Iran · Tehran Province · Tehran
Darakeh, Tehran — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Darakeh is a mountain-foot neighbourhood of northern Tehran, where the Alborz trail into Tochal begins.
About Darakeh
Where to stay in Darakeh
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Darakeh keeps its lodging low and close to the slope. Stay near the trailhead. Guesthouses and serviced rooms cluster where the lanes meet the Darakeh River, within reach of the teahouses that step up the gorge toward the Alborz, while calmer stays sit downhill toward Evin and the university edge.
Tajrish anchors the transit end. Choose by how far you want to walk.
About Darakeh
What are the main landmarks in Darakeh?
The gorge itself is the draw. Above the last houses, the Darakeh River drops through a walnut-and-fig canyon lined with teahouses built out over the water, and the graded path carries walkers up toward the shelters of Tochal and the wider Alborz. Downhill, near the Chamran edge, the Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum keeps a research collection dating to 1945.
The neighbouring Darband trail climbs the same range one valley east. Both feed off the ridge above Tehran.
What is the history of Darakeh?
Darakeh began as a garden village. For centuries its households worked orchards and small plots on the slope above the Darakeh River, growing walnut, fig and pomegranate on the terraces where the canyon widens. The city climbed to meet it.
As Tehran spread north toward the foot of the Alborz, the old settlement folded into the metropolis and its walled gardens gave way to lanes, guesthouses and the teahouses that now line the trail toward Tochal. Shemiranat still names the highland around it.
Where is Darakeh?
Darakeh fills a narrow valley at the northern edge of Tehran, cut by the Darakeh River as it drops off the Alborz slopes below Tochal, with Evin downhill to the south. The ground climbs steeply.
More areas in Tehran
Updated July 2026