Experience iran
Period of visit: February – March 2020
Euro to Rial February: 1 euro is 148.000 Rial March: 1 euro is 165.000 Rial
US dollar to Rial February: 1 Dollar is 138.000 Rial March: 1 dollar is 150.000 Rial
People
My saying: Do not go to Iran, all these people are terrorist.
The people in in Iran are the warmest, most welcoming people I met up to this point in my travels.
Religion
Yes, a big part of Iran is religious. No, not everybody is a Muslim. In my travel within Iran I met hundreds of local Iranians. Somehow most of these people are Muslim but not active, or not Muslim at all. I only met a handful of people who are really strict about their religion and habits. When talking to these people you will figure in about 2 minutes if they are or not.
Traffic
Driving in Iran can be pretty intense. In the first couple of days you really have to get used to the way the Iranian people drive. They probably don’t use any turning lights, They don’t look before they start driving and they prefer to speed up instead of stopping for pedestrian crossings.
If you are planning on driving yourself, don’t worry. You get used to the traffic quit fast. If you don’t pay attention you will start driving as crazy as they do. (I got the compliment a couple of times)
If you are in Iran just for a couple of days, I would advise to just take public transport or a taxi. The cost for this is cheap anyway.
Money
In Iran the official currency is Rial. The Rial is a really weak currency at this moment. The value of the Rial is going up and down on a daily basis. Be advised: check the value of the Rial before you are going to exchange office.
Inside Iran it is not possible to get money from the ATM with your debit or credit card. This means you have to bring all the necessary funds in cash. The best valuta to bring is US dollar, Euro or British pound. Preferable US dollar or Euro.
Exchanging money is possible in 4 different ways.
- Banks. At the bank you can exchange your money easily. The rate you get at the bank is not really good tho.
- Exchange offices. In all the big city’s in Iran you will find exchange offices. Most of the times these offices are located around the main touristic areas. At the exchange offices you will get a pretty good rate on your money. It is worth looking around for a couple minutes because they all have different rates.
- Black market exchange offices. Around every big touristic place you will find men hanging out offering to exchange money. I am not up-to-date with their exchange rates.
- Locals offering to exchange money with you. A lot of locals always exchange their earning back to US dollar or Euro. They do this because they have a strong believe their currency will drop even further.
I exchanged most of my money at the official exchange offices. This is a reliable and safe option.
Nobody uses the official currency Rial
Despite the fact that the Rial is the official currency its not commonly used. At most of the shops they name their price in Toman. In basic the Toman is the same as rial minus 1 zero. To make it a bit more complicated, they usually skip all the zeros and just same the first numbers.
For example: 150.000 Rial = 15.000 toman = 15 In speech
To check the latest exchange rate there is a great Telegram group. They update the exchange rate live for every currency! Download the app Telegram > search for @DollarD This group has over 70.000 members so you cant miss it!
Taroof
In Iran they have Taroof. It’s the most confusing thing what exists. Basically it is fake hospitality. A random person will offer to pay for your food, invite you for a cup of tea or coffee, or even offer to let you stay in their homes. Sometimes it is true hospitality, sometimes it’s taroof. You would have to decline about 3 or 4 times, if they still insist it’s probably not taroof. So confusing.
Internet connections
I found it quit hard to find any good, reliable Wi-Fi connections in Iran. Maybe if you stay at more up class hotels you will find some. In my travels I stayed mostly with locals or basic guesthouses. Most of the locals rely completely on their 4G connection.
In Iran there are 2 big mobile providers. The first and biggest is Iran cell and the second is Hamrahe aval. I used a Iran cell simcard for my stay in Iran. Both providers have a pretty similar rate and coverage. Hamrahe Aval seems to have a better coverage in remote areas. I didn’t have that much problems either with Iran cell.
A Iran cell simcard can be bought for 300.000 Rial (2 euro) The price for data is pretty cheap in my opinion. For about 300.000 Rial (2 euro) you will have 10GB data. This data is valid for a month. Prices for Hamrahe Aval are pretty similar to Iran cell.
