ARDABIL 

Once difficult to reach by tourists because of being 270 km away Tabriz on the way to Astara and the Caspian from eastern Azarbayijan, nowadays Ardabil is the capital of Ardabil Province. It is 588 km to the northwest of Tehran. And in contrary to what the foreign visitors might have read in publications available abroad, here in Iran this old town can be reached both by road and air. It is located in an altitude of 1,300 m above sea level and is 210 km northwest of Bandar-e Anzali and 70 km from Astara on a good asphalt road, then a twisting scenic mountain road.
Ardabil is best known as the birthplace of Shaykh Safi ad-Din (1251 - 1334) from whom the Safavid dynasty was descended. Shaykh Safi was the founder of a sufi order and monastery in Ardabil, the center of their theocratic community.
Ismail, a descendent of him and who was later crowned as the Shah of  Persia in Tabriz (1501), was a member of this order, and it is noteworthy that it was during the latter's reign that the majority of Persians were converted to Shi'ah Islam.

The most important places to visit In Ardabil are as following:

Neior Lake, Shoorabil Lake, marchlands of Ganjgah, Nooshar and Shoorhul, water fall Goorgoor on Sabalan, hot water springs in Sar-Ain,Shaykh Safi Tomb, old bridges of Qara Sou, Eidi Gouz and Guilandeh, the Old Bazaar complex, Stone Cave of Dakhmeh Sangi, and the tower of Shater Gunbadi.

Shaykh Safi Tomb

Collection of Sheikh Saffieddin Ardebili's Mausoleum includes an architecture of different periods of Iran. Being a unique religious building, it is considered one of the most fabulous monuments in this town. Originally it was the residence of Sheikh Safi. There are two domes one above Sheikh Safi's tomb and the other over Shah Essmaiel Safavids's tomb. Buried in the tombs of the king and his princes, there are some wooden boxes, which are adorned and artistically carved. Shah Abbas (I) Safavid presented some copies of valuable hand-written books as gifts to the graveyard library, but a Russian warlord called Passkowich in 1828 plundered the library.