The Vakil Bazaar — actually a network of linked bazaars accumulated over centuries — runs for nearly two kilometres along the line of the old caravan road through Kerman. The vaulted brick passages are punctuated by domed crossings, small caravanserais, mosques, and bathhouses; the whole complex is essentially a roofed indoor city. The oldest sections date to the Safavid period; the rest is Qajar and Pahlavi expansion.
Carpets and copperwork dominate the western end (closer to Ganjali Khan), spices and dried fruit the centre, fabrics and clothes the eastern end. The bazaar is open from morning until early evening, closed for prayers and for the heat of the early afternoon; Thursdays are the busiest day, Fridays much of it is shut.