You would like to visit Iran as well and wonder what it’s like to travel in this fascinating country? Maybe you’re asking yourself if you’d survive as a vegetarian (spoiler alert – you’ll survive and you’ll even find some really tasty options) or how you can dress according to Islamic law and still be fashionable and how to navigate Ta’arof? Don't despair as we have written a blog exactly about this and many other topics and we hope you can benefit from our personal travel tips for Iran (as of May 22). Even though we are long-term cyclists/travelers, this blog is not intended just for cyclists, but for anyone interested in visiting Iran, no matter the style of travel and budget.

A little warning before we continue: You'll probably fall in love with Iran and its people and wish you'd have more time, so don't make that mistake and only calculate 7 or 10 days for Iran, the country is huge. Allow yourself at least 2-3 weeks and it still won't be enough. Trust us on this. We spent 4 months here and we haven't seen everything and it's always good to have a reason to come back, right?

In general, it makes life easier for travelers if you just fly to Tehran and start your Iran trip from there (and not with the ferry in the south like we did), because then you can easily change money, get a tourist SIM card for one month at the airport and can have a pre-paid debit card handed over right away. But even then: Traveling in Iran remains complicated and you need a lot of patience, and at the same time it will touch your heart and leave you speechless. No wonder so many travelers keep returning after their first visit. We know that we’ll definitely come back again, because this trip was just a beginning. So, let’s get started.

Entry requirements & Visa

Germans, Austrians and Swiss Citizens must apply for a visa at the embassy before traveling. With the tourist visa you can currently stay 45 days in the country (valid since March 22). We recommend to start with the visa application one month before your planned departure. Once the visa is approved, you have 3 months to enter Iran. You can pick up your visa form any embassy, it doesn’t have to be in your country i.e. you could travel over land to Turkey and pick-it up in Erzurum. Just make sure to mention this in the visa application.

We’ve heard from many travelers whose visa application got rejected and we strongly recommend you to make your visa application through an agency such as TAP Persia, then it will certainly work out and you save a lot of nerves. For our visa we have given an itinerary including hotels for the whole period of 30 days, but once you are in the country you are free to move around and choose your own route (unfortunately this doesn't apply to American, Canadian and British citizens who are only allowed to travel Iran with a tour guide for their whole stay). As of May 22, you need either a vaccination proof or a negative PCR-test to enter Iran and not both documents. There is also the option for a Visa on Arrival when flying into Iran. However, we are not sure how easily it is to extend this. It’s best to ask an Iranian travel agency or the embassy beforehand.

Visa extension

If you have applied for the visa in advance at an embassy, you can extend it twice in Iran to a total of 90 days. We were even able to extend our visa up to 120 days in Yazd, but it wasn’t a piece of cake. With the new rules you should be able to extend your visa for 2x 45 days, which is even better. The extension always takes a few days, especially the second time and you have to be persistent sometimes. Some cities are better for visa extensions than others (Yazd, Bushehr, Bandar Abbas are currently good candidates, Teheran and Isfahan not so much). Find detailed recommendations on where to extend your visa on https://caravanistan.com/visa/iran/extensions/. For the extension, you need copies of your passport and visa and also 2x passport photos per person (for women with headscarves). The cost of the visa extension is about 375'000 Rials per person.

Best time to travel to Iran & National holidays

The ideal time to travel is considered to be March to May and September to November, but in fact you can travel the country all year round and the best time to travel varies greatly depending on the region and what kind of activities you have planned. The center of the country with the tourist highlights like Isfahan, Yazd and Shiraz is ideal in spring and autumn, the Lut desert and the south coast with the islands of the Persian Gulf can be explored most pleasantly in winter and provinces like Kurdistan or Gilan are very beautiful in May / June when everything is green and full of flowers.

Please consider that the Iranians themselves love to travel extensively and especially during the New Year vacations around March 21 (Nowruz) the popular places like Hormuz, Isfahan, Kashan, Yazd, Shiraz can get very crowded and trains and hotels are fully booked for about two weeks. This is the best time to visit Tehran though, as you get to experience the capital without smog and traffic.

Traveling to Iran during Ramadan

Another thing to consider is the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan or Ramazan, which shifts by 10 or 11 days every year. During this time, one is not allowed to eat, drink or smoke for an entire month from sunrise to sunset. Non-Muslims, travelers, sick people or pregnant women are exempt from the obligation to fast. But you still shouldn’t eat or drink in the presence of fasting people.

