Iran Highlights

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 your flight is with Iran Air ladies already have to wear a headscarf on the plane. With any other airline, headscarves only have to be worn after landing. Depending on your flight, you will arrive in the morning or afternoon.. In Tehran, the capital of Iran, you will be picked up from the airport. 



Day 3- Tehran - Stay 
Today you can explore the city. Tehran is not immediately a city to fall in love with. The city is huge as there are between 10 and 12 million people. You can lose a lot of time travelling between places. The Grand bazaar is in the low-lying southern part of the city,while the ones who like shopping and more mundane, hip teahouses should go to the northern part of the city. Here is where the elite of Iran lives, on the first slopes of the Alborz mountain range, with its snow-covered peaks of around four thousand meters. Summer is therefore much cooler than in the southern part of the city, where the dust of the desert-like environment seems to penetrate in every pore. To avoid losing much time, you should join a tour today. This way you can visit the former palaces of Shah Reza Pahlavi, ousted in in 1979, and his almost equally famous wife Farah Diba. You can find them, of course, in the North of the city. The palaces are situated in a vast park, and the various buildings now include several museums. The most outstanding is the White Palace, the former summer residence of the Shah. A bit further is another Palace, the Niyavaran Palace. The tour includes a visit to the Sahebqerameh, the working Palace of the Shah.  This palace is unique with beautiful rooms, many fantastic paintings, a golden telephone, and quirks as you might find in a dental office or English pub.In the waiting room there are pictures of special visitors such as: Mao Zedong, Hitler, Queen Elizabeth II, Richard Nixon and Kemal Atatürk. If you have more time you can visit the national museum, with art treasures from the long history of Persia and Iran. The  Golestan Palace near the bazaar is also worth a visit as is the busy Imam Khomeini Mosque, the most important mosque of the city. 



Day 4 - Tehran - Kashan 
Today is the first day on your motorbike. We drive out from the hustle and bustle of the city into the direction of Qom. This place will remind you of the more recent history of the country, which is inextricably linked to the Iranian revolution of 1979. The revolution was launched due to 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, comrades of the revolution pushed people who had other ideas aside and the Islamic State was founded as we know it now. Imam Khomeini, as he is now called, had its base in Qom, the city that is bursting at the seams with many Koranic schools. We drive further off the main road. This is not a highway but the provincial Road South towards the interesting desert town Kashan. It is known as one of the most religious places of the country, but once there you hardly notice it. The small bazaar is friendly, and you can visit a few merchant houses from the Khajaren period at the end of the 19th century. In the evening, we eat in an old bath house that is now converted to a restaurant. 

Day 5 - Kashan - Isfahan 
Today we will drive from the desert to the mountains. We will drive on as many small roads as possible. We have lunch in Abyaneh, a red earth village. Driving mainly over small roads, we will only join the main road just before Isfahan. This city is perhaps the most evocative and beautiful cities of Iran. We stay here two nights. 



Day 6 - Isfahan - stay 
Isfahan has not only mosques, but is also a lively city as well. In the evening you can enjoy a walk on one of the monumental bridges over the shallow Zayandaneh River. Here you will see youth strolling the Iranian way: flirting is very subtle, but it happens nonetheless. A point of interest are the many tea houses in the bridges with baroque décor full of trinkets. You can also find plenty of souvenirs in the Grand bazaar, Bazar-e Bozorgh, which has its main entrance on the north side of the Imam square. Modern shops are mainly along the Chahar Bagh Abbasi Street. In the direct surroundings you also find the Abbasi Hotel, full of old-fashioned grandeur, with a beautiful and tranquil courtyard garden where you can enjoy a cup of tea. The Imam Square is impressive. Next to the square is the Palace of Shah Abbas, the Ali Qapu Palace, which is now a museum.. Directly  opposite on the other long side of the square is the so-called women’s mosque.  The square itself is scarcely planted and has several ponds with fountains. On the South side of the square is the most beautiful monument of Isfahan, the impressive Imam mosque. The entrance is decorated with mosaics and you arrive into  classical courtyard surrounded by four Iwans, classic Iranian architectural arcs covered with beautiful blue tile work. There is plenty to see. 



Day 7 - Isfahan - Chelgerd 
Today we will drive over poorly maintained roads and cross through the unspoilt nature of the spectacular Zagros Mountains. On the meadows and fields we will definitely come across Kooh Rang shepherds. During the summer months nomads, such as the welcoming Bakhtairi, stay here. The women wear colorful skirts and the men are identified by their black and white striped felt jackets. During winter time they live in the Khuzestan Plains. It is worth visiting a nomad camp. 

Day 8 - Chelgerd - Aligurdarz 
We pendel down the valley and reach flat land just before arriving in Aligurdaz. 

Day 9 - Aligurdarz - Behistun 
Because of the long distance we have to drive today, we will take the main road for the first part. If we still have time left, we will take a dirt road. Behistun is a centuries-old caravan sarai which has been converted into a beautiful hotel. 

Day 10 - Behistun - Hamadan 
We arrive in a busier part of the country. Here there are more roads and much more choices of routes we can  follow. Our plan is to mainly drive through narrow roads where occasionally a small part is unpaved. Hamadan is located in a green, mountainous area at an altitude of 1850 m in the foothills of the 3574 m high mountain Alwand. This city was founded by the Medes and was the capital of the median 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 11 - Hamadan – Tehran  
This is a long trip, so we have to follow the highway. At the end of the afternoon, we arrive in Tehran and are back in the always busy traffic of the capital. This last free evening you can spend strolling the bazaar, hanging out in a tea house and enjoying the kindness and the hospitality of the Iranians for the last time 

Day 12 - Tehran - Departure 
Today we will bring you back to the airport so you can catch your flight home.