Tabas

Tabas sits in the eastern desert with an unusually mild winter climate, and it has been an oasis town for centuries, watered by qanats and springs coming off the mountains to the south. Its centrepiece is Golshan Garden, a large walled Persian garden laid out in the eighteenth century with long water channels, date palms, citrus, cypress and pomegranate, and pools at the centre, which is a genuinely working garden rather than a formal set piece. The town was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1978 and rebuilt, so the fabric around the garden is modern. To the south are the Kal-e Jenni canyon and Morteza Ali springs, warm and cold pools in a gorge that are the region's other draw.

What you actually see

• Golshan Garden - palms, citrus and water channels behind a wall.
• Qanat-fed water - the underground channels the oasis runs on.
• Morteza Ali springs - warm and cold pools in a gorge to the south.
• Kal-e Jenni canyon - a narrow gorge in the mountains nearby.

When to go

October to April; summer in the eastern desert is extreme. A day for the garden and the springs. The garden is at its best in spring when the citrus is in flower.

Honest expectations

The town itself was rebuilt after the 1978 earthquake and has little historic fabric left. The canyon and springs need a vehicle and some walking. It is a long way from anywhere on the main routes. Facilities are limited.

Nearby

Yazd is west; Mashhad lies far to the north-east.