Before you take a trip to Iran, you need to obtain some important travel advices to get more prepared to make a trip to Iran. Destination Iran Travel tips are always helpful advices before you get prepared to Travel to Iran. No matter you travel on your own or you take a tour to Iran, you will find the following advice tips helpful to add to your trip quality.
Tourists have asked me several typical questions about vital things during my career as a tour guide. They are some of the most important issues helping you travel more comfortably and peacefully to Iran. Here is a list of such questions that will be updated as more typical questions are posed by you. Iran Travel Tips: |
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In fact, cleanliness is part of
the Iranians? belief and it is
evidently observed everywhere both
in the public and in the private.
There have been overwhelming
campaigns, like vaccinations and
trainings, to eliminate many
diseases used to exist in remote
settlements. It has been a success
and today you see clean streets,
restaurants, hotels, shops,
supermarkets, parks, etc.
Those who have been to Iran have
felt spoiled by the variety of high
quality stews and kebabs among many
other dishes. There are restaurants
of various kinds. You will find a
lot of herbs and spices, but Iranian
dishes are not as hot and spicy as
the Indian ones. A moderate amount
of them is added to food just to
give them different tastes. As there
are not genetically manipulated
vegetables and fruits in Iran, they
taste the same old natural tastes
everybody appreciates them. The meat
usually served in the restaurants is
chicken, veal, fish and lamb. Of
course, you may find turkey, quail
and shrimp too, but no pork, snake,
frog, dog or other kinds. They are
prohibited to be taken in Islam and
this is observed everywhere. The
vegetarians can order raw or cooked
vegetables in the hotels as well as
restaurants. It is also recommended
to let your tour guide know about it
beforehand so that he/she can
arrange it for you, because in some
restaurants people need to be
already informed. That is because it
is not so popular in Iran to be a
vegetarian. Just feel free to tell
your guides about it.
You can buy Any kinds of soft
non-alcoholic drinks. There are
Iranian made drinks as well as
international brands served
everywhere. People drink tap water.
It is filtrated and refined before
supplied to them, but for the
newcomers traveling to Iran, I do
not recommend it. Instead, you?d
better take Iranian bottled water
prepared according to the
international standards for both
domestic and export uses.
The roads are asphalted and the
maintenance is regularly done. There
are highways in many routes and
separate lanes to and from cities to
safeguard transportations. As a
matter of fact, contrary to many
tourists' expectations, roads are of
very good quality.
Usually there are not short
distances between the major
destinations compared to most of the
distances between the European
cities or towns. Instead, you can
see a lot of landscape, meet the
people in the intact rural areas and
experience the real life situations
in addition to many other
opportunities you will not find
inside cities. For instance, Iranian
guides can take possible
opportunities to arrange picnic
meals for you. Iranians are picnic
lovers and take every opportunity to
arrange for it.
Women wear non-transparent, loose
garments covering all their bodies
except for the hands and face. Color
is a free choice, but red, orange,
pink or similar colors are not put
on during national or private sad
occasions. Black is not a must.
Chador is not a must either, but
when it comes to visit a holy
mausoleum and you have the
opportunity to experience wearing a
chador for a few minutes, do not
skip the opportunity to feel the
atmosphere. Men put on
non-transparent garments too. They
may wear short-sleeve shirts or
T-shirts (unlike women), but not
shorts in the public. The choice of
color is the same for men as well.
Due to the heat of the Sun and in
order to protect your skin, I would
not recommend wearing short sleeve
shirts. If you do, do not forget to
put on some Sun block cream on your
skin. But, it is your choice!
Usually the majority of tourists
visit Iran during two periods of
time: 1) from the beginning of March
to the end of May, and 2) from the
beginning of September to the end of
November. A couple of weeks before
or after each New Year, there is
another wonderful choice to visit
Iran. Also, the very best time to
visit the south of Iran (like
Persian Gulf islands and shorelines)
is during January and February. The
story is different for the lovers of
nature who like trekking or skiing.
They find an extraordinary variety
in Iran four seasons a year.
