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By Root 1869 0

proportioned, blue-domed mausoleum (Map) commemorates an apostle of the prophet Mohammad. Coming to pay respects here was said to have been Imam Reza’s ‘main consolation’ in coming all the way out to Khorasan. The tower took its present form after a 1612 rebuild, which added a band of interior Kufic inscriptions by master-calligrapher Ali Reza Abbasi. The jolly floral motifs around it date from a Qajar redecoration. Surrounding the mausoleum is a large cemetery paved with thousands of tombstones. Burial here currently costs from IR8,500,000. That gets you stacked four bodies deep for 30 years before you’re dug up again; pay four times that amount per body if you want a ‘family room’ within surrounding arched colonnades. That’s still only half what you’d pay to deposit a corpse beneath the Haram.

Get here on bus 34 from Tabarsi Blvd or 38 from Kuh-e Sangi.

Nader Shah Mausoleum

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Nader Shah is considered something of a historical tyrant. But here he’s a local hero for briefly returning Khorasan to the centre of a vast Central Asian empire. Nader’s horseback statue crowns his otherwise rather dour 1950s grey-granite mausoleum (Map; 222 4888; cnr Shirazi & Azadi Sts; admission IR3000; 8am-6.30pm), which was designed to emulate the lines of a tent (reputedly Nader was born and died under canvas). A small museum displays guns, a rhino-hide shield and four-pointed hats that must have made Afshar-dynasty courtiers look like jesters.

Kuh-e Sangi

This small but abrupt rocky hill (Map; admission free, 24hr) rises near Mashhad’s southern ring road (the ‘Kabul to Paris highway’). Sweeping views show just how huge Mashhad has become. Tastefully set rock steps lead up from a large ‘recreation complex’ featuring ponds, over-priced ice creams and lots of souvenir shops selling soapstone dizi pots and awful porcelain figurines. Horsecart rides (IR30,000) do NOT take you up the mountain as they might imply but on a pointless eight-minute trot down some side streets. Within the park there’s a sweetly naive loop of pedal-car monorail (rides per person IR3500; 9am-1am) for kids.

Buses 86 and 82 run between Kuh-e Sangi and Falakeh Ab. Bus 38 links Kuh-e Sangi to Borq-e Khajeh Rabi.

Gonbad-e-Sabz

In its own little traffic roundabout, Sheikh Mohammed Hakim Mo’men’s modest, Safavid-era mausoleum (Green Dome; Map; Falakeh-ye Gonbad-e Sabz; donation appreciated; 8am-11am) isn’t very green but makes a useful landmark.

Sleeping

Timing is everything. In peak season, accommodation is jam-packed: prices can rise up to 800% in some cases (especially apartment hotels), though others stay stable. We quote both base rates (April) and peak rates. Some hotels discount in mid-winter.

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WHAT ARE MASHHAD’S PEAK SEASONS?

No Ruz

summer pilgrim season (June–July)

the Muslim months of Moharram, Safar and Ramazan

any major Islamic festival

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BUDGET

Vali’s Non-smoking Homestay (Map; 851 6980, 0915 100 1324; vali32@imamreza.net; 6th Alley, off Enqelab-e Eslami St, house 277; dm/s/tw IR30,000/50,000/100,000; ) Vali is an eccentric and ever-enthusiastic carpet merchant–cum–multilingual guide who offers a twin-bedded guest room in his charming home along with communal carpeted sleeping spaces, some on the open-air terrace. This is the nearest Mashhad gets to a backpacker hostel but it’s vastly more personal and inviting. Great home-cooked meals cost only IR15,000 (often vegetarian). Prices stay the same all year. Take bus 85 from near the main terminal or 13 from Falakeh Ab, either way getting off at Charahe Lashkar (Metro Emam Khomeini).

Mehmanpazir Tajan (Map; 222 3243; Baqatavuz Alley, off Sabkar Lane; tw/tr IR50,000/60,000, peak season IR195,000/219,000) Showers are rusty and furniture ageing but for the off-season price this is truly remarkable value. Mehdi speaks very limited English and has a gravity-defying grey-bouff haircut.

Hosseini Fard Inn (Map; 222 5334; Anbari Qaqimmaqam Alley; tw/tr IR80,000/120,000; d/tr/q with private bathroom IR150,000/200,000/300,000) The en-suite rooms are very tatty.