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Tehran Travel Guide

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Tehran is a metropolis of 14 million situated at the foot of the towering Alborz range.
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Tehran is a metropolis of 14 million situated at the foot of the towering Alborz range.


Tehran (also spelled Teheran) (Persian: تهران), is the capital of Iran. A metropolis of 14 million people it is situated at the foot of the towering Alborz range.

Contents

Understand

Chaotic midday traffic in front of Tehran's iconic Azadi Monument.
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Chaotic midday traffic in front of Tehran's iconic Azadi Monument.

Tehran is a cosmopolitan city, with great museums, and restaurants, friendly people and the chance to watch the daily life of liberal Tehranis as they challenge, and often ignore, post-Revolution restrictions means it deserves at least a few days of your Iranian itinerary.

Tehran has also earned itself the rather unenviable reputation as a smog-filled, traffic-clogged and featureless sprawl of concrete housing bursting at the seams with 15 million residents. But, guided by the right guides, you can find an endless number of nice and cosy places in and around the city. Tehran is also a city of parks and possesses more than 800 well-kept parks.

Get in

By plane

There are no flights from North or South America or Australia, but there are flights to numerous European and Asian cities as well as cities in the Middle East. A one-week touristic visa can be obtained at the airport upon arrival for most European citizens at a fee (5000 THB).

By train

By car

By bus

Almost every city and far-flung village in Iran has bus services to Tehran, as evidenced by the hundreds of buses that pour in and out of the capital each day. Most buses arrive to, or depart from one of four major bus terminals:

  • The Western bus terminal (Terminal-e-gharb) is the biggest, busiest and best equipped of Tehran's terminals. Most international buses, as well as those heading to the Caspain sea region and destinations west of Tehran originate and terminate here. The terminal is ten minute walk north-west from Azadi Square, and a few minutes walk west from the Tehran (sadaghieh) metro station.
  • The Eastern bus terminal (Terminal-e-shargh), seven kilometres north-west of Emam Hossein square, handles buses to / from Khorasan province, as well a small number of services to the north.
  • The Southern bus terminal (Terminal-e-jonoob) is well equipped and unsurprisingly handles buses head to and from destinations south of Tehran. It is 2 km east of Tehran's main train station and easily accessible via the dedicated Terminal-e-jonoob metro stop.
  • The Central bus terminal (Terminal-e-arzhantin) is located beside Arzhantin Square, around 1.5 km south-west of the Mossallah metro stop. (Frequent shared taxis to/from the metro should be no more than IR 1,000). The station has services to /from most major destinations in Iran including Mashhad, Esfahan, Rasht, Shiraz, Tabriz and Yazd.

Get around

Getting around traffic-clogged, sprawling Tehran is a true test of patience. While taxis are your best bet, they are pricier here than the rest of the country. A large local bus network will also take you almost anywhere you need to go, as long you can make sense of the routes and Persian line numbers. The true star of Tehran's transport system however, is the brand new metro.

By bus

Tehran has an expansive but confusing bus network. Tickets (IR 200) can be bought from booths beside the bus stops. Since bus numbers, route descriptions and other information is in Persian, your best bet is to look confused enough at a bus terminal; a local will surely stop to help. Each bus line has a certain and almost invariable path but there are only people, who are regulary familiar with the lines, exactly know where bus stations exist for a certain path. You shouldn't expect a map or a guidance even in Persian showing the bus network or bus stations. Perhaps even asking the bus driver wouldn't help you much to find your way. If you get in a bus and looking for a certain station to alight, ask one to help you. Mostly you will find many people wish to help you to find your way.

By metro

Tehran's new metro system [1] is comprised of three lines that will whisk you quickly from one end of the city to the other without having to deal with the noise, pollution and chaos of Tehrani traffic.

There are currently three lines (rather strangely numbered 1, 2 and 5) but the two most useful are lines 1 (north to south) and 2 (east to west) which connect at the central Imam Khomeini station. All stations are double signed in English, but announcements are in Persian only. Trains run every ten minutes (25 minutes on holidays) from around 6.30 am until 10.00 pm every day.

Tickets (IR 650) are valid for one trip (including interchanges) and can be bought from ticket booths at every station. The Tehran metro is segregated, with two women-only carriages at one end of the train. Despite this, some women choose to travel in the men's part of the train, usually accompanied by a man.