Now, what does this mean now for tourists during Ramadan? For cyclists, it’s not such a big restriction if you are mostly out in nature and cook for yourself. But as soon as you visit a city, it becomes troublesome, because all cafes and restaurants only open after Iftar, the breaking of the fast in the evening. In April this was about 7.30 pm. You are of course allowed to eat all meals in your accommodation or even order food there, that shouldn’t be a problem. But sightseeing is just not the same when you can’t stop for a chai or experience the coffeehouse scene in the cities and have to count the hours until the evening finally comes. Sometimes we bought a sandwich and ate it in a park where other people were also eating, although we felt slightly like criminals doing that. By the way, many Iranians told us that they aren’t fasting and we saw many people drinking and eating on the streets even though it’s forbidden. Over all, we wouldn’t recommend a trip to Iran during Ramadan, as a month can feel quite long.

Communication

Besides the Indo-European language Persian (Farsi), Azeri Turkish, Kurdish, Baluchi, Turkmen and other languages are spoken in Iran. In touristic places you can often communicate in English, but as soon as you travel a bit off-the beaten track, it really helps to speak some basic Farsi and the locals will be very happy to hear you learning their language. Most signs are only in Farsi letters, for example at bus stations, but also the menus in the restaurants.  It’s also very helpful to at least know the numbers from one to ten, as without them, you won’t get far in everyday life. Luckily, helping tourists is almost a national hobby in Iran and there will always be someone who speaks some English or someone will call someone who speaks English. We strongly encourage you to learn some basic Farsi phrases when coming to Iran (or start right here with 100 necessary phrases in Farsi). We can also highly recommend the podcast of Chai and Conversation.

Cycling in Iran

In our opinion, Iran is not an ideal cycling destination, because the distances are simply too big and it makes sense to concentrate on the scenic main routes and for other routes to take the bike on the bus or train, which is also possible without any problems. With the bus, the bike is loaded in the luggage compartment and the fee for it is paid directly to the bus driver, which often costs as much as the bus ticket itself. With the train, you should certainly clarify a day in advance at the station, whether you can take the bicycle on the same train. The main roads are in good condition, but also very busy and the traffic is unfortunately really dangerous.

These were our favorite cycling routes in Iran: Along the Persian Gulf including Qeshm Island and Hormuz, the road from Bam to Mahan, the desert stage between Nodoushan and Varzaneh on the way from Yazd to Isfahan via an abandoned Caravanserai, the route from Khorramabad to Andimeshk in Lorestan, the small side roads along rice fields in Gilan and the absolute highlight for us was the route through Kurdistan from Kermanshah to Sanandaj. Our detailed route can be found on our Travelmap.

Even when cycling, you have to follow the Islamic dress code, although you probably sometimes would much rather wear shorts in the hot temperatures. Ladies can ride with a helmet and do without a headscarf or simply wear a buff under the helmet. Once you're on the road with your bike, you'll get a lot more attention than usual and cyclists can expect numerous invitations. And get ready for many, many selfies with joyful Iranians. Wild camping is allowed throughout the country and Iranians also often pitch their tent in a park or even right next to the main road. We also once camped in the middle of a public park in a city, which wasn’t a problem at all. In every village there is some small store with the most necessary things and in every bigger place there are also vegetable and fruit sellers and bakeries or falafel and kebab stands for a fast food. The food supply is usually not a problem in Iran, unless you have a longer desert stretch where you have to carry plenty of water.

Food & Drinks

Iranian cuisine isn’t very well known in Europe and even though the locals always rave about it, we didn’t enjoy it as much as we hoped, especially me as a vegetarian. The Iranians love their meat and you can even find meat in the breakfast porridge halim and also once we had a dessert with meat (!). Nevertheless, we also met quite a few vegetarian and vegan Iranians and there are also a handful of vegetarian dishes that you can eat in the restaurants, especially in the northern province of Gilan. Otherwise, kebabs are very popular throughout the country in all variations and you’re surely will get to eat a lot of rice. A detailed list of our favorite dishes can be found below.

