Tips for travelling to Iran

Tips for traveling Iran will help you to have a good journey to this ancient country. Iran is located in middle east and west Asia, a country with eastern culture and off course lots of differences with European and western culture. That’s why when many foreigners visit Iran for first time, they see lots of difference. But if you pay attention to the important notes, you will enjoy a lot. Because everything is ready for you to have fun in Iran and to have an unforgettable trip. 

Some of the benefits of traveling to Iran are:

• You can book Iran hotels with great facilities and low price. 
• You can visit Many various kinds of attractions in Iran. 
• You can take best Iran tours and visit different places in that country. 
• Iranian cuisine is fantastic and most Iranian foods are so delicious. 
• Nature of Iran is very beautiful, particularly north and south Iran. 
• Also You can apply for Iran health tourism. 
• Iran is a safe country.
• Iranians are totally hospitable people and respect foreign tourists. 
• Traveling Iran is so cheap. 
• Iran has lots of historical sites and if you love history, travelling Iran is one of the best choices for you. 
• By travelling Iran, you may experience different climates, cultures and people in every part of Iran which would be interesting for many foreign tourists. 

But on the other hand, if you want to book hotels of Iran, take best Iran tours and visit this land, you should pay attention to some tips and notes. If you don’t, you may face some problems. Although Iranians usually love their foreign guests and respect them deeply. 
Here there are some tips for having nice trip to Iran:

1) Women’s covering (hijab) 

Before booking Iran hotels and try to achieve Iran Visa, it is so important to attention about this issue. First tip for foreign female tourists who like to visit Iran is covering their bodies and their head. This means if you are a girl/woman and try to visit Iran, you should take headscarf and you cannot wear short skirts. Till you are in Iran, you should always wear scarf and also long coats (or "maanto" in Persian language). 
This is called: "hijab" and according to the laws of Iran, all Iranian and none Iranian women in Iran should obey the rules related to that issue. So if you want to visit Iran, don’t forget hijab. 

 2) Alcohol drinks are banned

The second important tip for travelling Iran is that totally Alcohol drinks are banned in Iran and you cannot ask for those kinds of drinks in hotels, restaurants or anywhere. 

3) Taxis:

There are different kinds of taxis in the cities or towns of Iran. Some of them have yellow colors and there officially Taxi services and they are parked in Taxi stations, waiting for passengers. But on the other hands there are some people who ride their cars in different ways in cities or towns and their cars don’t have any sign of Taxis. Sometimes their prices are a little bit cheaper than official Taxis. 

4) Metro stations (Subway) :

Iranians call Subway: "Metro". So in Iran if you talk with people about it, you should call it Metro. There two different kinds of subway wagons: some of them which are usually in front of other wagons are just for ladies. The other kinds of subway (Metro) wagons are actually for men but also some ladies can enter them. 
Male passengers are totally banned to enter ladies wagons. 

5) Iranians are different with Arabs:

Many foreigners think that Iran is an Arab country like: Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Egypt and… The true is that Iran’s official language is Persian Language. Although there are some Azeri, Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen, baluch and… minorities in Iran. 
Iranians are not racists and they are welcoming foreign tourists most of the time (including Arab tourists), but if you ask them silly questions like: "You are an Iranian… Are you Arab?"  They might become depress or angry. With respect to other nations and ethnicities, Iranians are proud of their country, language, ethnicity and …

6) Iranian money:

Officialy Iran money are Rial and Toman. But because of inflation rate, nowadays most Iranians don’t use or call Rial. But the trues is:

10 Rials = 1 Toman

So when you see goods prices in Iran, they might be written with any kind of those money credits. For instance you might visit a shopping center which all the prices are written in Toman but another shop in Rial. It would be use full to ask the staff that the prices are written in Toman or Rial. This is something which also most Iranians do when they are confused. 

 7) People of Iran

Iranians love to talk and sometimes become friend with foreign tourists. It’s one of the benefits of travelling Iran. If you visit Iran and see Iranians welcome you warmly, that’s something natural in that country. Many of them even let you be their guest and to enter their house and stay there. 
Many foreigners who visited Iran in the last two decades said that they have very good memories of Iranians and some of them found Iranian friends. 

8) Toilets in Iran

Most toilets in Iran are like old French toilets or Greek toilets. This means if you need toilet when you are in public, you might find toilets which are different with ordinary toilets in most European countries. But on the other hand, in many hotels, restaurants and some of the cinema theaters you can find European style toilets. So you don’t need to be worry about this issue always.

9) Tea and coffee in Iran

Iranians love tea and coffee. Today there are lots of Coffee shops in Tehran - the capital city - and some other cities in Iran, which serve different kind of coffees, tea, cakes and…
Particularly tea has a key role in Iranian life style. If you go to Iranians houses, they might welcome you with tea. You can taste different kinds of tea in Iran. 

10) Don’t worry about stamp in your passport

 If you are interested to book hotels of Iran and take part in Iran tours, but you have concerns about Iran visa stamp in your passport, don’t worry. According to the latest news Iranian visa won’t be stamped in your passport. This means you can travel Iran but there won’t be any sign of that in your passport and later you if you want to travel other countries which have any political problems with Iran (for instance: United States), you won’t face any problem. 

11) Shake hand with Iranians

Most Iranians are Muslim and their religion and culture differs with western Christian countries. Like many other Muslim countries, shaking hand between a stranger man with a woman in public is not accustomed. But between two men or two women, that would be all right. 
So be careful, foreign men don’t need to shake hands with Iranian women (for greeting them or thanking them) and also foreign women with Iranian men. 

12) Most popular destinations in Iran

Iran has lots of attractions but the most famous Iranian cities for foreign tourists are: Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Kish island, Tabriz and Mashahd. But there are a lot of other cities, towns and also beautiful forests, desserts, sea sides in various parts of Iran. 

13) Internet in Iran

 Some of the famous internet websites are banned in Iran. For instance: Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and… 
So you will need to use vpn if you are realy need to check them or wait till the end of your trip to Iran. 

14) Visa for Iran

In order to achieve Iran visa, before booking Iran hotels you would contact or approach to Iran embassies in Europe.