With its relatively short history, ugly masks of concrete and smog, and manic streets flowing hot with machines, many travellers and no small number of Tehran)is will tell you there’s no reason to hang around in the capital. But to take their advice is to miss out. For while Esfahan or Persepolis could mount a convincing case for being the soul of Iran, Tehran is indisputably its big, loud, chaotic, dynamic and ugly beating heart. This tightly packed city of about 15 million is where change happens first. Politically and socially it’s Iran’s cutting edge, and from the relatively bold fashion statements of its youth to the range of restaurants, cafés and modern art galleries, as a visitor you can’t help but notice.