Some traveling tips on Iran

You're going to travel to ancient Persia and aren't quite sure what to expect… well, with my series of tips for traveling to Iran, I guarantee you'll be well prepared

IS IRAN SAFE?

Iran is a very safe country. No, it isn't full of “terrorists” or “ayatollahs” who are going to kidnap you or sentence you to death… That said, let's start clarifying a few things.

Alcohol and Drugs

My first piece of advice for traveling to Iran: don't go.

They are strictly prohibited, so if you decide to buy or use these substances, you do so at your own risk.

That doesn't mean they don't drink (especially alcohol), and at any private party, Iranians will pull out a little bottle of something for you… but it's a whole different story when it comes to trying to buy it on your own as a foreigner—I wouldn't trust any Iranian who offered me any of this on the street.

Couchsurfing

A popular way to find a place to stay in Iran is through couchsurfing.

In my opinion, it’s the country in the world where it works best. On the other hand, a girl who was traveling alone and using Couchsurfing told me that ALL of her male hosts had made indecent proposals to her—it’s up to each person to decide how much risk they’re willing to take…

CORTESIA

When you're introduced to a woman, don't shake her hand unless she makes the first move and offers her hand to you... and, obviously, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT going over to give her two kisses.

You must take off your shoes before entering homes. If you look closely, you'll see that in homes and hotels there are slippers for general use around the house and others specifically for the bathroom. DO NOT use the bathroom slippers to walk around the house.

You may have heard of the taarof: It’s a social convention whereby someone offers you something—repeatedly—to show you affection, courtesy, or respect. You, on the other hand, politely decline while showing the same respect. The funniest example is when a taxi driver insists on not charging you. Obviously, YOU HAVE TO PAY HIM, but you have to go through the little charade where you insist on paying him and he keeps refusing your payment. After a minute or so of polite back-and-forth, you pay him and that’s that.

TIPS FOR TRAVELING TO IRAN: PRACTICAL INFORMATION

1. Toilet paper ➡️ Local restaurants and guesthouses don't have any, so always keep some on hand

2. On local buses (but not on minibuses), there is gender segregation: women board through the middle door and sit in the back; men board through the front door and sit in the front.

When it's time to pay, you can pay either the driver or a “ticket collector” who walks through the bus.

3.- Guesthouses: I'm not entirely sure about this. I got the impression that there are two categories of rooms: “suites” (with a private bathroom) and “standard rooms” with a shared bathroom. Tourists are automatically offered the suite, and you have to explicitly ask for the other type if that's what you want.

As an example, here is the price difference between these types of rooms in Tabriz and Zanjan (single rooms in modest guesthouses)

Tabriz

Suite : 700.000 IRR

Shared bathroom: 400,000 IRR

Zanjan

Suite : 400.000 IRR

Shared bathroom: 250,000 IRR

Exchanging Currency

For those who don't know: In Iran, you CANNOT use your credit card at ATMs or anywhere else. In emergencies or when making an expensive purchase, there are some sellers (carpet wholesalers, appliance dealers, etc.) who have a branch in Dubai or a similar nearby country, and it seems that—in some way I'm not familiar with—they do accept credit card payments.

The exchange rate cambio It's VERY different if you want to buy or sell rials. As of the date of this post:

Buy rials ➡️ 1 EUR/47,000 IRR

Sell rials ➡️ official exchange rate ➡️ 40,000 IRR/1 EUR

Where can I exchange currency?

This is undoubtedly one of the most useful tips for traveling to Iran: Where can I get money? In every major city, there are currency exchange offices everywhere; hotels can also exchange money for you, but they’ll give you a worse exchange rate (for example, 1 EUR/46,000 IRR).

I advise against exchanging money outside of an exchange office—that is, with the money changers you see sitting on the streets. Sure, they’ll offer you a better rate, right? Nobody gives you something for nothing. In Tehran, some guys were given counterfeit bills—something that’s easy to do, considering the huge wad of bills they give you when you exchange even the smallest amount.

Learn the numbers in Persian language

Iran obviously has a different alphabet than ours, and that includes the numbers. I recommend memorizing how they're written (and pronounced) because you'll save time and be less likely to get ripped off.

The first thing you need to keep in mind is the difference between the rial and the toman. The rial is the official currency, and the toman is one-thousandth of a rial, but it is NOT a separate currency.

1 Toman = 1000 riales

Often, when prices are very high, Iranians express the price in “toman” so that it doesn’t seem so high—or so there aren’t so many zeros. If in doubt, insist that they tell you the price in rials, and to be on the safe side—I did this all the time with taxi drivers—I kept a small piece of paper and a pen handy so they could write it down.

Iranians are really nice, but they can be quite crafty and take advantage of tourists’ ignorance (and shyness) to charge exorbitant prices, exploiting the fact that you get confused by all the zeros and all the rials and “tomanes.”

