Travel to Iran, All You Need to Know

Exploring Iran was always my dream and It came true in 2018. I want to share whole my 14 days Iran trip with you guys. My intention for this article is firstly to write my travel memories down somewhere as a memory, secondly maybe it becomes useful for those who want to travel to Iran, especially for girl travelers as me and my travel buddy both are girls.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

International Flight from Singapore to Iran

Maybe the international flight was the most costly part of my trip, as it cost me 990 SGD for two way flight per person. I booked Turkish Airline. The flight took around 10 hours with 1.5 hours stopover in Istanbul. Probably if you want to book an international flight ticket to Iran, Turkish airline, Qatar airline and Emirate will be your top 3 choices, due to frequent flights to Iran.

Iran VOA Visa Application

Iran VOA (Visa On Arrival) visa was the most satisfying part of our Iran trip. First of all, it was a quite easy and smooth procedure. Despite lots of negative comments we have heard about Iran visa procedure, Our visa confirmation at Imam Khomeini airport took less than 15 min to issue. Bear in mind we applied Iran visa authorization code in advance and that is probably helped us for having a hassle free procedure at airport immigration office.

My recommendation for Iran VOA visa: Apply in advance through a Iran travel agency or Iran e visa portal

Domestic Flight from Tehran to Shiraz

As a travel planner, I am into planning my trip personally instead of booking a tour package all-inclusive. therefore I planned whole my 14 days from the first minute to the last. Firstly we took an Iran domestic flight from Tehran to Shiraz. So we can start our Iran exploration from bottom to top, meaning start from Shiraz and end to Tehran.

We book our domestic flight ticket through an online agency with our credit card smoothly and easy. Our tickets were sent to our Email instantly and even more interesting is that the agency customer service contact us through Email before our flight to check everything is going well with us or not. this amount of support was exceptional.

Iran Hotels Reservation

In total I booked 13 nights as below. Generally book Iran hotel in advance as so many of them are in high demand. they will get fully booked like a few weeks in advance, so if you are targeting a specific hotel to stay in, I recommend booking one month in advance and do not leave it to the last second.

1- Three nights: Niayesh hotel in Shiraz. Amazing staff and worth the money.

2- Two nights: Friendly hostel in Yazd. Above average, good breakfast and average WiFi.

3- Three nights: Khajoo hotel in Isfahan. Perfect location and average facilities.

4- Two nights: Noghli house Kashan. Live music performance in the courtyard was a great experience.

5- Three nights: Persian Plaza in Tehran. The rooftop view was the best. Clean room and good facilities.

Iran Transportation Between Cities

This is the most luxurious part of my trip. Unlike my other trips, I decided to pamper ourselves more in Iran and book a guide driver (meaning a tour guide who has a car), not only because the distance between cities in Iran are too much, also I shared the mutual expenses with my friend, so it was reasonable at the end. Booking a Iran tour package would be another great alternatives as whatever you need is already included.

Having a guide-driver in Iran has lots of advantages. Firsly you do not need to take care of bus or train tickets and match your itinerary with their departure schedule, secondly there are some attractions like Abyaneh village, Iran desert and Perspolise that are located in a remote area and a tour guide driver can be a great option.

Alternatively, to spend less money, you can book a daily tour in Iran or excursion for Perspolise (Shiraz) and Lut desert (Kerman) that cost you less than a driver-guide who accompany you for the whole trip.

Iran Daily Expenses for Traveller

Based on my experience, Iran is generally a cheap destination. The travel expenses vary from 30 to 50 Euro per day per person on average (Excluding international flights). My breakdown expenses are as below.

1- Hotels 13 nights: 350 Euro per person

2- Domestic flight from Tehran to Shiraz: 31 Euro per person

3- Transportation 14 days (guide driver): 200 Euro per person

4- Food, entrance fee and others 14 days: 100 Euro

Total my expenses (one person) for 14 days (exclude international flight) = 681 Euro