For the flight, we chose Qatar airways, one of the main factors being that they fly not only to Tehran but also to Shiraz, so we could plan a route that starts in the capital (in the North, close to the Caspian sea), continues on land and allows us to fly back home from Shiraz (in the Southwest, closer to the Gulf).

All visitors need a visa to Iran, so we checked the website of the embassy in Budapest (visa information page). To our surprise, only a few things were necessary, i.e. application form, passport, and two photos. In person, the visa official also asked to see our flight ticket (just a glimpse on the mobile phone showing the e-ticket did it) and the hotel reservation (we only booked the first three nights out of a nine-day trip and that was accepted with no questions asked). Claire was who took it on to arrange the visa. While not mandatory, it was said to be advisable for her to wear a scarf both on the photo and in person. Even wearing the scarf, the first trip to the embassy was a bit intimidating. From a nicely decorated hall, you enter a small, simply furnished office (just like a typical post office in Hungary) with an Iranian official coming to see you behind a glass wall. He appeared strict at first, but nicer on Claire’s return from the bank (the visa fee had to be paid there around the corner) and very welcoming upon the second visit when collecting the ready visa.

Booking a hotel is easy if you travel to a country where your card is accepted. This is not the case with Iran, where, due to sanctions (possibly ending in the near future) no international cards are accepted. That said, when in Iran, you’ll be surprised, it is not at all a cardless economy, local cards flourish, even buses can be boarded with touch cards.

For this reason, traditional hotel booking sites do not list Iran at all, so it takes some research to find a hotel that suits your chosen location and taste. Still, you can find plenty of good advice on the internet, but we advise to research thoroughly, not just the obvious sites. Tripadvisor, while excellent, lists only 46 hotels today in Tehran, a metropolis of 10 million people. Finally, we found our favourite, Tooba hotel, based on its North Tehran location, relatively good value for money and some good reviews found somewhere we do not remember any more… Payment was an experience in itself, as with sanctions i.e. cards not accepted, we had to wire transfer the price of one night as a deposit, to a

Tooba hotel entrance

seemingly unrelated private person in Luxembourg… Was worth the risk!

Book ahead, as in Tehran hotel rooms may fill up fast, and it took quite a few phone calls to find an available room in an area we wanted to go to. If you like freedom of travelling, it is enough to book your first few nights from abroad, locally, choice is much better and unless you travel in a large group, you’ll find good places. Those first few nights, however, are good to give you the orientation necessary.

Dress code is something not to forget when going to Iran. Do not succumb to the cliché of black abaya clad sorry old ladies lining the streets. Tehran is very modern, with all ladies wearing colourful scarves and nicely designed “manteaus”, i.e. a kind of light overcoat or dress, perfectly wearable in Europe also. Search Google pictures for manteau Iran, and you’ll get the idea. Main thing is not to wear tight robes and belts showing curvatures – that’s all.

Wearing a “manteau” at least what you get in Europe