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Kan man klare en ferie uden alkohol og leve med, at kvindelige rejsende skal bære tørklæde og lang frakke, åbenbarer Iran sig som et helt fantastisk og meget sikkert rejseland med store oplevelser og en enestående kultur. Iranerne er uhyre gæstfri og meget imødekommende over for turister. Behovet for vestlig valuta har gjort, at den iranske regering har valgt at byde turister velkommen. Det enorme land fire gange så stort som Frankrig - byder på 800 års kulturhistorie, sneklædte vulkaner, spændende museer, eksotiske basarer, smukke moskeer og en glødende poetisk og musikalsk tradition.

Facts for the Traveler ifølge Lonely Planet:

Visas: Everyone needs a visa to visit Iran. Unless you're from Slovenia, Macedonia, Turkey or Japan, this is going to be a hassle. The regulations are baffling, the costs often high. The best advice is to apply for a visa before you leave home. However, once you're in you're in - getting an extension inside Iran is often easier than getting any sort of visa outside the country. Admission is refused to holders of passports containing a visa (valid or expired) for Israel.
Health risks: malaria (If you are travelling in endemic areas it is extremely important to avoid mosquito bites and to take tablets to prevent this disease. Symptoms range from fever, chills and sweating, headache, diarrhoea and abdominal pains to a vague feeling of ill-health. Seek medical help immediately if malaria is suspected. Without treatment malaria can rapidly become more serious and can be fatal. If medical care is not available, malaria tablets can be used for treatment. You should seek medical advice, before you travel, on the right medication and dosage for you. If you do contract malaria, be sure to be re-tested for malaria once you return home as you can harbour malaria parasites in your body even if you are symptom free. Travellers are advised to prevent mosquito bites at all times. The main messages are: wear light-coloured clothing; wear long trousers and long-sleeved shirts; use mosquito repellents containing the compound DEET on exposed areas (prolonged overuse of DEET may be harmful, especially to children, but its use is considered preferable to being bitten by disease-transmitting mosquitoes); avoid perfumes and aftershave; use a mosquito net impregnated with mosquito repellent (permethrin) – it may be worth taking your own, and impregnating clothes with permethrin effectively deters mosquitoes and other insects), cholera (This diarrhoeal disease can cause rapid dehydration and death. Cholera is caused by a bacteria, Vibrio cholerae. It’s transmitted from person to person by direct contact (often via healthy carriers of the disease) or via contaminated food and water. It can be spread by seafood, including crustaceans and shellfish, which get infected via sewage. Cholera exists where standards of environmental and personal hygiene are low. Every so often there are massive epidemics, usually due to contaminated water in conditions where there is a breakdown of the normal infrastructure. The time between becoming infected and symptoms appearing is usually short, between one and five days. The diarrhoea starts suddenly, and pours out of you. It’s characteristically described as ‘ricewater’ diarrhoea because it is watery and flecked with white mucus. Vomiting and muscle cramps are usual, but fever is rare. In its most serious form, it causes a massive outpouring of fluid (up to 20L a day). This is the worst case scenario – only about one in 10 sufferers get this severe form. It’s a self-limiting illness, meaning that if you don’t succumb to dehydration, it will end in about a week without any treatment. You should seek medical help urgently; in the meantime, start re-hydration therapy with oral re-hydration salts. You may need antibiotic treatment with tetracycline, but fluid replacement is the single most important treatment strategy in cholera. Prevention is by taking basic food and water precautions, avoiding seafood and having scrupulous personal hygiene. The currently available vaccine is not thought worthwhile as it provides only limited protection for a short time), schistosomiasis (bilharzia) (Bilharzia is carried in freshwater by tiny worms that enter through the skin and attach themselves to the intestines or bladder. The first symptom may be tingling and sometimes a light rash around the area where the worm entered. Weeks later, a high fever may develop. A general unwell feeling may be the first symptom, or there may be no symptoms. Once the disease is established, abdominal pain and blood in the urine are other signs. The infection often causes no symptoms until the disease is well established (several months to years after exposure), and damage to internal organs is irreversible. Avoid swimming or bathing in freshwater where bilharzia is present. Even deep water can be infected. If you do get wet, dry off quickly and dry your clothes as well. A blood test is the most reliable test, but it will not show positive until a number of weeks after exposure), altitude sickness (In the thinner atmosphere above 3000m (9842ft), or even lower in some cases, lack of oxygen causes many individuals to suffer headaches, nausea, shortness of breath, physical weakness and other symptoms that can lead to very serious consequences, especially if combined with heat exhaustion, sunburn or hypothermia. Acute mountain sickness (AMS) can affect anyone and care should be taken to avoid ascending mountain peaks above 3000m too quickly. Sleep at a lower altitude than the greatest height reached during the day, if possible), sunburn (In the desert or at high altitude you can get sunburned quickly and seriously, even through clouds. Use a strong sunscreen, hat and barrier cream for your nose and lips. Calamine lotion and aloe vera are good for mild sunburn. Protect your eyes with good-quality sunglasses, particularly if you will be near water, sand or snow)
Time Zone: GMT/UTC +3.5
Dialling Code: 98
Electricity: 230V ,50Hz
Weights & measures: Metric

