Bisotun & Kermanshah

The Bisotun inscription, carved on a cliff face by order of Darius I around 520 BCE in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian, recounts how Darius defeated rival claimants to the Achaemenid throne. Copied and studied by the British officer Henry Rawlinson — who had himself lowered down the cliff — Bisotun became the key that finally allowed cuneiform script to be deciphered, doing for Mesopotamian writing what the Rosetta Stone did for Egyptian hieroglyphs. The site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006.

Taq-e Bostan preserves a series of large Sassanid rock reliefs carved around the 4th century CE, including royal investiture scenes and a celebrated boar-hunting frieze, with natural springs still feeding the pool in front of the carvings. The arched rock-cut grottoes that give the site its name — "Arch of the Garden" — are among the finest surviving examples of Sassanid sculpture. Kermanshah's ancient Anahita Temple, dedicated to the Zoroastrian water goddess, adds yet another layer to the region's extraordinary religious and architectural heritage.

Kurdish culture dominates the region: Dandeh Kebab (grilled lamb ribs), Tarkhine soup and Nan Berenji (a delicate rice-flour cookie made with clarified butter) are local specialities. The Hawraman highlands are closely associated with Kurdish music, textile weaving and a centuries-old tradition of beekeeping on terraced mountainsides. The distinct Kurdish Gorani musical tradition, centred on the long-necked tanbur lute, is still performed at local gatherings.

The Hawraman highlands (UNESCO-listed) are reached by a winding mountain road west of Kermanshah — the terraced stone villages of Uraman Takht and Naw are the most visited, and the region hosts a traditional almond-blossom festival each spring. The ancient Sassanid city of Kangavar, roughly 90 kilometres east, holds the remains of a massive temple to Anahita. The border region's Paw and Paveh towns provide a base for trekking into the mountains toward the Iraqi Kurdistan border.

The Kermanshah region is an open-air museum of ancient rock art. The Bisotun UNESCO site centres on Darius the Great's monumental trilingual inscription and relief, carved high on a cliff — the key that unlocked cuneiform for modern scholars. Nearby Taq-e Bostan preserves some of the finest Sassanid rock reliefs in Iran, including a royal hunt and investiture scenes set beside a spring-fed pool. In the city, the Tekyeh Moaven al-Molk stuns with Qajar tile panels depicting religious and mythological scenes. The vast Taghbostan parklands and the Bazaar of Kermanshah complete a visit, and the region's Kurdish cuisine — especially Dande Kabab and Khoresht Khalal — is a highlight.