Illustration Destinations
Destinations
Slow, opinionated guides to cities and regions across the Middle East and North Africa — including the ones most guidebooks skip.
Independent · Ad-free · Since 2026
The garden gate to the Middle East & North Africa.
Bostan (بستان) means garden in Persian. This is a slow, honest guide to the region's cities, cultures and kitchens — written for curious travellers, with no commissions to chase and nothing to sell.
The Bostan pledge: every guide here is based on published sources we name, photos are credited to their photographers or marked as illustrations, and nothing on this site is paid placement. If we think a place is overrated, we'll say so.
Illustration 
Illustration Culture
Culture
Food, hospitality, etiquette, language and history. What a place actually means, beyond the postcard.
Illustration Practical
Practical
Visas, safety, best seasons, what to wear, what things cost. Honest answers to the questions people are afraid to ask.
Illustration Stories
Stories
Tea houses, family lunches, wrong turns and long conversations. Travel as it is actually experienced.
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