Entry requirements | Organizing your trip | Visiting | Eating | Paying | Speaking |

Entry requirements

Passport and visa service

Visa and Passport of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
HQ Visa

Diplomatic representations

List of Iranian embassies and consulates abroad

For more information

Embassy of Iran in Greece
16, Stratigou Kalari
154 52 P Psychico
Phone: 2106741436, 2106741937, 2106741783
Fax:2106747945
irembatn@otenet.gr

Organizing your trip

Means of transport recommended in town

Recommendation

Apart from the subway (only in Teheran), taxi is the most practical means to move in the big cities. Taxis can be hailed directly in the street or an agency can be contacted.

Maps of urban networks

Maporama
UT Library on line
Mapblast

Means of transport recommended in the rest of the country

Recommendation

Iranians are in general very accessible. Customs must be respected (courtesy, etc).

Rail companies

Iran Railways

Flight from Greece

No aircraft company operates direct flight from Athens to Tehran. To find out air connections from Greece to Iran click here

Traveling by yourself

Recommendation

Road conditions are good. Highway network is relatively developed, in particular in the urban and suburban environment. Fuel supply is very cheap and regular. The diesel, for lorries exclusively, can not be found for cars in city, only in province. In all the cases, considering the dangerous driving method in Iran, it is strongly recommended for a foreigner to take training before beginning to drive.

Road maps

Routes map in Iran

Find an itinerary

Visiting

Different forms of tourism

Historical

- Tehran: Park Mellat, the Bagh-e-Melli Door which used to be a part of the royal residence.
- Isfahan: the Chehd Sotoon palace, the Si-o-Sh Pol Bridge with its 33 arches, Talar's palace
- Ashraf: religious places such as Masjed-e-Dashti.
- Mashhad: Khaje Rabi's mausoleum.

Persepolis was a capital of the "achaemenid Persian empire. The site is located in the plain of Marvdasht, at the foot of the Kuh-e Rahmat mountain, approximately 70 kmin the North-East of the town of Shiraz, province of Fars Iran.

Naqsh-e Rostam  is an archaeological site located at approximately 5 km in the North-West of Persépolis, in the province of Fars en Iran. This place is called Næqš-e Rostæm "the portrait of Rostam" because Persians thought that the under the tombs represented Rostam, a mythical hero perse. Naqsh-e Rustam contains four royal achaemenids tombs rupestral and carrying three registers of low-reliefs. One of those, according to the inscriptions on it, would be the tomb of Darius Ist.

Cultural

Mashad: Tomb of Ferdowsi at Tus,

Tehran: Carpet museum of Iran

Isfahan: the royal palace Ali Qapu, Hasht-Behesht (The palace of 8 paradises), Chehel Sotoun, the big bazaar, the Armenian museum

Shiraz (tomb of Hafez),

The towns of Yazd, Hamedan, Rasht, Babol, Tabriz

Nature

Deserts (Dasht-e Kavir , Dasht-e Lut ), Mountains (Zagros, etc.)

Religious

Mosque of Imam Réza in Mashad.

Mosque of Imam at Isfahan

Mosque of Jameh at Isfahan

Thermal

Ardebil, Laridjan, Mahalat

Beach

In the north of Iran or in the Kish circle

Winter sports

There are well equipped ski stations close to Tehran: Dizin, Shemshak

Outdoor activities

Water skiing, golf, tennis

Shopping

Bazaars in big cities

Tourism organizations

Office of Iran tourism

Eating

Food specialties

Ghormeh sabzi (lamb stew with herbs)

Dolmeh-e Beh - Quinces stuffed with lamb. The stuffed quince is served with bread, yoghurt and fresh herbs.
Shirin Polo: saffron rice, chicken, orange peel and pistachios.
Kabab-e kubideh: chopped meat kebab. Traditionally, lamb was the main ingredient to make these kebabs; nowadays, chopped veal or, even beef, are often used. The secret lies in the delicacy of the mince so that the meat can stick to the kebab.
Koukou-sâbzi: Cheese-topped dish of herbs.
Baklava - a nut pastry: It is a rich cake that can also be found in Greece, Turkey and in all the countries of the Middle East. The origin does not matter very much, since the basic technique is the same. The sugar can be replaced by honey; nuts, almonds or a mixture of both ingredients can be used; pistachios can be added; water of the orange tree flower or rose flower can be added to the syrup.

Drinks

Dugh: drink containing salted milk, moho shahid: beer without alcohol, cherry tea

Dietary restrictions

Pork is prohibited as well as alcohol

Paying

Domestic currency

Iran Rial

ISO Code

IRR

To obtain domestic currency

Visiting an exchange agency or a bank should be sufficient. One must be wary of people who transact in the street.

Possible means of payment

The most widespread method of payment is by cash. Bank cards are accepted in department stores in the big cities.

Exchange rate on

Automatic Teller Machines (ATM)

To find out the locations of ATMs in in Iran, click on the link to your credit card: Visa, Mastercard or American Express

Speaking

Official language

Persian, also called Farsi, is understood by 83% of the population.

Other languages spoken

Iran contains several minority groups which speak dialects related to Farsi. These dialects are practically in the process of extinction. Also let us note that the borders of Iran have been inhabited by many common ethnic minorities with the neighbouring states. Among the important minority linguistic groups, the Azeris (20%) and Luris (6.6%) in the North, the Kurds (9%) in the West, the Arabs (2.1%) in South-West, Turkmen (1.5%) in the North-East, Baluchis (1.3%) in the South-East deserve a mention.

Business language

English

Getting some knowledge

Persian is an Indo-European language. It is very easy to learn to speak Persian because the sounds of this language are very familiar to the Europeans (the only difficulty is the rolled r in Spanish). Father is known as b âb â, brother is called barodar, sister is known as khohar. Persian uses the Arabic alphabet. Learning to read and write is not difficult but requires time…

Free translation tools

FarsiDic - English-Farsi dictionary.
Ectaco - Farsi-English dictionary.
ferdosi - Not Free Greek-Farsi-Greek translator

We can translate your foreign-language documents.

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Last updates: May 2012