star from 1975, a plainer and reliable large hotel well placed for the bazaar and sights.
Akhavan Hotel
A simple two star whose desk has arranged fair priced Kaluts, Rayen and Bam tours for travellers for years.
Shardo Guesthouse
A small garden guesthouse with personal help on drivers and buses, calm between desert days in Kerman.
Kashkiloo Ecolodge
A simple Shahdad ecolodge, the practical cheap night that makes a dawn visit to the Kaluts possible.
Is Kerman expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | IRR 80,000,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | IRR 200,000,000 a person |
| Splurge | IRR 520,000,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Kaluts of Shahdad: weeks ahead
- Gandom Beryan: weeks ahead
- Shur River: weeks ahead
- Shahdad Desert Camp: weeks ahead
- Arg-e Rayen: a few days ahead
- Arg-e Bam: a few days ahead
- Meymand: a few days ahead
- Kerman Pars Hotel: a few days ahead
- Arrange visas many weeks ahead, and at least ten weeks ahead for US, UK and Canadian passport holders on escorted tours.
- Book the Lut programme, Shahbaz or Pars rooms and Shahdad nights first in spring and autumn.
- Reprice any future trip from the open market exchange rate in the week you book.
Is Kerman safe?
- Visitors can face arrest, questioning or detention linked to nationality, connections or work. Iran does not recognise dual nationality.
- Foreign cards and ATMs do not work. Bring the whole budget in clean cash dollars or euros and change it at licensed sarafi.
- Women must wear hijab in public by law, and a chador at shrines. Alcohol is prohibited and drug penalties are severe.
- In the Lut, drink before thirst, cover head and arms, wear closed shoes, and keep a hard turnaround time.
Kerman travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Converters showing the old official rate near 42,000 rials to the dollar, which no visitor transacts at.
- Agreeing a price without confirming rial or toman, where one toman is ten rials.
- Any offer of a summer midday or solo self-drive trip into the Lut Desert.
Getting around Kerman: public transport and more
- Use agreed fare taxis in the city and agree the fare in rials or tomans before moving.
- Hire a car with driver for the Mahan and Rayen day, and allow a full day for Bam.
- For the Lut, use only a local driver-guide with a proper vehicle from Shahdad or Kerman.
Who Kerman suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | OK |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Kerman your trip
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