There are some decent traditional restaurants in touristic cities, but don’t expect too many of them. The reason for that is, that the best food in Iran is to be found at home and not in the restaurants. When Iranians go out they prefer fast food and they don’t want to eat Iranian food, as they’ll have the best Iranian dishes at home anyways. So, they usually prefer fries, burgers and pizza (don’t get your hopes up with the pizza though, it comes with ketchup). Accordingly, the restaurants are also geared to this demand and often don’t have so many interesting Iranian dishes on offer and the dishes are usually also a little too bland for us (yes, we are looking forward to India). English menus are scarce and you often don’t really know what is offered at all and the nice waiter lists only 2-3 dishes and so you end up choosing the same again and again. However, each Iranian province has its own unique specialties and dishes and it’s best to make a list of dishes you’d like to try and just ask in the restaurants if they have them. This worked for us quite often.

Our favorite meal is probably the Iranian breakfast with fresh bread (in the best case Nan-e Barbari), white firm cheese, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, halva, omelet (tomato and egg) and carrot jam (which is very important). For lunch, people like to eat stews with meat with saffron rice. For dinner, kebab skewers with bread are very popular. Iranian mealtimes are reminiscent of the Mediterranean and so it’s quite normal not to eat until 10:00 pm. Iranians also love something very special: saffron ice cream in carrot juice. It sounds strange, but it’s quite tasty. In general, sweets are very popular and each region has its own specialty, such as baklava or saffron cookies with rose water.

To make it easier for you, we’ve listed our favorite Iranian dishes below:

Vegetarian dishes:

• Adas Polo: Persian rice with lentils
• Ash: A thick soup with herbs, peas, beans, lentils, noodles and kashk
• Bademjan Torshi: Grilled eggplant stuffed with cilantro, mint, walnut and pomegranate paste
• Baghali Polo: Persian rice with broad beans and dill
• Baqala-Qatoq (Gilan province): Beans, dill, garlic and eggs served as a dip with rice or bread
• Kashk-e Bademjan: Eggplant mousse with sweet onions, garlic, walnuts, mint and kashk
• Kelane (Kurdistan Province): Thin handmade flatbread stuffed with diced onions and fresh herbs from the mountains
• Kuku Sabzi: Herb omelet with nuts, parsley, cilantro, chives and barberries
• Mirza Ghasemi (Gilan Province): Grilled Eggplant mousse with tomatoes, garlic and eggs
• Naz Khatoon (Provinz Gilan): Eggplant-Chutney with pomegranate paste and walnuts
• Salad-e Shirazi: Small diced cucumber and tomato salad with fresh herbs and onions

At this point, a little fair warning: For Iranians, chicken and fish are not considered meat and so it’s possible that a chicken dish is proudly presented to the vegetarian tourist. In the restaurant you could say «man ghiarkan hastam» (I’m a cucumber-eater / vegetarian) or «bedun gusht» (without meat), although in this case you could still get chicken or fish with your vegetables. In any case, people will probably don’t understand how you can order something without meat, as a meal without meat is not considered a real meal in Iran.

Dario's favorites with fish / meat:

• Tahchin-e Morg: an aromatic saffron rice cake with chicken
• Kebab Torsh (Gilan Province): Beef kebab with a marinade of walnuts, pomegranate juice, parsley, olive oil and garlic
• Ghaime Nesar (Qazvin Province): Semi-sweet rice dish with chicken, pistachios, almonds, barberries, saffron and orange peel
• Köfte Tabrizi: A huge rice/meatball with barberries and various spices and a fruity surprise inside.
• Khoresh Fesenjan: Chicken stew with nuts and pomegranate
• Khoresh Khalal (Kermanshah Province): Delicious stew with almonds and barberries
• The well-seasoned fish dishes with rice in the south of the country

As mentioned, as soon as we were invited for lunch or dinner at someone’s home, things will look completely different and numerous plates with the most delicious food appear and suddenly we also get very enthusiastic about the Iranian cuisine.

Drinks

It is well known that the consumption of alcohol is forbidden in Iran, so in restaurants you can often get non-alcoholic beer (called Islamic beer) with lemon or peach flavor. And besides the usual soft drinks, there are also quite exciting drinks called Sharbat. These are sweet, refreshing sodas, often with various herbs, flower petals or chia seeds or even saffron and rose water. Fresh fruit juices are also offered in many places and once again the carrot plays a leading role, as carrot juice is available everywhere. We don't quite understand the hype around it. Another popular drink is Dough, a sour drink based on yogurt, often enhanced with mint. Of course, black tea is also available everywhere, served with different types of sugar, and coffee is also becoming more popular, with more and more pretty coffeehouses in the larger cities. However, the busiest time in the cafes is not in the morning, but late in the evening, maybe as a substitute for the lack of nightlife in the country.

