Kashan is one of Iran's most rewarding cities, midway between Tehran and Isfahan on the edge of the central desert. It is famous for its extraordinarily well-preserved traditional Persian houses — merchant mansions from the 18th and 19th centuries with windtowers, tiled courtyards, and ornate interiors. The Tabatabaei House and Boroujerdi House are among the finest examples of traditional Iranian domestic architecture anywhere.
The city is also the centre of Iran's rosewater trade. Every spring, fields of damask roses around the nearby town of Qamsar are harvested and distilled into rose water, an industry that has been going for centuries. Kashan sits at the edge of the Dasht-e Kavir desert, and the mud-brick village of Abyaneh, an hour away, is one of the most striking villages in Iran. Just outside the city, Fin Garden is the oldest surviving Persian garden in the country and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The prehistoric mound of Tepe Sialk on the city's western edge takes occupation back to around 6000 BCE.