Iran Persia

Day 1 - Home - Departure
For those who did not buy this tour as a package tour including the flight ticket, this day does not apply. 

Day 2 - Arrival – Tehran 
If you fly with Iran Air, ladies already need to have a headscarf in the plane. With any other airline, the head scarfs are only necessary after landing. Depending on your flight, you arrive in the morning or afternoon in Tehran. Tehran is not immediately a city to fall in love with. The city is very large - there are between 10 and 12 million people. You can lose a lot of time traveling around from place to place. The Grand Bazaar is in the low-lying southern part of the city, while the shop lover who likes to go to a fancy teahouse has to go to the northern part of the city. Here the elite of Iran live on the first slopes of the Alborz mountain range, with its snow-covered peaks of around four thousand meters. Summer here is therefore much cooler than in the south of the city, where the dust of the desert-like environment seems to penetrate through every pore. To avoid wasting too much time, you can join a tour to some palaces, mosques and mausoleums. 
 

Day 3 - Tehran - Kashan 
Our first day on the motorbike! We will ride through the hustle and bustle of the city towards Qom. It confronts you with recent history of the country, which is inseparably linked with the Iranian revolution of 1979. The revolution was triggered by the return of the 20 years exiled Ayatollah Khomeini. He expelled Shah Reza Pahlavi and managed to transform the country to his own viewpoint. Soon the comrades from the revolution were pushed aside, and the Islamic State was founded. Imam Khomeini, as he is now called, had its foundation in Qom, a city with many koran schools. We ride on the main road, a provincial road to the south towards an interesting desert town named Kashan. It is known as one of the more religious places of the country, however, you will not notice anything of this. The small bazaar is friendly, and you can visit a few merchant houses built during the Khajaren period at the end of the 19th century. Tonight, we will have dinner in a restaurant which in the past was a bathhouse. 



Day 4 - Kashan - Isfahan 
Today we ride through the desert to the mountains. Today we will take as many country roads as possible. We will stop for lunch in the village of Abyaneh red earth. We continue riding on country roads, and just before our arrival we will make a turn so the last part we ride on the main road to Isfahan. Isfahan is perhaps the most imaginative and beautiful city of Iran.  We stay here two nights. 

Day 5 - Isfahan - Stay 
Isfahan has not only mosques and one of the most impressive squares in the world. But it is also a lively modern city. In the evening we will hike over one of the monumental bridges crossing the shallow Zayandaneh River. Here you will notice a young Iranian strolling: flirting is very subtle, but it happens nonetheless. The tea houses inside the bridge are a point of interest - a baroque décor full of nic nacs. You can also find plenty of souvenirs in the Grand Bazaar. Bazar-e Bozorgh has its main entrance on the north side of the Imam square. More modern shops can be found along Chahar Bagh Abbasi Street. You can also find the Abbasi Hotel, full of old-fashioned grandeur and with a beautiful, tranquil courtyard garden where you can enjoy a cup of tea. The Imam Square is impressive, and you can visit the Palace of Shah Abbas and the Museum Ali Qapu Palace. On the other long side of the square, there is the women’s mosque. The square itself has several ponds with fountains. In the south of the square is the most 45 degrees away from the square. So In brief, there is plenty to see. a beautiful monument of Isfahan, the impressive Imam mosque. The entrance is decorated with mosaic and is turned 



Day 6 - Isfahan - Yazd 
We leave Isfahan and ride further south. We leave the hilly area behind us and leisurely ride through a desert environment. If the Government allows it, we will only take country roads and we’ll try to ride on unpaved roads. Because there are no restaurants in the tiny villages along the way, we eat our self-made picnic for lunch. 

Day 7 - Yazd - Stay 
Yazd is a vibrant desert city and according to Unesco is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. In the old part of the city, you’ll find traditional houses with badgirs, wind towers that cool buildings by capturing each breath of wind and bringing it inside. Inside the house, the air drops and cools the inside air. This is a traditional air conditioning system. In the old town, you will find beautiful old bathhouses. Some are still used as a bathhouse while others have been converted into a restaurant. 

Day 8 - Yazd - Rafsanjan 
Just after Yazd, we ride towards the east into the desert. This is not a desert similar to the Sahara. There is a lot of low vegetation and no fine sand, but there is a desert climate. We ride to the town of Banq, and from there the road becomes worse. We ride on alternating paved and dirt roads. At the end of the day we arrive in the small town of Rafsanjan. Our accommodation is basic. 