By taxi

As with the rest of the country private and shared taxis abound in Tehran, although you may find flagging down a shared taxi more difficult amid the traffic and chaos, and private taxis are more expensive than the smaller cities. See the Get Around information on Iran for details on flagging a taxi. If getting about by shared taxi, your best bet is to hop from square to square, drivers will be reluctant to pick you up if your shouted destination deviates too much from their route. Currently in each square you would find certain place where the private taxis are lined up in a queue and drivers call for passengers to a destination. It is mostly happenning in the time when the number of waiting taxis exceeds the number of passengers. In this case, they would wait until the car get full of passengers (mostly 2 people at front and 3 people at back, except the driver). Otherwise the people have to line up in a queue waiting for the taxies to come. This is the case during rush hours (approximately 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM). All these depend upon finding their regular station in the square. You may also ask them to alight sooner than destination wherever you like but you have to pay their total fee up to destination. To get a clue, the cost of such a ride from Azadi square to Vanak Square has recently been 3,000 Rls (300 Tomans) for each person. You can also pay double and tell the driver that you would like to sit alone at the front and he would be also happy. However this depends on how you can mean the point to the driver as you will mostly find his knowledge in English very poor. Having say that again that you would often find them excessively friendly.

Motorcycle taxis are a Tehran specialty and offer a way to weave quickly through the city's traffic-clogged streets. You'll see plenty of these drivers standing at the side of the road calling "motor" at all who pass. Keep in mind motor taxi operators are even more suicidal than the average Tehran driver, agree on a price before you take off and expect to pay slightly less than chartering a private taxi.

See

  • The US Den of Espionage (Taleghani St; Metro: Taleghani) is all that remains of the US embassy in which 66 American citizens were held hostage for over a year; a major embarrassment that is believed to have cost President Carter his reelection. You'll know you've arrived when you ascend the steps from Taleghani metro station and are confronted with the words "Down with the USA" painted on its wall. The compound walls are now decorated with typically anti-US paintings depicting the evils of the "Great Satan" and you can still make out a somewhat battered national crest on the front gate. A bookshop near the metro station sells copies of shredded documents found at the embassy--outlining coup plots, CIA agent covers and other James Bondish details--that were laboriously glued back together by Tehrani students. The building was opened to visitors during March 2005 as the "US Democracy Fair", but appears to have closed again. Keep an eye out in case it re-opens.
  • If you want to drool over some truly excessive wealth, take a look at the Treasury of the National Jewels (Ferdosi St, near the corner of Jomhuriyeh Eslami Ave; Metro: Saadi; look for the heavy iron gate and rife wielding guards beside the Central Bank). For the hefty IR 30,000 admission fee you'll get to see a collection of some of the most expensive jewels in the world. Highlights include the world's largest uncut ruby, the world's largest pink diamond (the Sea of Light) and a free standing golden globe made from 34 kilograms of gold and an astounding 51,366 precious stones. An informative IR 6,000 information book is available at the ticket counter.
  • The National Museum of Iran [2] has ceramics, stone figures and carvings dating all the way back to around the 5th millenium BC.
  • The gigantic Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini (Metro: Haram-e-Motahar) is on the southern edge of the city. The sheer size of the shrine / shopping center is enough to make the trip worth it. Entrance to the actual mausoleum, where you can see thousands of Iranians greeve their beloved former leader, is free.

