Tired of kebabs

My experience of Iran has a negative point too: (street) food! Yes, it is true that we ate deliciously at home. But many times, while travelling alone, we went to restaurants where food was no big deal. The choice was poor, except for the usual two or three types of kebab meats. Or maybe kebab is just what we could get due to our language difficulties.

We were also told that Iranians do not eat in restaurants often. They still cook at home a lot. This could explain why the quality of the restaurants is not excellent.

Safety

Life is awful for locals, if they do not comply with the rules of the dictatorship. But, as a tourist, I never felt threatened or in danger. I felt safe even walking in empty neighborhoods at night. Moreover, we never saw a lot of policemen or soldiers in the streets (which does not mean that they are not there; also, we did not reach the border areas with Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan). I expected the situation to be more (visibly) tense.

Classic tour

Of course, the previous post applies as long as you follow the classic tour, which usually includes Teheran, Shiraz, Yazd, Isfahan and a few more places.

Easy trip

A big surprise: the life of a tourist in Iran is easy. Prices are cheap, people are friendly and often speak a bit of English, the culture is similar to ours (apart from the current regime), trasportation is good, hotels are numerous, exchange with other tourists is continuous.

Lonely Planet rules

One guide for one country: Lonely Planet has monopoly on Iran; there is hardly any other guide published, which means that you are likely to sleep in the same hotels and eat in the same restaurants as the other tourists do. In countries such as Iran, Lonely Planet has a tremendous power: being among the recommended choices can make the fortune of a hotel or a restaurant.

New international friends

One particular thing about being a tourist in Iran is that it is very easy to become friends with the other travellers! It happened many times to meet the same people in different cities, both intentionally or by chance: the ideal occasion to exchange information about what to do and where to go and maybe enjoy a stretch of the trip together. This happens because tours you can follow in Iran are limited, for practical (difficulty to reach the farthest corners) and security reasons. But there is also another point... the Lonely Planet guide!

Mad travellers

Most tourists planned to go back to their home countries after visiting Iran, as we did. But we met some "mad" travellers too. The ones making a low budget tour of the world, reaching Australia or China through Afghanistan and Pakistan. These are real trips!