TRANSPORTATION IN IRAN

For your information:

The exchange rate as of the date of this post was 1 € : 40,384 IRR

The ✔️ symbol means that the price is the real one—the one Iranians pay. Whenever I mark it this way, it’s verified because I’ve seen it with my own eyes (I’m always on the lookout to see how much locals pay for everything).

TAXI FROM TEJERAN AIRPORT TO CITY CENTRE : 750000 IRR ✔️

This is the OFFICIAL price, as specified on this huge sign at the taxi stand. When you go to exchange money at the currency exchange office at the Tehran airport, many unlicensed taxi drivers will approach you to negotiate a fare. Regardless of the price—and it’s true that they’re cheaper—it’s up to each person to decide whether or not they want to take the risk of riding with them.

Official taxi drivers can also be “quirky”: be very careful, because if there are two or more of you and you’re each going to different destinations within Tehran (that is, if the driver drops one person off first and then continues on to drop off another), they’ll try to charge you an additional 420,000 IRR, which is a rip-off. In this case, it’s better to have the driver drop you off at a subway station and from there take a regular taxi (which is waaaay cheaper) or the subway.

Obviously, it's much cheaper to get to the airport from downtown. I paid 400,000 (even though it was at night), and another tourist took a shared shuttle for 600,000.

INTERCITY BUSES: LONG DISTANCE

Here's a table showing the distances, travel times, and fares for the buses I took

210 km (3 h)  ➡️ Kashan – Isfahan ➡️ 135.000 IRR

240 km (4 h) ➡️ Teheran – Kashan ➡️ 160.000 IRR

300 km (5 h) ➡️ Tabriz – Zanjan ➡️ 250.000 IRR

450 km (6 h) ➡️  Shiraz – Yadz ➡️ 150.000 IRR ✔️

500 km (7 h) ➡️ Isfahan – Shiraz ➡️ 360.000 IRR

583 km (8 h) ➡️ Shiraz – Bandar Abbas ➡️ 440.000 IRR

526 km (8 h) ➡️ Teheran – Tabriz ➡️ 426.000 IRR

620 km (9h ) ➡️ Yadz – Teheran ➡️ 290.000 IRR

One more thing. Ticket prices are also negotiable, whether you’re at a travel agency, at the ticket window at the bus station, or with the guy who approaches you outside the station to get you to choose his bus.

As you can see, I was wrong most of the time (even though I always haggle like crazy), since I didn't figure out the fair price (1 km/300 IRR) until almost the end of my trip

INTRACITY MINIBUSES

Tabriz

30 km ➡️ Tabriz – Osku ➡️ 18.000 IRR ✔️

Zanjan

37 km ➡️ Zanjan – Soltaniyeh ➡️ 20.000 IRR ✔️

SAVARI (Shared taxi)

In cases where it wasn't verified, I was ALWAYS scammed. Those were situations where you're stranded in the middle of the road and at their mercy…

One piece of advice for traveling to Iran that I learned from experience: it's cheaper to flag down a private car and have it “give you a ride” to your destination than to haggle with taxi drivers.

Tabriz

50 km + 1-hour wait ➡️ from Osku to Kandovan ➡️ 150,000 IRR per person

4 km ➡️ from Osku to Sahand ➡️ 8,000 IRR per person ✔️

NOT SHARED TAXI

Zanjan

5 km ➡️ from the highway to downtown ➡️ 50,000 IRR

Shiraz

4 km ➡️ bus station – downtown ➡️ 40,000 IRR ✔️

SUBWAY OR LOCAL BUS

Tehran Subway ➡️ 8,000 IRR

Autobus Isfahan ➡️ 10.000 IRR

TIPS FOR TRAVELING TO IRAN: BOOKING A TOUR

By “tour,” I mean an organized trip with a driver that lasts about a day, with no meals or admission tickets included.

As a general rule, filling up a car (4 people) costs between 10 and 13 euros per person.

Even though it might be a hassle, make sure you do your research on what’s worth visiting, since the guide will try to sell you packages—the more extensive, the better—to get more money out of you. For example, when planning your visit to Persepolis, you can safely skip Pasagarde, which is right on the other side of the city; there’s not much to see there, and I honestly don’t think the extra cost justifies the trip.

When you negotiate the price (remember, everything is negotiable here, everywhere), they’ll insist that you’re going with a “guide” just to charge you more. Keep in mind that these “guides” will NOT accompany you into places that charge an admission fee (which is to say, all of them) and that, rather than guides, they’re really just drivers.

Well, that's it—these are my tips for traveling to Iran.

It's a wonderful country once you get used to its quirks, and the people who aren't involved in the tourism industry are extremely kind and generous, so enjoy it!

If you liked this post or have more information to add, let me know in the comments!

If you want to know more about Iran: https://999millas.net/es/category/paises/iran/

Texto y fotos : Mike !