In the first 30 days of you visit you will be free to use a simcard in your own cell phone. After 30 days your Imei number(your unique device number) will be blocked from the Iranian network. This means you either have to register your phone(and pay the import tax) or get a Wi-Fi/simcard modem. Registering your phone is an easy process and can be done in most cell phone stores. The cost for my OPPO A9 was about 30 euros. A modem can be bought between 40 and 80 euros.
You can find a modem in the most big cities in Iran for example, Tehran, Esfahan or Shiraz. If you don’t want to the hassle of finding one. Order a modem before you leave.
Conclusion: you can use your phone and card for 30 days. After this time your phone will be blocked and you either register your phone or get a modem.
language
The main language in Iran is Farsi. In the western provinces of Iran you will find a couple different languages, especially in west and east Azerbaijan the Turkish language is widely spoken. Most people even prefer the Turkish language over Farsi.
As long as you stick to the touristic city you will be fine with English. Many of the shopkeepers, hotels, restaurants do speak English. The younger generation in Iran also tends to see the importance of speaking the English language.
The most important things I learned from the Farsi language are the numbers. The first 10 numbers are easy to learn and read. At least you can read the price. Further I would recommend to learn the basics such as. Hello, goodbye and Thank you. In this order: Salaam, khoda hafez and mamnoon or merci.
You might have heard about Salaam aleikum. This is an Arabic way of greeting each other. As most Iranian try to distance themselves from Arabic people they will never say salaam aleikum.
Alcohol and drugs
Alcohol is easy to be found in Iran. I wouldn’t trust anybody on the street offering alcohol though. I stayed in many locals houses. Most of the people who invited me in to stay or just for dinner do have wine or strong spirits. Most of this alcohol you find is homemade and it tastes so Good!
Right now I am in a room with 5 local Iranian men. The one in front of me is smoking his pipe with marijuana, the one on the left is drinking a glass of homemade wine and the one on the right is smoking opium trough a pipe made a Coca Cola wrap. Hey guys, its illegal!
Culture
Cultural habits in Iran are very strong.
- Sitting with the back to somebody
- Drinking tea
- Eating on the ground
- Shaking hands. / putting hand on heart
Couchsurfing
Couchsurfing in Iran is illegal, period. However, if found out that Iran is the easiest country to couchsurf. I have used couchsurfing trough out the years in multiple countries in SE Asia and in Europe. Iran is by far the easiest country. My experience: I put a public trip for one city in Iran on my Couchsurfing page. I have been invited more than 100 times from all over Iran and no, this is not taroof.
A couple of my best experiences I have trough couchsurfing in Iran. I met a lot of awesome people through this website. I even ended up travelling for almost two weeks with one of my CS hosts.
Road conditions
The road conditions in Iran are acceptable in most parts. The highways are in general good enough to drive a decent speed. Getting out of the populated area’s and off of the highway the road can get pretty bad. Overall nothing to worry about if you reduce your speed to the situation.
Car insurance
When entering iran you have to get a Iranian car insurance. Most European insurance companies do not cover Iran anymore. When entering Iran you can buy a insurance at the border. It costs about 6.4 million Rial (40 euro) There will be people around to help you getting the insurance. Expect that you have to pay them for the help.
In all my excitement of entering iran I totally forgot to get myself a car insurance. I found a way to get an insurance further down into the country.
Health insurance
Traveling to Iran requires a health insurance. When crossing the border you have to show them a valid health insurance. You can buy this health insurance easily online trough Caravanistan or 1stquest.
Importing your car
If you want to enter Iran with your car or motorcycle you have 2 options. The first option is a temporally import in Iran. You will have to pay some fees at the border and it is a complicated process. (read this as a complete chaos at the border) according to other travellers stories its cost between 200 and 300 euro.
Get a Carnet de Passage
Second option you have is getting a Carnet de passage. You can apply for this document with your local automobile club. In my case I applied trough the ADAC Germany because The Netherlands does not have this service. The document itself costs about 235 euro included shipping inside Europe. When applying from abroad you have to expect to pay 90 euro’s more for shipping the documents. They can ship the documents to wherever you are. You need to make a deposit before applying for this document. For more information see your local car club’s website.
I crossed into Iran from the Astara border. You can expect a complete chaos. Its not really clear who is working at the border and who is just there to do nothing. Nobody wears an uniform or badge. It’s a nice challenge😊 see www.caravanistan.com for more detailed border crossing reports.