Tochal is the world's only ski resort directly accessible from a capital city by cable car — the Telecabin base station is within Tehran's city limits, and the gondola system climbs from the northern suburbs to a summit of 3,964 metres in around an hour. In winter it operates as a proper alpine ski resort with runs at various levels; in summer the cable car runs for hikers and sightseers.
For visitors, the attraction is the cable car itself and the dramatic view it provides. The lower stations are busy with families and picnickers in good weather; the higher stations give way to genuine mountain landscape and, on winter weekends, serious skiers. From the upper stations on a clear day you can see Mount Damavand — Iran's volcanic giant — floating above the horizon 60 kilometres to the east. The cable car can be accessed from the Tochal station near Darband in northern Tehran.