Dress Code for Iran

Women and men, whether tourists or locals, are required to adhere to the Islamic dress code, although this is not as strict today as it was at the beginning of the Islamic Revolution. For men, long pants and at least a T-shirt are required, preferably a longer top. For women, this means above all a compulsory hijab / headscarf and a long, loose top that covers the buttocks. Basically, just hide your female forms and don’t wear anything transparent and you’re good to go. This applies everywhere, even in 40° degrees heat, and as soon as you leave the house you have to be bagged up in compliance with the regime. Three-quarter sleeves, jeans, leggings & a long top or sandals are perfectly fine and the variety of interpretations of the Iranian dress code knows no boundaries on the streets.

You’ll see women wearing full-body chadors and others with sandals and headbands and most will easily mix modern fashion with tradition. Follow the stylish Iranian women, find out what suits you and then buy some (very affordable) clothes on the spot instead of worrying too much before coming to Iran. If you want to visit important Muslim shrines, you have to rent a chador at the entrance, a long piece of cloth that restricts your movement. Unfortunately, swimming for women is only possible in full dress or at a single designated beach for women on the island of Kish. We recommend that you to bring along some nicer clothes for private invitations and parties, to feel more comfortable next to all the ultra-fashionable Iranian women. Here are some pictures of what we were wearing during our time in Iran.

How to not make a fool out of yourself in Iran

It can happen a lot as there are many do’s and don’ts in Iranian culture and many traps for tourists, especially when it comes to Ta’arof for example when you accept an invitation immediately or don’t take of your shoes when entering a home. In general, however, one has a tourist bonus and Iranians will be too polite to tell you if you’re doing something wrong and even if my hijab keeps slipping from my head or Dario is giving a woman his hand to help her, these things will be forgiven.

Hospitality

Iranian hospitality is legendary and deeply rooted in the culture and as long as the country doesn’t become a destination for mass tourism, the curiosity for guests from abroad will remain enormous. The locals know exactly what the media says about them and are concerned what the world thinks of their country and they will try everything to show you that they are nice and generous people. It will leave you speechless for sure.

We could include countless encounters from our travel experiences here, but that would go beyond the scope of this blog. Iranians are overwhelmingly friendly and sincerely happy that you visit their country. You receive various invitations almost daily and often they will cover the cost if you want to buy something or have a cup of tea. Travelers should not take advantage of this, as much is Ta'arof (see point below) and should not be accepted immediately. For example, when hitchhiking, most drivers expect you to contribute to the cost, and it’s important to clarify this beforehand so that no false expectations arise. Please also consider the current economic situation in Iran with prices for daily products rising and the currency falling and many are trying to make ends meet.

How to be a guest

If you finally accept a serious invitation after three refusals, then you will be gifted with a unique insight into Iranian everyday life and have the chance to make new friends and exactly these experiences will become the most formative memories of a trip to Iran.

A few rules apply here as well: men shouldn’t shake hands with women, shoes should be taken off as soon as you enter a private room and it's always good to bring a small present (sweets, nice cosmetics, toys for the children, etc.). You will probably eat more than you can and as a sign of respect, your host will offer you several portions. If you’re full you can leave a little on your plate and compliment the cook of the house. The magical phrases here would be: «Cheili chosch-maze bud» (it was delicious) or «Daste shoma dard nakone» (may your hand doesn't hurt). Don't just leave after dinner, as there will be tea served afterwards and only then you can start talking about slowly leaving, which would still consume a fair amount of time until you're actually out of the door. If no one speaks English and you don’t speak Farsi, then it helps if you can show at least a few pictures from your home and your family. And luckily, with children, communication works easily non-verbally.

