Iran is a beautiful country in the middle east with lots of history , culture and unique cuisine which attracts lots of tourists in this country . Most of the country is semi arid desert where in the northern part near to the Caspian sea there is beautiful harcanian forest . In this country there is all together 29 UNESCO World Heritage sites . The civilisation in this area starts in 500 BC in the time of Achemanied empires , those are Zoroastrian by religion , later Arabs attack here and the Islam also come here with them .
In the recent days there is big conflict with Iran and between Israel and USA regarding Iran’s nuclear programme . Since 1971 when the Islamic revolution comes in Iran the relation has deteriorate with west . So America make lots of sanctions against IRAN and cut it from the global SWIFT system and impose oil export Ban . So no foreign card works there , lots of google apps don’t work here and Iran’s Internet is Highly censored so , you will face lots of difficulties when travel persia . People of Iran are very Hospitable and Helpful but you need to make certain pre arrangement when coming to Iran .
What you should prepare before flying to Iran ?
1 :: In the context of India there is two types of visa . First one is VISA ON ARRIVAL for Indians , For that you can only enter Iran by Air and the visa is just for 15 days . Where the Second types of visa is e visa . You have to pay according to your stay and number of entries in that country . For this types of visa you can enter iran by different modes of transport by land , ferry or Sky .
2 :: As no International card is accepted in Iran so , You must carry enough USD or EURO to travel to Iran .
After you enter Iran you have to exchange it with Iranian Rials . If you arrive in Airport don’t exchange much as they will scam you in that case and the google rate showing in internet is not perfect . Better to exchange it in any shop or currency exchange office inside city . They will give the proper rate used Inside IRAN . I lost almost 25 USD in exchanging 100 USD bill exchange . The rates are between 580000 – 600000 rial for 1 USD .
Another thing is that Rate in Tehran is the best in the country, as you go down toward south you see the Exchange rate is going down .
3 :: There is lots of scam in the Airport by the Taxi drivers . They will ask you with very high price and in my case when I leave the car they also ask extra money . (All togeather I paid him 600000 toman )
I would say either purchase a Iranian SIM card in the Airport to book Snapp (It is a app to book online taxi in Iran)or Ask any local people to book a snap to your desired location . As snapp will be much cheaper than the local taxi and the rate is fixed .
Most of the people come IRAN through Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran and it is almost 60 km from the main city . The price in oil in IRAN is very cheap so taxi ride is not expensive .
There is also metro to reach to the city by the Red line directly from the airport . But specially from the airport metro is very infrequent . Almost after every two hour there is a metro towards the city . So if you don’t know the the time it is a hassle .
otherwise you can take a taxi toward the Shahed – Bagher shahr metro station which is almost 40 km from the Imam Khomeini International Airport . price of taxi is between 2-5 USD . here the taxi price is cheap because lots of local people used this option to reach to their house . IRAN metro is wide spread and have multiple line .
From this metro station you can access all metro section by just 5000 toman . I think this is the cheapest way to reach your destination if you a solo traveller .
4 :: Getting a Iranian SIM card is not easy . Either in the airport you get the SIM card . I think that SIM card is in the name of other people . I heard that getting a sim card in proper channel takes lots more time , may be 2-3 month . for locals it can be activated within a minute .
5 :: You should know that google’s offline maps downloading is not possible without the VPN connection in IRAN . So I think better to download all the offline maps of the regions you are planning to reach Or at least the city you arrive . Otherwise you may face harsh difficulty to find your hotels or stay location . Though local taxi drivers well know the city as they very less use google maps or any navigator system .
6 :: Currency is the most confusing factor in IRAN . Tough the actual currency in IRAN is Iranian Rial but in the Bazaar , other areas they tell the price in toman . Just discard the last 0 (zero) in the currency and that is the value of Toman . First two – three days I was totally confused about the money they charge and I Give them . There are lots of zeros beside the number in currency . 1 million rial is just 1.75 USD and it is 100000 toman . This is the price they will say . For that reason all the shops used card to accept the payment .
7 :: Gas , electricity and Petrol is very cheap in IRAN . So if you can rent a car it will be very comfortable and convenient . They say that in the price of 1.5 liter mineral water you can buy 3 liter gasoline . In any hostel in Iran there is a shared kitchen . You can cook as much as you want and nobody will complain that you use too much gas . In all hostel air condition is running 24 hours , nobody cares . All the local buses are Air conditioned but price is just 5000 ($ .08 )toman in the whole routes . Among the all central Asian countries and middle eastern countries bus price is lowest here .
