Iran: Tehran, Esfahan & Shiraz - The Itinerary

When I mentioned that I was going on a 7-day trip to Iran covering Tehran, Esfahan and Shiraz, most responded with a question, “Why Iran??” My answer was simply, “Why not?” I have always loved Esfahan, and the more I read about Shiraz, the more I fell in love with it too.

I wouldn't lie though, I did make the booking with some reservation.

Initiating the Itinerary

Prior to that, I must mention that since Iran is officially under a sanction of some sort (well, you can read all about it in the newspapers), so credit card transactions using Visa, Mastercard, AMEX and the likes are a no go. You thus can’t really make an online booking for ground arrangements, i.e. hotels and transportations, and make the payments online, unlike for trips to most other countries. Everything is done using cash. For that reason, I contacted a local travel agency in Iran to arrange for accommodation, out-of-town tours and domestic flight as well as for the overnight train ride from Tehran to Esfahan. I usually tend to manage all my travel arrangements online myself, more so because I tend to travel alone, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt knowing or having a local contact person, just in case...

So anyways... after doing some reading on places to visit and discussing a bit with my travel agent, my itinerary for Iran looked a bit like this:

	Day 1 - Tehran + Arrive in Tehran in the afternoon + Imam Khomeini Square, Golestan Palace, Tehran Bazaar, Dinner at a traditional restaurant + Hotel: Atlas Hotel
	Day 2 - Tehran + Full-day private tour - National Museum, Glass & Ceramic Museum, Carpet Museum, Lunch at traditional restaurant, Niavaran Palace Complex  + Depart Tehran by overnight train for Esfahan in the evening
	Day 3 - Esfahan + Arrive in Esfahan in the morning + Bridges of Esfahan, Imam Square + Hotel: Safir Hotel
	Day 4 - Esfahan/ Shiraz + Hasht Behesht, Chehelsotoon Museum, Esfahan Bazaar, Masjid Sheikh Lotf Allah, Imam Square + Depart for Esfahan Airport for Iran Air flight to Shiraz in the evening + Hotel: Eram Hotel
	Day 5 - Shiraz + Half-day private tour to Naqsh-i Rustam & Persepolis + Vakil Bazaar + Hotel: Eram Hotel
	Day 6 - Shiraz + Bazaars of Shiraz, Naranjestan Museum, Masjid al Mulk, Masjid Vakil, Vakil Bazaar + Hotel: Eram Hotel
	Day 7  - Shiraz + Bazaars of Shiraz + Depart for Shiraz Airport for the flight out of Iran in the afternoon

So with just about 10 days of planning, and doing some booking via emails going back and forth, I was set and ready to go on a trip which eventually turned out to be very memorable in more ways than one. 😉

This is my Iran travelogue, which I shall call "A Tale of Three Cities".

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Further Information I used Iran Travelling Center for the ground arrangement as well as domestic transportation including a flight within Iran for this trip. My contact person was Parisa, who's very diligent and prompt in responding to my endless queries and in managing my bookings all via emails. I'm very happy to recommend her and the company should anyone be interested to engage their services. The hotels I stayed at are classified as 3*, 4* & 3* respectively but I should warn that this classification is not by international standards. They are nevertheless of acceptable standards and I certainly would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone travelling to any of these three Iranian cities. For other blog entries on Iran, click here.

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