Exploring the real Iran, with social media as your guide
Being completely disconnected on holiday isn’t as romantic as some purist travellers may suggest. It might be fine if you plan to stay on a beach or spend your days snorkelling with dolphins, but if you have to navigate your way around a country, travelling without access to GPS-assisted maps, currency converters and email seems […]
Isfahan museum’s homage to Iran’s rich musical traditions
n a leafy street in Isfahan’s laid-back but ancient Jolfa quarter, away from Imam Square and the bazaar for which the city is renowned, the Isfahan Music Museum provides welcome refuge. A love letter to Iran’s rich musical heritage, the small museum is much more than a series of instruments hanging on a wall. Founded […]
A foodie tour of Iran: it’s poetry on a plate
magine a verdant, landscape filled with rice paddies, tea plantations and olive groves. A land where you can hike up mountains in the thick mist of the morning and picnic by waterfalls on sun-weathered rocks in the afternoon. A land filled with golden apricots that taste like honey, peaches so succulent you barely notice the […]
A motorcycling adventure across Iran: ‘the standout attraction is the people’
Riding a trail bike 3,000 miles across Iran took Lois Pryce through spectacular scenery, but it was the warm hospitality she encountered along the way that made her fall in love with the country
Trekking Iran’s Lut desert: a wild, remote adventure – in pictures
Iran’s Dasht-e Lut with its giant dunes, salt plains and kaluts provides an epic journey of breathtaking beauty and wilderness, as seen in these images from a 15-day trek with Secret Compass
Iran picks up in popularity
Some may be surprised, others will be expecting the numbers to be on these lines, but the fact remains. Iran has been on a double-digit growth trajectory for three years in a row. TTN was informed, Iran is proving to be an increasingly popular destination with air travellers, experiencing growing passenger numbers from around the […]
The foodie traveller … in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar
“What are they waiting for?” I ask a spice seller, pointing at the long queue zigzagging down the street. “Moslem restaurant. Best tah-chin of Tehran,” he replies proudly.
Trek the Lut desert
The Dasht-e Lut desert, one of the Earth’s hottest and driest places, is a (hardy) trekker’s dream, with incredible rock formations, sand dunes, salt plains and the Valley of Meteorites – imposing landscapes that enchanted Marco Polo and, 700 years later, Wilfred Thesiger.
Valley of the Assassins
A walking tour based around the eponymous 1934 travelogue by the explorer Freya Stark, showcasing the greener side of Iran, traditional villages, the castles of the “assassins” and Alborz mountain hikes. The trip includes a stay with the Shahsevan nomadic tribe, a visit to Tabriz’s blue mosque and Unesco world heritage bazaar.
Climb Mount Damavand
It takes four days to reach the summit of the country’s highest mountain, a 5,671-metre volcano. Base camp is two hours from Tehran, making Damavand one of the most accessible 5,000-metre-plus mountains in the world. If all goes to plan, this seven-day trip includes two days’ recovery in Larijan’s thermal spring and Tehran.