Museums

Do

  • Take a ride up the Tochal gondola lift (تله‌کابین توچال) on the northern outskirts of the city. Tickets range from IR 10,000 to IR 50,000 depending on how far up the mountain you want the telecabin to whisk you. If you're poor and energetic, you can simply hike all the way up, or just start walking and hop on the telecabin at the next station when you get tired. If you're going to the top, you may want to bring a jacket, even in summer, at over 4,000 metres the summit is chilly. To Tochal, take the Metro line 1 to Mirdamad, then bus line 33 for 25 minutes to Tajrish Square (ask the driver to let you off at Meidan Tajrish). If you visit on a holiday when Tehranis flock to the mountain, you should be able to jump in a shared taxi to the telecabin entry gate for IR 4,000 otherwise charter one privately. From the entry gate a minibus service (IR 1,500) will take you to the base station.
  • The Darband chair lift is an alternative to the one at Tochal. Taxis to Darband go from Tajrish Square.
  • For Skiers a ride to the Dizin Ski Resort is a must do! Iran's best ski area, Dizin, is located in the Alborz mountains north of Tehran. Driving time is about 2.5 hours from the capital city. The road to Dizin is of a good quality but four wheel drive or chains are required for the last 10 or 12 km ( 6 or 7 miles) when there's snow - which is frequently the case. Dizin ski amenities includes two hotels, 19 cottages and 5 restaurants, The ski activity in Dizin complex is not confined to winter season.[3]
  • Wander around Tehran's massive bazaar (بازار) in the city's south (Metro: Panzdah-e-khordad). The main entrance on 15 Khordad Ave leads to a labyrinth of stalls and shops that were once the engine room of Iran's commodity markets and one of Emam Khomeini's greatest sources of conservative, pro-Revolution support. As usual shops are clustered according to the products they sell. If you're planning on heading out into remote areas, the bazaar is an ideal and cheap place to stock up on almost anything you need.
  • Shopping in numerous shopping malls almost every where in the city. Valiasr street and Tajrish square (Also includes a traditional bazaar) are just two of the many locations full of shopping centers in Tehran.

Learn

Work

Buy

For those staying in southern Tehran, there is a cluster of private money changing offices offering reasonable rates on Ferdosi St, just south of Jomhuriyeh Eslami St. Most will change US dollars, pounds, euros and yen. Lone moneychangers who stand on street corners whispering "Dollar, dollar" are expert hustlers and not worth risking. Central branches of most banks are also south of these offices.

Those looking to stock up on computer software--copied, but legal thanks to Iran's refusal to sign up to the Bern Convention--can start looking at the computer bazaar on the corner of Jomhuriyeh Eslami Ave and Haafez St. Just remember that importing these CDs into any country that is a signatory to the Convention may be a criminal offence. You can also try "Computer Capital" at intersection of Vali-e-Asr and Mirdamad, a 7 storey modern complex filled with computer equipments but also latest pirated copies of every software imagineable.The prices at "bazaar reza" (at charrah-e-vali-asr) are usually less . In both these bazars you also may find individual hardware parts. You may find some famous hardware brands really cheap but you should be careful not to buy the fake one. It is hard to distinguish the original one. Sometimes even the fake one would work quite well comparing to its cheap price!

To save even more money you can buy one of those software packages . For example you can buy "King of the Programming" with about 70,000 Rls . This is a 5 or 6 CD package of compressed programs which contains almost any well-known software you can imagine .

Eat

Budget

  • Some of the best of Iran's ubiquitous felafels are to be found sizzling away in stalls on 15 Khordad Ave, across the road from the bazaar. The cost greatly depends upon lots of aspects but there you should expect like 3,000-5,000 Rls(300-500 Tomans) for such a budget type meal.
  • You can find several food courts around Tehran [4] with a variety of cuisines from Thailand, India, Italy, China and Turkey.
  • Maybe the only place to get local vegetarian food (as well as non-vegetarian) is the Firouzeh Hotel [5]. There they offer you different kinds of very delicious, home-made meals with fresh vegetables and local spices for reasonable prices.

Mid-range

Splurge

  • Many locals regard the upper class Alborz Restaurant, Nikoo Ghadam Alley (North Sohrevardi Avenue), 876 1907 or 876 0629 (fax: +98 21 876 03 48), open everyday (very popular on week end lunchtimes) as the best chelo kababi in Tehran, if not Iran. With delicious and generous meals that will easily put a IR 120,000 dint in your wallet, you'd want it to be. Definitely worth a splurge.

Drink

For all you coffee-starved travellers through Iran (or the soon to be coffee-starved if Tehran is your first port of call in the country) you'll be glad to find the string of coffee shops on the south side of Jomhuriyeh Eslami Ave, a couple of hundred metres west of Ferdosi St. You can stock up on coffee beans and related paraphernalia, or even sample a cup for IR 4,000.

A few doors west of these shops is a delightful coffee shop next to Hotel Naderi. They serve coffee, tea and pastries to a mix of Tehran's intelligentsia and bohemian elite. It's a great place to sit and watch hip young guys eyeing gossiping girls while old men reminisce about the "good ol' days" under the Shah.

Sleep

Budget

Most of the budget accommodation favoured by travellers is centred in the south of the city in the region between Ferdosi Square and Emam Khomeini Square.