Day 9  - Rafsanjan - Sirjan 
The idea after leaving Rafsanjan is to follow an unpaved route that runs beneath the city of Kerman. We arrive in a small hilly area. 

Day 10 - Sirjan - Shiraz 
Today we are ride to Shiraz, one of the former capitals of Iran. It is the capital of the province of Pars, basically Persia, which implies that you’re in the heart of Persian culture. Beloved poets like Hafez and Sa’di have their mausoleums here, which are visited by Iranians from around the country. More religious Iranians, however, visit Shiraz for the second most important sanctuary of the country, the mausoleum of Shah-e Cheragh. Unlike in Mashad, here as a foreigner, you are allowed to visit the shrine, which is a typical Iranian mirror mosaic. The atmosphere of worship here is also special. There is still more to visit in Shiraz and you can wander through a fort, gardens, mosques and the bazaar. Shiraz benefits from its location in the middle of a vast mountain country. This is the place where nomads from the mountains come to do their shopping and sell their own homemade stuff. Further, there are beautiful authentic dresses and other utensils. 



Day 11 - Shiraz - Day trip Persepolis 
Persepolis is protected by UNESCO and was built by King Darius. In Greek it means the city of the Persians. Persepolis looks like a Greek or Roman settlement with large columns. The place is located 30 km from Shiraz which we can reach with our motorbike. 

Day 12 - Shiraz - Anarestan 
Today we will take a beautiful route through the mountains as we ride to the southwest in the direction of the Persian gulf. There is high ridge  we first have to ride around. We spend the night in a very small village in the mountains. Here we will sleep in a homestay. If the group is large, we are spread across homes of different families. This is a unique experience, but is very simple of course. After arrival, we visit the Jashak Salt dome – a valley formed by salt crystals. 



Day 13 - Anarestan - Bushehr 
After our breakfast with the local people, we leave the village. We are back on the main road through a narrow mountain road and ride straight towards the coast. The whole day we follow the route along the Persian Gulf and enjoy the many scenic views. Our overnight stay is in the coastal town of Bushehr where you can see Saudi Arabia across the way. 

Day 14 - Bushehr - Kazerum 
In the morning we ride to the national park Helleh, which is situated along the coast. Then we climb back into the mountains to the little town of Kazerum. 

Day 15 - Kazerum - Yasuj 
We further climb into the mountains and turn off the main road a couple of times to follow narrow roads and cross several beautiful passes. The views are splendid here. 
 

Day 16 - Yasuj - Lordegan 
Today we again enjoy a great mountain ride, maybe even better than yesterday. In some of the Parts,  we will ride on unpaved roads. Lordegan is a small place and our hotel only has basic facilities. 



Day 17 - Lordegan - Chelgerd 
We climb further today, and our track consists of many unpaved winding roads. Chelgerd is a village on a mountain where there are no hotels. We sleep in a nomad tent. 

Day 18 - Chelgerd - Aligudarz 
We continue following a winding track and finally descend just before Aligudarz to the flat countryside. 

Day 19 - Aligudarz - Bahistun 
Due to the long distance we have to cover today, we will ride the first part of the day along the main road. If we have time left over, we will take a dirt road to reach our destination. Behistun is an age-old caravan sarai which has been converted into a beautiful hotel. 
 

Day 20 - Bahistun - Hamadan 
We are once again in the busier parts of the country. There are more roads and therefore more choices to make in the route. Our plan is to mainly follow narrow roads which will occasionally be unpaved. Hamadan is located in a green, mountainous area at an altitude of 1.850 m at the foot of the 3.574 m high Alwand mountain. The city was founded by the Medes and was the capital of the Medical Empire. The city was destroyed by the Arabs in 642. After the conquest of Persia by the Arab empire, the city lost its important influence. 

Day 21 - Hamadan - Tehran 
This is a long route, so we are forced to ride a lot on the highway today. We return to Tehran at the end of the afternoon - back in the always busy traffic of the capital. You can use this last free evening to walk around the bazaar, hang in a tea house and enjoy the friendliness and hospitality of the Iranians for the last time. 

Day 22 - Tehran - Home 
Today we will bring you back to the airport so you can catch your flight home.