Problem Statement: Much of tourism research in Iran explains heritage visitation mainly through satisfaction, destination image, or the physical characteristics of place. At the same time, “phenomenology” is often used without lived data or a clear methodological basis. As a result, the links among body, memory, interaction, and interpretation in the experience of place remain insufficiently explained.

Objective: By distinguishing between “cultural tourism” as a tourism product and “tourism of culture” as a relational engagement with the cultural world, this study develops a framework for analyzing place experience in Iran’s historical settings.

Method: The article adopts a theoretical-critical design based on theoretical synthesis. More than thirty foundational and scholarly sources were reviewed from phenomenology of perception, place theory, cultural memory, performance studies, and tourism experience. Sources were selected according to their relevance to the mechanisms of experience, bibliographic traceability, and ability to connect individual experience with wider cultural structures. Analysis involved four stages: conceptual examination, constant comparison, analysis of contradictory cases, and formulation of relationships among concepts.

Findings: Place experience is not a linear sequence, but a cyclical process shaped by feedback among five mechanisms: sensory-motor attention, activation of cultural memory, shared meaning-making through interaction, symbolic interpretation, and self-reflection. Sensory features initiate experience but do not create meaning independently. Meaning emerges through prior knowledge, guide narratives, residents’ actions, social interaction, and the tourist’s social and cultural position.