The Mad Cross-Iran 5 Day Travel Dash

Posted on by from Tabr?z, Azarbayjan-e-Sharqi, Iran

If, like me, you only get a 7 day transit visa for Iran and, again like me, you find out that the money you budgeted with only lasts for 5 days, there’s no need to dis­pair. It can be done while still see­ing some­thing from the coun­try, mainly Yazd and Esfahan.

DAY 1

After tak­ing the overnight bus from Quetta to the bor­der at Taf­tan have one last milky chai (from now on it’s only sugar) and then pro­ceed through cus­toms so you,re one of the first in line as soon as the Ira­nian bor­der opens. On the Ira­nian side you’ll have to wait for your very own and very use­less police body­guard who’ll (or some of his bud­dies) escort you all the way to the bus ter­minal in Zahedan (100.000 Rial), where you’ll arrive just in time for the 2 o’clock overnighter to Yazd (60.000 Rial). You don’t really seem to have a choice at what time you want to leave.

DAY 2

You will arrive very early, around 4 am, in Yazd, so either get a room (Silk Road Hotel is great value for money; 50.000 for a dorm/30.000 for a buf­fet break­fast) and pay for this night as well or find a cozy spot for like 4 hours and then check in to save your­self one nights acco­mod­a­tion. Then you have the whole day to explore the many sights of Yazd, like Alexander’s Prison and vari­ous beau­ti­ful mosques, and enjoy the vibrant atmo­sphere of the old city itself.

DAY 3

On the 3rd day take a bus to Esfa­han (4–5 hours, 50.000 Rial) and get your­self a dorm bed at the Amir Kabir Hostel, Esfahan’s only (not so) budget option at 60.000 Rial a night. Do some email­ing and wander around the close-by park around sun­set when the col­or­ful lights come on.

DAY 4

Check out at mid­day, store your bag and explore Esfa­han until your bus leaves to Tab­riz at 18:30 (115.000 Rial, 15 hours). You can book your ticket at recep­tion. Book early to make sure you have a spot.

DAY 5

You arrive in Tab­riz around 7 am. Then get either on a bus, which leaves at mid­day, or fork out a bit more for a shared taxi (80.000 Rial) to the bor­der at Baz­ar­gan and cross into Turkey.

Alto­gether I spent exactly 60 EUR in 5 days in Iran. I arrived in Tur­key with no cash what­so­ever and had to hitch­hike 40 km to the nearest ATM. It’s prob­ably bet­ter to not do it like me and budget maybe 15 EUR a day and have some money left over to change into Turk­ish lira. 10 of these get you to said ATM.