Tehran is a cosmopolitan city, with great museums, parks, restaurants, warm friendly people and the chance to watch the daily life of Tehranis, it deserves at least a few days of your Iranian itinerary.The city can be roughly divided into two different parts - north and south. North is more prosperious, modern, cosmopolitan and expensive while south (also called downtown) is less attractive but also cheaper.At the time of the Zand dynasty, it was a little town that was considerable from a armed point of view. The first of the Qajar kings, Agha Mohammed Khan, named Tehran as the country's capital in 1778. Nonetheless, the capital's growth started at the time of a new Qajar monarch, Fath-Ali Shah. The castle, which Agha Mohammed Khan had built, was developed to contain the new majestic buildings. At the same time, the city's populace was redoubled. Through the increasing significance of the city, soon gates, squares and mosques were built and it was at the time of Nassereddin Shah that the city's master sketch was prepared and contemporary streets were formed. Later, huge central squares like Toopkhaneh (now Imam Khomeini) square and quite a few military buildings were constructed. Through the decline of the Qajar dynasty, Tehran soon took the shape of a modern city. The structure of large government buildings, new streets, recreation centers, urban service organizations, and academic and methodical centers were started, even as most of the old gates and buildings were destroyed and the city's old architectural fabric replaced by a contemporary one.Tehran has also earned itself the rather unenviable reputation as a smog-filled, traffic-clogged and featureless sprawl of concrete housing bursting at the seams with 14 million residents. But, guided by the right guides, you can find an endless number of nice and cosy places in and around the city. Tehran is also a city of parks and possesses more than 800 well-kept parks. The city is nearly a mile high and as a result is extremely temperate compared to other cities in the middle east. Summer temperatures are in the 32 Celsius range or about 90-95 Farenheit. The air tends to be very dry.Tehran is enjoyable, it derives its creativity from its dry climate, constantly cool in the evening, the nearness of the mountains, its many parks and gardens where flowers blossom all through the year, the alleys of trees in the avenues or even smaller streets, the water which runs down from the upper city along deep and wide gutters which look like small rivers during spring. The Alborz range on the north of Tehran, which hosts the maximum peak in the country throughout winter, provides a very appropriate climate for ski lovers. In winter, the mountain hotels and ski-clubs at Shemshak, and Dizine are full several days a week. Some specialist skiers consider the snow value in northern Tehran to be one of the most excellent in the world. http://wikitravel.org/en/Tehran