  • The ever-dependable backpacker's stalwart, Mashhad Hotel (416 Amir Kabir St; metro: Emam Khomeini) is traveller-friendly and has clean and simple dorms (IR 25,000), singles (from IR 30,000) and doubles (IR 50,000).
  • More or less in front of Mashhad, you find the much friendlier and nicer Firouzeh Hotel. [6] They offer you all services you need - internet, laundry, breakfast - and Mr. Mousavi at the reception provides you the most useful information and help.

Mid-range

There are several mid-range hotels in the vicinity of Haft-e-Tir Square. The location is not bad, being more or less in the middle of the city. There's also a metro station there.

  • Bolour Hotel, 191 Gharaney St., tel. +98-21-8829881, 8823080, has friendly staff and good-valued rooms at about $30-40 for foreigners. The roof-top terrace has a nice view of the city. It is located a few blocks from Haft-e-Tir Square.

Splurge

Tehran has some of Iran's finest luxury hotels, most of which are pre-embargo five star hotels that have faded a little since being taken over by local consortiums.

  • Esteghlal Grand Hotel is the largest international five-star hotel in Iran, located at the beautiful foot-hills of Alborz mountain range, welcomes its guests from all over the world.[7]
  • Laleh International Hotel[8] (Dr Hossein Fatemi Ave) located on a corner of Park-e-Laleh is a case in point. Once the InterContinental, it's a little past its prime but still offers comfortable rooms and a wide range of travel services.
  • The government-owned Homa Hotel (51 Khodami St) chain is often referred to as 'the ex. Sheraton Hotel' by locals. It is located in the north of the city, around 1.5 km north-west of Vanak Square, and many rooms have a good view of Borje milad, the fourth tallest tower in the world.
  • Simorgh Hotel[9] just by the Shafagh Park,just before Tavanir,is well-maintained and recently refurbished hotel.Could be a bit expensive but has been done up by the group of Hotel Management students.

Contact

Internet

  • Ferdosi Coffee Net (Enghelab Ave, a few doors east of Ferdosi Square) is hard to find (look for the small sign plastered to a building) has two banks of computers for IR 8,000 an hour.
  • Pars Net is one of south Tehran's hottest coffee nets, dishing up reasonable speed for IR 9,000 an hour. It is on the eastern side of Ferdosi St, between Jomhuiyeh Eslami Ave and Enghelab Ave, across from the British embassy. They also provide fax and long distance phone services.
  • Another place in Tehran's south is the Coffee net Firouzeh which you find in the nice and very friendly Firouzeh Hotel. [10] They charge you IR 8,000 an hour.

Stay safe

Tehran is still a relatively safe city to travel through, particularly considering its size. Common sense and the usual precautions against pickpockets in bazaars and crowds should ensure your visit is hassle free.

Even late at the mid-night is quite safe in most parts of the city while you will find the city still crowded. It is advisable not to take a private taxi for instance at 2:00 AM.

The fake police that target Esfahan's tourists have also found their way to Tehran in recent years. These are usually uniformed men in unmarked cars flashing phoney IDs are requesting to see you passport or search your luggage. It goes without saying that you should just ignore such requests and head to the nearest police station if you feel unsafe. The trouble is that it can be very hard for the untrained tourist eye to tell these from the real police.

Cope

The traffic in Tehran is horrendous. To get a break from it head to the parks in the north of the city. Jamshidieh Park which is located in the Niavaran district at the base of the Kolakchal Mountain, is one of the most picturesque and beautiful parks in Tehran. Mellat Park in Valiasr street is one of the largest recreation areas in the Middle-East. Niavaran Park is one of Tehran's famous and most pleasant public city parks. It is located within the Niavaran district and is situated immediately south of the Niavaran Palace Complex.

Get out

  • If the hustle and bustle of Tehran becomes too much, it's possible to go to the Caspian Sea for a day or two. The holiday town of Ramsar is about five hours away, and the drive across the Alborz Mountains is spectacular. A taxi round-trip for a day shouldn't set you back more than IR 500,000 (ask for taxis near Azadi Square).
  • Namakabrud villa city and gondola lift in beautiful green coasts of Caspian sea in the northern Iran is about 4.5 hours away.
  • Qom is about two hours away from Tehran by bus.
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