How to Travel to Iran – Traveller Story

As a starting point, use this checklist and list of advice for visiting Iran as a complete reference. Slowly, tourists are discovering that Iran is the ultimate destination, from the most welcoming people to the oldest history, magnificent architecture, the most barren deserts, green mountains, islands, and many other things.

With enough pre-planning and prior research, you can easily avoid the limitations and stresses that come with traveling to Iran. I tried to consolidate everything you need to know, hope it is useful.

1- Apply for Iran visa authorisation code

My case: I applied for my visa authorisation code online at Exotigo.com and after ۳ days I received my code, easier than I expected. if you are a citizen of US, UK and Canada, then the visa procedure is different from other nationalities.

2- Apply for Iran travel insurance

For travelling to Iran you need to have valid travel insurance. If currently, you have travel insurance, you need to check if your insurance covers Iran as a destination or not. If your current travel insurance does not cover Iran, you need to apply for Iran travel insurance from an Iran travel agency

My case: Insurance same as Iran Visa is easier than what I thought, I applied for my Iran travel insurance online and received my insurance just in one day. It was cheap around ۱۵ Euro and easy procedure.

3- Plan your Iran trip

Nasir al-Mulk Mosque Shiraz – Pink Mosque

You either want to book a multiday tour package for your whole Iran trip or you want to plan and book Iran travel services to customize easier.

The good thing about booking multiday tour package is, everything is included like visa, hotels, tour guide, transportation, domestic flights and etc, and you just need to enjoy your hassle-free trip.

However, If you want to book your Iran travel services separately, then I have a quick suggestion for you:

For those with 1-week travel duration:

Best itinerary is: 1 Day Tehran, 2 Days Isfahan, 1 Day Yazd, 2 Days Shiraz and 1 day extra to have a flexible itinerary. This one day can be allocated to one city depends on your arrival or departure timing.

For those up to 2 weeks travel duration:

Best itinerary is: 2 Days Tehran, 1 Day Kashan, 3 Days Isfahan, 2 Days Yazd, 3 Days Shiraz and some extra days to have more flexible itinerary.

For those up to 3 weeks travel duration:

Best itinerary is same as 2 weeks itinerary and you can add Kerman, Tabriz and southern islands including Qeshm and Hormoz into your itinerary as well.

For those above 3 weeks travel duration:

Best itinerary is same as 3 weeks itinerary and you can add some amazing off-beaten destinations in your plan.

My case: as I love planning everything myself so I decided to book my travel services including my flights, first night and last night hotel and some transportation between cities and some daily tour package to have less trouble and more comfort. Check out number 4 onward for more information

4- International and Iran Domestic flight booking

For my international flight to Iran, I used Turkish airline with one stopover in Istanbul. That was not really cheap but their services was amazing. I flight from Stockholm to Turkey and Turkey to Tehran, Imam Khomeini International airport.

My case: As my itinerary starts from Shiraz and ends in Tehran, So I booked my Iran domestic flight from Tehran to Shiraz at Exotigo.com It costs me around 25 Euro and they sent me flight confirmation instantly.

5- Hotel Booking

Ghasre Monshi Boutique Hotel Isfahan

Iran has so many interesting choices when it comes to accommodation. From traditional hotels, boutique hotels and hostels, ecolodges to high-end hotels as well.

My case: My preference was to experience anything that rooted in Iran culture, so my hotels were mostly boutique or traditional hotels. Just go through this iran hotel and check their prices and accommodations list.

6- Tour and experience:

I love exploring everything myself especially those exotic and unknown places. There are some unique experiences in Iran that not easily you can find anywhere else.

My case: I just wanted to make the most of my time, that is why besides my own planning for the itinerary I used some of their cheap tour and experience which was really tempting. Like Nomad tour and living in a tent and Persian Carpet workshop. Both were amazing and unforgettable.

7- Some extra tips:

There are some extra tips that you may better know to have a smooth daily routine and a better experience. Like having VPN to connect those blocked websites in Iran or how to deal with credit card issues in Iran. Check the travel blog at Exotigo.com for more useful info.