How to avoid invitations (not to be taken entirely serious)

If you ever should feel like you need your privacy and don’t want to get invited, we have got some tips for you:

• No matter what the circumstances: Never stop anywhere to look at a map (or at your phone). If you stay too long somewhere and look lost, you will surely be approached and invited shortly after.
• Don't go into a falafel store and ask for tea, chances are you will be invited to someone's private place offering tea and then of course food will automatically follow and an invitation to stay overnight.
• Don't have your picnic near a village or town because it's just too obvious then that you're sure to run out of food and even if you turn down invitations to lunch, you're still not safe because someone will surely come by to bring you more food that he or she just bought especially for you at the supermarket.
• And for cyclists: Don't ride through a village just before dark if you plan on camping that night. You will be approached and invited from all sides and will not manage to pitch your tent.
• Distribute compliments as reservedly as possible, because as soon as you say, for example, in a bakery, how delicious something smells and looks, then it will be given to you. Resistance is futile.

Hotels

There are many beautiful traditional hotels with a courtyard and this is the nicest way to stay in Iran. The price of the room always includes breakfast. In the cheaper accommodations you still sleep traditionally on mats and carpets on the floor and the bathroom is outside. You always have to take off your shoes when entering a room. Since booking.com and other booking platforms don’t work in Iran, it’s not as easy to book your desired accommodation as in other countries. It’s best to call the hotel directly or write them a message on Instagram, which has usually worked for us. There is an Iranian booking platform called https://iran.1stquest.com, but they usually don’t’ have the smaller charming guesthouse listed there. If you prefer to stay in hostels, then you could also use https://www.hostelworld.com. The accommodations in Iran are very affordable and for EUR 4.- you can find a bed in a dormitory in a hostel. We usually pay around EUR 20.- per night, but then have a double room with private bathroom in a nice traditional hotel. The most expensive hotels that we’ve seen online so far cost around EUR 120.- per night, but then we’re talking about the most luxurious options.

To make it easier for you, we’ve listed our favorite guesthouses, hostels and boutique hotels during our stay:

Abarkuh – Aghazadeh Historical House

Bandar Khong – Yousefi Traditional House

Island Qeshm – Coludang Dehkhoda Homestay

Island Hormuz – Konaar Guesthouse Hostel

Isfahan – Sarv Hostel / Ghasr Monshi Hotel*

Kerman – Kelyas Traditional Hotel

Kermanshah – Bamgah Traditional House

Kurdistan – Bolbar Eco Lodge (best view)

Qazvin – Arghavan Boutique Hotel

Ramsar – Gileboom Homestay

Rasht – Kotam Eco Lodge

Shiraz – Darb-e Shazdeh Boutique Hotel (best breakfast)

Tehran – Rooberoo Hostel / Hanna Boutique Hotel*

Varzaneh – Negar Traditional Guesthouse

Yazd – Sharbaaf Guesthouse / Hooman Hotel*

*we didn’t stay there, but heard good things.

Internet

The Internet is incredibly slow, even the Wi-Fi in the better accommodations. Making phone calls via Zoom or uploading pictures and videos is therefore hardly possible in Iran. It’s a mystery to us how Iranians can work like that. The Internet is heavily regulated and censored and also made extra slow or even shut down for several days if there are demonstrations for better living conditions. Nevertheless, many businesses advertise their WhatsApp numbers on the window and Instagram is surprisingly not blocked and widespread among Iranians. If you want to access your mail, YouTube, Google, AirBnB, etc., you have to install a VPN service (Virtual Private Network) in advance, which is what Iranians do, because the Internet is indispensable as a free space and contact with the outside world.

Local SIM Card

Another topic that is rather complicated compared to other countries. Foreigners should be able to purchase a SIM card cheaply in Iran. Theoretically. This worked only very moderately for us, so we have no tips on this except trial-and-error. In many places we were told that we cannot buy a SIM card with the Swiss passport or that the system just had a technical error (or the employee wasn’t motivated?). In such moments you just have to insist and then it happens for sure that a nice employee issues you a SIM card in his or her name and with that you are connected to the outside world again. Well, at least for 30 days.

After 30 days in Iran, the phone is blocked and must be registered online (this law is to fight smuggling phones into Iran). Instructions on how to do this can be found here: https://www.tappersia.com/iran-mobile-registration/. We were not lucky with that either and the registration didn’t work and so after 30 days we bought a portable Wi-Fi device to be independent. If you don’t travel alone you can avoid this problem by first use only one phone with an Iranian SIM card, this of course as a hotspot for both phones, and then after the 30 days the SIM card is changed to the other phone, or if one has a dual SIM phone, then you can also put the SIM card in the other slot. This way, you are already covered for two months and can delay the problem with the registration a bit.