The formula to set your time is
very simple: GMT + 3.5 (GMT + 4.5
from March 20 to September 21).
220 volts AC, 50Hz. Plugs are of
the round two-pin type. If you have
110 volts appliance to use on your
trip, like shaving machine, hair
drier, etc, it is recommended to
take a 110-to-220 plug with you
while traveling. Of course, you can
find it in Iran too, but it can be a
waste of time in some situations.
IDD service is available. Country
code is 98. Outgoing international
code is 00. In case you need to make
a short distance call in the street,
the telephone booths are yellow and
marked in English. There are also
phone cards for domestic as well as
international calls available.
It is GSM 900 network. In other
words, if you have a mobile phone
from any part of the world, it will
not work in Iran unless your phone
company has made a contract with
Iranian Telecommunication Company
(ITC). It is a service to be used
inside Iran to make short as well as
long distance calls.
Yes, you can find fax facilities
in most of the hotels as well as at
main post offices in Iran.
Yes, there are a growing number
of Internet users in Iran. So,
almost all the major hotels provide
their guests with Internet
facilities and the others are being
equipped for the same purpose. Also,
many Internet cafes are already
opened to the public and many other
ones are going to be opened due to
the increasing need of the people.
Airmail to Europe as well as
Canada and the United States can
take around two weeks.
1) Narcotics and laxatives, 2)
Explosives, radioactive and
inflammable materials or other
dangerous materials, 3) Items
against Islamic moralities, 4) Live
animals except for honey bees,
leeches, silkworms, parasites and
bug-busting animals recognized by
the institutes, 5) Goods forbidden
to enter the destination country, 6)
Items that might cause a danger for
post company?s personnel or might
hurt the other postal items or
equipment, and 7) Private documents
corresponded between parties other
than the sender or the receiver or
any of their family members.
Yes. If post cards are made up of
hard paper or cardboard without any
raised parts and both sender and
receiver?s names and addresses are
written on the back of the cards, it
will be possible.
Yes, there are several dailies in
English. Most of the times, you can
find one in the lobby of the major
hotels.
It is called Iranian Rial (IR).
Notes are in denominations of IR
20,000, 10,000, 5000, 2000, 1000,
500, 200 and 100. Coins are in
denominations of IR 500, 250, 100,
50, 20, 10 and 5. You may come
across the word Toman there. 10 IR =
1 Toman. Everyone is using this word
instead of Rials except for some
special cases. The rate of exchange
goes through very little
fluctuations everyday, but you can
exchange one US dollar for
approximately 8800 Rials.
Not exactly. There are not any
official services for the
internationally known credit cards
in Iran. Some Iranian private banks
are trying to arrange services for
the international credit cards these
days. Also, some smart businessmen
can accept credit cards. In some
particular shops you can purchase
some items like carpets,
handicrafts, jewels, etc by credit
cards like in some major hotels or
some other shops outside hotels.
Generally, it is recommended to take
some cash with you while traveling
in Iran.
Of course, it is. This doesn?t
mean that you don?t have to be
careful with the cash you have on
you.
Fortunately, the price for the
majority of the items that tourists
are looking for are relatively low.
Items like high quality books,
souvenirs, meals, foodstuff and
transportation are very tempting
because of their relatively high
quality yet low prices.
Alcoholic beverages, narcotics,
guns and ammunition, all
horticultural and agricultural goods
including seeds and soil; aerial
photo cameras, transmitter receiver
apparatus, pornography, most films,
cassettes, CDs and videos and any
kind of fashion magazine. Of course,
hunters who are visiting Iran on
hunting tours can get necessary
permits for carrying their guns and
ammunition via their travel agents
beforehand.
Antiques and large amount of
gold, silver and jewelry. By
definition, antiques are the objects
older than 100 years.
Iranian working days are from
Saturday to Thursday and Fridays are
the National off days. On Thursdays,
some companies are totally off and
some are working only half day.
Yes. It is customary to tip
porters, servants and janitors in
hotels, porters in the airports,
waiters or waitresses in
restaurants, drivers giving services
during tours as well as guides. |