Problem Statement: The Safavid era has been referred to as the golden age of Caravanserais, and Shah Abbas is considered the father of Caravanserai construction in Iran. It was during this period that, due to the flourishing of trade on one hand and the strengthening of relations between Iran and Europe on the other, the construction of roads and roadside buildings experienced significant growth. Many travelers traversed the roads of Iran and described Inns. However, there is no independent research based on travelers' reports regarding Inns and roadside buildings. This is despite the fact that travel writers mention types of these buildings that are not found in the main reference books on roads and roadside buildings.
Research Objective: The main objective of this research is to identify and introduce the types of Safavid-era roadside buildings and Inns from the perspective of non-Iranian travel writers.
Research Method: To achieve the above objective, this Fundamental and Qualitative research, using a "mixed method," collected data from the documentary study of 20 travelogues from the Safavid era. The analysis of the obtained data, using a descriptive approach, led to the final results.
Conclusion: The results include 10 main types of accommodation buildings. Sabat and Langar are semi-temporary accommodations built for short rests along the way. Rabat, Khan, and Khanqah, which emerged from the evolution and metamorphosis of military buildings into educational and then accommodation buildings, are the next type, reaching their ultimate development as Karbat and Caravanserai in later periods. Within cities, there were Guesthouses similar to modern hotels, and the Shah also provided his houses to prominent guests. Accommodation bridges were created by combining small rooms above or below the bridge. Royal accommodations or Daskarehs were built as palaces combined with gardens near important cities. Accommodation villages were another Safavid innovation for serving travelers. The people of these villages provided their personal homes to travelers and entertained them with food. Religious sites were also open to non-Iranian travelers by the order of the Shah. There were temporary structures such as tents and huts that could be easily assembled, disassembled, erected quickly, and transported. Oases, trees, and springs, with the addition of a few structural components, were considered as other types of emergency accommodations.