When to Go

Generally the best times to visit Iran are mid-April to early June, and late September to early November - these times avoid the long, cold northern winter, the Iranian New Year (late March) and the summer, which can be unpleasantly hot in much of the country. And if the heat doesn't keep you away, take note that prices along the Caspian coast can quadruple during summer whereas great bargains can be found come wintertime. Many people prefer not to visit Iran during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, but apart from most restaurants closing between dawn and dusk, Ramadan is not that bad for travelling

Money & Costs

Currency: Iranian Rial

Iran is inexpensive by international standards. A bare minimum budget for cheap hotels, Iranian food and overland transport is US$15 per day. Unless you thrive on discomfort, however, you should double this to around US$25 per day. This will provide you with decent accommodation, better food, transport by first-class bus and shared taxi, and visits to all the important tourist attractions. One unfortunate part of travelling to Iran is the dual-pricing for foreigners. This affects international flights and ferries, where all tickets must be paid for in US dollars; tourist attractions, where foreigners pay up to 15 times as much to enter as Iranians do; and the more expensive hotels, which often charge in US dollars.

There are three ways to change money (preferably US dollars in cash): at the official, and unfavourable, exchange rate at a bank; at the favourable 'street rate' at a legal, though uncommon, money-exchange office; and on the black market, anywhere. Don't bother taking travellers cheques of any denomination or currency unless you absolutely must: you can only exchange them at the Bank Melli branches at the international airport in Tehran and in central Tehran. An increasing number of mid-range hotels (and all top-end places) accept Visa or MasterCard - but certainly not American Express. However, if your Visa or MasterCard has been issued in the US, it may be useless because of the US trade embargo. Bottom line: bring plenty of greenbacks.

In most cases, tipping is an optional reward for good service. Although there are many circumstances where a small tip is expected, you are unlikely to have a waiter hovering expectantly near your table after delivering the bill. On the other hand, it's worth remembering that helpful Iranians probably deserve some extra appreciation to supplement their meagre wages. As for bargaining, in the bazaar virtually all prices are negotiable; in shops, it's a complete waste of time. Fares in private taxis are always negotiable, but not in any other form of transport because these prices are set by the government. Hotel rates are open to negotiation except in top-end places.

It is also worth noting that prices in Iran are set to rise over the coming years as fuel prices increase from their ridiculously low levels.

Tehran
Iran is not blessed with one of the world's loveliest capitals. Pollution, traffic snarls, chronic overcrowding and a lack of responsible planning have all helped to make Tehran a metropolis that even the most effusive travel agent would have difficulty praising.

The major attraction for visitors to Tehran is the city's excellent museums, featuring everything from ancient stone carvings to Islamic paintings to jewels that have started wars. Its best non-museum sight is the haphazard bazaar, so big it's practically a separate city.

Esfahan
The cool blue tiles of Esfahan's Islamic buildings, and the city's majestic bridges, contrast perfectly with the hot, dry Iranian countryside around it: Esfahan is a sight you won't forget. Not only is the architecture superb and the climate pleasant, but there's a fairly relaxed atmosphere here, compared with many other Iranian towns. It's a city for walking, getting lost in the bazaar, dozing in beautiful gardens and meeting people.

The famous half-rhyme Esfahan nesf-é jahan (Esfahan is half the world) was coined in the 16th century to express the city's grandeur. There's so much to see that you'll probably have to ration your time and concentrate on highlights such as the Emam Mosque, a magnificent building completely covered in Esfahan's trademark pale blue tiles; Emam Square, one of the largest town squares in the world; the Chehel Sotun Museum & Park, a marvellous 17th-century pavilion and a great place for a picnic; and the Vank Cathedral, the historic focal point of the Armenian church in Iran. Taking tea in one of the teahouses under the bridges is also an essential part of the Esfahan experience.

Esfahan is about 400km (250mi) south of Tehran. Several flights make the trip daily. There are buses, usually overnight, to Tehran, Shiraz and other domestic cities, as well as to Istanbul. The express train between Esfahan and Tehran might be a preferable alternative to sitting all night on the bus.

Shiraz
Shiraz was one of the most important cities in the medieval Islamic world and was the Iranian capital during the Zand dynasty (1747-79), when many of its most beautiful buildings were built or restored. Through its many artists and scholars, Shiraz has been synonymous with learning, nightingales, poetry, roses and, at one time, wine.

Today Shiraz is a relaxed, cultivated city, with wide tree-lined avenues and enough monuments, gardens and mosques to keep most visitors happy for several days. The university here is one of Iran's finest, and you'll come across lots of students eager to speak English. Highlights include the restful tomb and garden of Hafez, a celebrated poet; the Shah-Cheragh mausoleum, an important Shi'ite place of pilgrimage which attracts hordes of supplicants; the Pars Museum, which contains Zand dynasty relics; and the delightful Eram garden, where the 19th century Ghajar palace lies alongside a pretty pool.

There are plenty of hotels to suit all budgets in Shiraz, most of them clustered near Zand, the main boulevard. This is also the area to nose out a good feed, from inexpensive kebabs and burgers to more swanky sitdown affairs. Shiraz is nearly 900km (560mi) south of Tehran. It's a great place to start or finish your trip to Iran and is well serviced by international and domestic flights. The airport lies 8km (5mi) south-east of the city centre. Buses run from Shiraz to Tehran and other major towns; shared taxis run occasionally to Esfahan.

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