Nowshahr

For other places with the same name, see Nowshahr (disambiguation).

Nowshahr Persian: نوشهر‎‎
city
Nowshahr
Coordinates:
Country	Iran
Province	Mazandaran
County	Nowshahr
Bakhsh	Central
Population (2010)
• Total	123,167
Time zone	IRST (UTC+3:30)
• Summer (DST)	IRDT (UTC+4:30)
Website	http://noshahr.gov.ir

Nowshahr (Persian: نوشهر‎‎; also Romanized as Now Shahr, Noushahr, Noshahr, and Nau Shahr; also known as Bandar-e Noshahr) is a port city in and the capital of Noshahr County, Mazandaran Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 40,578, in 11,550 families.

Climate and Tourism

It is known for its humid climate and immense natural beauty, and is therefore an attractive destination for domestic tourism. Nice hotels and private villas accommodate hundreds of thousand tourists every year. Natural parks, green mountains and caspian sea with its great water for swimming all and all located within a few kilometers around Noshahr and most of the other cities in northern Iran. During the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi Noshahr was unofficially known as the second capital or the summer capital of Iran because it was where Shah and most high-level government officials lived and worked during Summers.

Culture and Industry

Sunset in Noshahr

Noshahr Airport, previously an army airbase and currently a civilian-only airport is located on the western part of the city. The city is also home to Imam Khomeini University for Naval Sciences, some branches and campuses of Azad University of Noshahr and Chaloos, and Royan Institute of Higher Education. The Dual-use port of Noshahr was built by a Dutch contracting firm in late 1920s and is currently one of the most important ports of Iran in the Caspian Sea. The city of Chaloos and its associated towns and villages were part of the Noshahr township prior to 1996 after which they formed the new township of Chaloos by legislation from the national parliament. The city has been slow to industrialize due to environmental considerations and having an already vibrant economy based on Tourism, Ship transport and Agriculture, nevertheless there are local Food processing, Timber Treatment and Steel industries. Recently, a trailer assembly plant has opened in cooperation with the MAZ of Belarus.

Sports and Leisure

Noshahr is home to privately owned Shamushack Noshahr F.C. who currently play in the Azadegan League.

Notable people

• Pooran Farrokhzad (b. 1933) - poet
• Mohammad Rouyanian (b. 1960) - member of IRGC
• Mohsen Ashouri (b. 1965) - football player
• Reza Sheykholeslam (b. 1967) - politician
• Kianoush Rahmati (b. 1978) - football player
• Rahman Ahmadi (b. 1980) - football player
• Hassan Rangraz (b. 1980) - wrestler
• Bahman Tahmasebi (b. 1980) - football player
• Esmaeil Bale (b. 1985) - football player
• Meysam Hosseini (b. 1987) - football player
• Ardavan Farhadi (b. 1990) - Scientist