8 :: Google play store , YouTube , Facebook , Instagram and whats app …. all are banned in IRAN . So you must need a paid VPN to connect it all . In the paid VPN also you need to change protocol to connect any non censored country . I used Nordvpn and it is a great help for me , otherwise I would be in a great trouble . You just need to connect their customer support team by email and they will tell the solution . I will recommend you buy any paid VPN before coming to IRAN . I was trying to install the nordvpn app in another device but I was unsuccessful as Nordvpn server can not be reached and was blocked .
There is some local VPN , I don’t know the names . Most of the young people in IRAN have the VPN and they will use Instagram . It seems Instagram is very popular there .
9 :: In Iran you can see the status of the bus , train and flight online in some website like www.mrblit.com or www.safar724.com . But for booking a ticket online you need a local Iranian card or go to a travel agent and tell him which bus , flight and train you want to book . They will charge you some commission . Remind that the train is very popular in Iran so most of the trains booked full at least two weeks or one month in advance .
10 ::
All the bus no , rates in Restaurant are written in Farsi number . So learn the no from 0 – 9 in farsi for just your convenience .
11:: download google translator and download persian language before entering Persia and also download Farsi keyboard in gboard to write in Farsi . Because the other side will write in Farsi .
12 :: I used talk 360 app to call to my home as sometimes there is problem to connect VPN and without whats app you can not call for free . Rate of phone call is very affordable in talk 360 and it can call those phone which does not have internet also . Because direct call will be much expensive .
13 :: If you are travelling IRAN by road , Sometimes the Intercity buses are full at that time you can take savari taxi . This taxi are long distance Inter city taxi and charges are just the double of the normal taxi . They will wait until the taxi is full . But the speed of the taxi much higher than the buses and there is no intermediate stop except food or toilet break .
14 :: Iran is liquor free state . You will rarely find drunk people . So there is no problem by some drunk people and it is very safe . In the summer time the shops are closed between 12 pm and 4 pm . Most of the shops opened very early around 6 am and runs until 10 – 11 pm .
15 :: It is a myth that Iran is very conservative society . From the local point of view in the bigger city they don’t criticise love before marriage and rather I see local people admire love .I never seen any couple being harassed or may be passing any bad comments about them . This is my personal experience , May be others experience may differ .
16 :: Immigration process is very smooth in IRAN , they don’t ask me any question , just noted down the arrival date and don’t stamp in the passport .
17 :: From my personal experience I can say that always ask local people for help . They are eager to help you . But I rather not to ask help from police . They don’t have proper idea of the city and not a tall helpful . This is my personal experience but your experience may differ .
18 :: The only online international hotel booking platform work in iran is Hostelworld.com . where you can pay by international debit or credit card but not inside iran or with VPN in Iran . When booking a hotel or hostel from any Iranian booking website , first make sure that there is WiFi . WiFi is live saver in Iran .
19 :: Never bargain food prices in Restaurant . They will never overcharge you , seeing that you are a foreigner . This is the custom of the Iranian people and their Hospitality . At least in my experience rather I tasted lots of food for free as sample .
20 :: There is lots of myth about that western people are not safe in Iran but totally believe that it is a myth . As long as you are coming for tourism and value their culture and dress code . You are more than welcomed . I feel it is the culture of the Iranian people to taken care of their Guest . Everywhere there is exception but it can not be considered . As a Indian I was always welcomed inside the Bazaar , museum or even in the Mosque though I am not Muslim . It is very safe country . For political propaganda I don’t know but people are always welcoming to their guest .
21 :: You should know that in most of the bigger cities the train station and airport are far away from the city centre .
22 :: Modern supermarket or the Hypermarket are very less in IRAN . Either every city has old Grand Bazaar(like tehran , tabriz and Shiraz) which are like big supermarket but you have to walk a lot because specific section is dedicated for specific items . Rather small shops are present any where near to your stay .
23 :: One very good thing in all Iranian city is that , there are cold drinking water taps spread across all the cities . But it is for the normal people but who have problem in stomach , better to buy packaged drinking water .
Summary
There is lots of myth about IRAN . What the media says is not the actual position in Iran . As IRAN is under international sanction so no outside card is accepted in IRAN . So bring enough cash before coming to IRAN . Be aware of the offline Taxi driver and the money exchanger in airport . They may scam a lot in IRAN . Foods are fabulous in IRAN and don’t bargain in Restaurant . They will never ask you more price seeing that you are a foreigner . Please install a paid VPN before coming to IRAN …. without VPN you can not survive in IRAN .
