Iran

Meathlass

Hoping to go to Iran around Christmas time for about 3 weeks. Has anyone been there recently? Any advice on independent versus organised? I usually go on my own and don't like organised trips but because of the time constraints (damn job!!) this time I'm leaning towards maybe a week long organised trip with space then for me to do my own thing afterwards. I also think it might be easier to get a handle on the culture with a guide.

Of course these trips are very expensive so that's putting me off that option. Also is Christmas a good time to go in terms of climate? I don't want to clash with Ramadan so if I don't go at Christmas it'll be after that.

Any suggestions?

!!!

I would recommend you go to lonelyplanet.com forums to find more information

(Jealous by the way, I'm gonna make it there at some point).

blorg

Go independent, it is a cheap country and you can probably hire a guide/driver there for a fraction of what you would pay booking it from outside.

You will have plenty of opportunity for interaction with people even without a guide, the people are the friendliest in the world and very interested to talk with foreigners at any opportunity. Invitations to tea, dinner, even a bed for the night are likely, just walking down the street (this is more common however outside the big tourist centres, and we were a couple- couple or female will tend to get more invitations than solo/group of male travellers.) In our experience these offers were all 100% genuine and we had great experiences with the locals.

Also sign up for CouchSurfing if you want to meet locals, plenty of Iranians on that.

We were there October-December but heading north-south so by December we were in the south which is warm, in the middle/north it will be pretty cold but not so much that you should be put off. In November it was getting down to -10C at night in the desert between Esfahan and Yazd but daytime temps were very pleasant, in the teens.

Meathlass

Thanks for the replies.

Blorg, I'd looked into the couch surfing thing but I'm renting at the moment and don't think it'd be feasible for someone to stay. I don't know if couchsurfers expect their own room/bed etc. It's something I'd love to do though. A lot of the Iranians would only accept someone who had references so me not having the ability to reciprocate on the site is a bit of a problem.

Is it easy enough to travel round on public transport? I don't speak Farsi either.

Meathlass

!!! wrote: »

I would recommend you go to lonelyplanet.com forums to find more information

(Jealous by the way, I'm gonna make it there at some point).

Thanks, I use Thorn Tree a lot and find it great. Just wondering about things from an Irish perspective.

JoseJones

Meathlass wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

Blorg, I'd looked into the couch surfing thing but I'm renting at the moment and don't think it'd be feasible for someone to stay. I don't know if couchsurfers expect their own room/bed etc. It's something I'd love to do though. A lot of the Iranians would only accept someone who had references so me not having the ability to reciprocate on the site is a bit of a problem.

Is it easy enough to travel round on public transport? I don't speak Farsi either.

You don't have to host Couchsurfers, you can meet up with people to show them around or have a drink or whatever even if you can't offer a place to stay. I have Couchsurfed on couches, spare mattresses on the floor, a spare bedroom and also slept on camp beds in shared bedrooms so people are just grateful to have a place to stay and won't be worried whether its a couch or whatever.

I have never been to Iran but I have met Iranian Couchsurfers and they were really nice, so definitely join up before you go. You can build up references by meeting up with people and having a drink or showing them around. Couchsurfing will really enhance your trip so so much. Enjoy!

Meathlass

JoseJones wrote: »

You don't have to host Couchsurfers, you can meet up with people to show them around or have a drink or whatever even if you can't offer a place to stay. I have Couchsurfed on couches, spare mattresses on the floor, a spare bedroom and also slept on camp beds in shared bedrooms so people are just grateful to have a place to stay and won't be worried whether its a couch or whatever.

I have never been to Iran but I have met Iranian Couchsurfers and they were really nice, so definitely join up before you go. You can build up references by meeting up with people and having a drink or showing them around. Couchsurfing will really enhance your trip so so much. Enjoy!

That's great info thanks, JoseJones. I'd love to meet up with tourists here and drive them somewhere for the day or bring them out to some of my favourite local places. I could probably also have people staying in the spare sitting room the odd time too. What website did you use for the couchsurfing to register on?

JoseJones

www.couchsurfing.org

You set up your profile page, sort of like a facebook profile but you write a bit more info about yourself. This makes it really handy when choosing people to host or surf with so you can read a little bit about them before you decide. Also, there may be a group set up where other couchsurfers from your town host events and stuff every now and again which is also a great way of meeting people. I used that a lot when I moved to Berlin for a while. Also, join the groups for some cities in Iran and see what is going on there.

Edit:

I'd love to meet up with tourists here and drive them somewhere for the day or bring them out to some of my favourite local places.

That's really the best thing about couchsurfing I found, meeting local people who know the best local spots and you can hang around and go out with their friends too so you are never like a stranger in a new place.

Gaz

While you will get by with no Farsi, you should make the effort to learn a bit, they really appreciate that ... I butched the language with a taxi man and he was so impressed he spent 20mins teaching me new words. The pimsleur course is fairly good ( I still remember a few sentences !)

3 weeks is plenty to do it on your own, I only had 3 weeks and I travelled by train from London. Internal flights are so cheap, it makes it very easy to get around.

Check out Bobby Sands road outside the British embassey

blorg

Gaz wrote: »

Check out Bobby Sands road outside the British embassey

They have taken the street sign down; I went looking but was very dissapointed. Possibly as well, they are not keen on photos around embassies anyway. It is still clearly marked on maps though - it's the small street at the back of the embassy parallel to Ferdowsi. The main entrance used be there; the British had to move the entrance to another side to avoid having to use "Bobby Sands Street" as their address. Across the road there is a big plaque outside the German embassy detailing in Farsi and English how horrible the Germans are. They are funny lads like that, not really into the diplomatic niceties.