Money Matters & Travel Budget

The official currency is the Iranian Rial (IRR). It’s not possible to withdraw money with your international cards and therefore you have to take cash with you for the whole trip. Iran is a very affordable country to travel and we’ve heard from some that they can get by with EUR 300.- per month if you cook yourself, eat cheap meals and stay in a dormitory. To be on the safe side, we calculated with EUR 1000.- per month, as it’s advisable to have money on the side for unexpected things, because it is very difficult to get money once you’re in Iran (because you suddenly want to buy a carpet, who knows). Due to the economic situation there are considerable price fluctuations in Iran and the currency decline makes it difficult to give current price information. Price increases are a big problem that Iranians have to deal with every day.

We recommend you to bring EUR and USD and exchange them in the exchange offices (not at the bank where they use the official rate). If the town is too small and there’s no exchange office, you could also try to exchange money at the jewelry stores. Because of the unstable exchange rate, you need to check reliable sources before you exchange your money, as there might be a drastic change in one day. There’s the official Government Rate and the Market Rate. You always exchange for the market rate that is higher than the government rate. You can find out the current exchange rate on the website: www.bonbast.com. You won’t hear people talking about Rials in Iran though, they will always give you prices in Toman, which can be very confusing. 10 Rials equal 1 Toman.

Let’s give you an example: 3'000'000 Rials = 300'000 Toman and in the store they talk about 300 Toman, which is about EUR 10.-. Absolutely easy, right? Don't worry when you're confused first, you'll get used to it very soon.

In order not to walk around with a lot of cash all the time, it is worth to order an Iranian debit card for tourists, which can also be loaded with Euros during the trip. We have the Mah Card (https://www.mahcard.com) for this purpose, with which you can pay literally everywhere, even at the vegetable market.

Safety

With decades of bad press, it might surprise you that Iran is a very safe travel destination and comes for us in terms of safety right after Oman (and thus before many European countries). Most of the time we felt very safe traveling through Iran and there was just one minor incident we had with someone bothering us, that could have happened in any country. It’s no problem to camp and should someone come by, it’s mostly only out of curiosity or to invite you home. Overall, Iran is a very safe country to travel, whether alone or with a group, and you can accept private invitations without any problems.

Unfortunately, it’s different for women than for men and even though it should be obsolete to talk about the dangers of traveling alone for women, we feel it necessary to mention a few things here. Harassment does happen and traveling with your partner doesn’t always protect you from it. I’ve traveled a lot by myself to various countries and I would also travel alone through Iran, but I would go by bus and train and not by bicycle. Always trust your gut feeling when someone approaches you for an invitation and make sure there will be other family members present. If you plan on visiting Iran on your own, we can recommend you those helpful tips from other women on Caravanistan: https://caravanistan.com/planning/safety/single-female-travelers/

Ta'arof – the Persian art of etiquette

Ta'arof is a concept that we know only from Iran, and it’s not easy to explain. Iranians are world champions of indirect communication and Ta'arof is the most obvious example of this. Ta'arof is a ritualized form of politeness that determines social interaction. It involves an expression of appreciation for the other person. Perhaps we give you some examples. If I compliment a woman in Iran on her appearance, she will most likely not just say thank you, but «Cheshmat ghashang mibine» (your eyes see beautiful things). So, the compliment is returned, so to speak, instead of simply accepted. Or you enter a store and buy some things and then the vendor would say to you «Ghabele Shoma Ro Nadare» (these objects are not worthy of you) in order to show you his respect and telling you that you’re more important than the money. But of course, he expects you to pay. The same goes for the taxi driver that say the ride was free, it’s not of course. And one should also decline an offer or invitation three times, before accepting it. And it’s not always obvious if an invitation is meant sincerely or if it’s simply Ta'arof.

And it doesn’t stop there. You can't just walk through a door like that, you always have to let the others go ahead, which can lead to quite a comical situation when in the end everyone wants to let each other go ahead, thus blocking the entrance. On the one hand, the concept of Ta'arof is somehow insanely charming, on the other hand, it's just tedious sometimes. Also, many young Iranians seem to be rather annoyed by it and yet it is absolutely part of the culture. Interestingly, the Ta'arof ends when Iranians get into a car, because in traffic all rules of politeness seem to no longer apply.

We hope that with our tips you are now prepared for a trip to Iran and we are sure that you will succumb to the magic of this country, open your heart and despite all the frustration will be touched deeply by the country and its people.