Gaz

I got the below photo .... i was approached by two soldiers when I took out my camera but when I said I was Irish and just wanted a photo of the sign, they smiled and walked away

Meathlass

I love the Bobby Sands connection - a bit surreal!

Last question - what airlines/routes are the best to take?

steve-o

Meathlass wrote: »

I don't want to clash with Ramadan so if I don't go at Christmas it'll be after that.

Ramadan is in currently in summer (in August this year), so no danger of that!

blorg

Meathlass wrote: »

I love the Bobby Sands connection - a bit surreal!

Last question - what airlines/routes are the best to take?

I got the ferry from Rosslare to Cherbourg and cycled the rest of the way In the event that isn't your cup of tea, I would highly recommend Istanbul for a stop-over. If you don't want a stop-over, it really doesn't make any difference, whatever gets you there cheapest/fastest/at a civilised hour.

Highlights (for me) would be Esfahan and Yazd, and the road between them which skirts the deserts. Camel meat is very very tasty. Relatively speaking, Tehran is not very interesting (although I met great Iranian people there), although worth a day/night just to see the size, the traffic, the pollution, and how people live in the capital. One of the most eerie things is how a city of 13 million just shuts down completely at nightfall; there is literally nothing to do after dark and everyone goes home. Getting a lift home with an Iranian friend at 11pm into the centre, there is just nothing but deserted streets.

Meathlass

blorg wrote: »

I got the ferry from Rosslare to Cherbourg and cycled the rest of the way

:eek::eek: Wow, that's amazing. Last time I got on a bike one of the pedals came off 1 mile from home - was a long, if entertaining cycle back!

Istanbul is somewhere that I'll definitely go to as part of a wider trip to Turkey sometime.

That's interesting info about Tehran at night - I spent time in Cairo and the city centre is just as crazy at 11pm as at 11am.

cousin_borat

Im in Iran at the moment. 1 week into a 3 week trip. while i can't say about the winter Iranian people in general are great hosts and if you're anyway into your history its incredible.

so far Shiraz (Persopolis), Yazd, Isfahan and in kashan today on way to Tehran.

planning to climb mount Damavand before heading along Asian to tabriz.

all in all want recommend place highly enough.

ps got turned down for visa through Dublin consul and replied through Iranians.com collecting in Dubai.

Meathlass

cousin_borat wrote: »

Im in Iran at the moment. 1 week into a 3 week trip. while i can't say about the winter Iranian people in general are great hosts and if you're anyway into your history its incredible.

so far Shiraz (Persopolis), Yazd, Isfahan and in kashan today on way to Tehran.

planning to climb mount Damavand before heading along Asian to tabriz.

all in all want recommend place highly enough.

ps got turned down for visa through Dublin consul and replied through Iranians.com collecting in Dubai.

That's great info thanks. Bit worried about visa though, don't fancy having to make a stopover to collect it. I might drop you a pm when you get back if you don't mind?

blorg

Don't worry about the visa, just apply well in advance. You will either get it or you won't; if you don't you can think about alternatives. I applied in Dublin with the pre-approval number from iranianvisa.com and it still took five weeks. It is a bit random. In my case I don't think the pre-approval number made any difference although embassy staff said I should have had it next day. Girlfriend got it in two hours on the road in Trabzon (Northern Turkey.)

Similarly I was refused an extension and told to leave the country immediately in Tehran- went to Esfahan and got another 30 days. Depends on the mood of who you get.

Meathlass

I'm having huge problems finding the Iranian embassy online. Their website address www.iranembassy.ie isn't working. I know I can just ring them but would like to know what questions I need to ask first. Anyone got through to their embassy recently?

blorg

I am not sure they have much useful information online anyway. What do you want to know? They take visa applications Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the morning IIRC.

Meathlass

blorg wrote: »

I am not sure they have much useful information online anyway. What do you want to know? They take visa applications Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the morning IIRC.

Thanks for that. Just finding it difficult to get any visa info. I'm probably going to get a pre-approval number from iranianvisa.com but just wondering if there's any paperwork I have to give embassy. I don't live in Dublin so will have to take a day off to do it so even that info on what days they take applications is great.

ro95

iran is going through some tough stuff at moment!

token101

Iran looks class!! Would travel insurance be invalid if there's warnings against all travel?

Meathlass

I paid about €250 for travel insurance for the 3 weeks but most travellers I met hadn't bothered about it. Pm me if you want the name of the company and I will try and dig it out.

My understanding is that most travel insurance policies will cover you for non-'terrorist' related incidents but if you're in a traffic accident (the most probable incident) you'd be covered.

It's very difficult to get the right info off the customer service personnel, you really need to talk to someone senior and get everything in writing.

On the issue of the currency devaluation my heart goes out to the Iranians. There does seem to be some social unrest (nothing to worry holiday makers though); there were protests outside the Grand Bazaar in Tehran Friday 2 weeks ago. A silver lining though means this is an excellent time to go to Iran as your euro will stretch even further. 1 year ago €1 = 22,000 rials , now it's worth 46,000 rials.

smurfjed

On the issue of the currency devaluation my heart goes out to the Iranians.

Probably the nicest people that you will ever meet in this part of the world, I remember having a surreal conversation in the control tower of Shiraz airport about why Roy Keane was sent home before the world cup

It appears that the smuggling business from Dubai has declined dramatically as the buyers can no longer afford the products.

smurfjed