Rail Through Iran

Depart London on the BA direct flight to Tehran.  On arrival you will be met and transferred to your hotel in Tehran.  Spend the next day touring Tehran accompanied by your guide who will stay with you for the duration of the trip.  In the evening, you will board the luxury train where your 10 day adventure will begin.  The train travels through the night heading north east.

This morning you wake up to find you’re in Masshad, Iran’s most holiest city.  Here you will see the world’s largest mosque, the Imam Reza Holy Shrine.  Spend the rest of the day touring the city, before retuning to the train for dinner and start moving southward.

After lunch you will reach Rayen in the province of Kerman.  Rayen is an ancient and deserted Medieval citadel that is hugely interesting to tour around.  After lunch, continue by road to Mahan where you will see fascinating sufi sites.

Spend the day in Kerman visiting the huge bazaar and complex which is always a hive of activity.  In the evening board the train and make your onward journey to Yazd.

This morning you’ll wake up to Yazd, a fortified desert town, reckoned to be one of the oldest towns on earth.  It was described by Marco Polo as a centre of commerce, producing silk, textiles and carpets.   On the roofs of the buildings, made of sun-dried bricks, Yazd has an extraordinary roof-scape of badgirs (wind towers).  These are ancient systems that catch every breeze and channel the air down to the rooms in the houses, particularly welcome in the extremely hot dry summers.  This is perhaps one of the earliest human air conditioning systems, although the termites with their mounds preceded them!

Today you will be guided through Esfahan where grandeur is expressed in its architectural wealth, with its fabulous bridges, Islamic palaces and Persian gardens, while its bazaar is one of the most exotic in the Middle East.  Its history dates back 2,700 years, but the city was magnificently reconstructed in the 17th Century by Shah Abbas the Great, the Safavid king, creating this glorious capital.  Spend the whole day here, ending with a visit to Naghshe Jahan Square, the second largest man-made square in the world.  Here is a great place to purchase a Persian carpet.

Today you will visit one of the most important sites of the ancient world, Persepolis.  Probably begun by Darius I sometime after 520BC, Persepolis was expanded and further embellished by subsequent Achaemenian kings for the next 150 years, as the grandest and most awe-inspiring statement of their successful empire.  Thus it remained until Alexander The Great, who raised it to the ground in 330 BC.  Its ruins disappeared under the sand until 1930’s, since when extensive excavations have restored it to some of its former glory.  Return to the train for dinner

This morning you will reach Kashan, where the great attractions include the architecture of the ancient merchant houses and the famous  Bagh Fin Garden, said to be the best in Iran.  Have lunch  in the historic multi-domed bazaar, one of the best in Iran, and centre of Kashan’s trade for over 700 years.

From a desert oasis to the Zagros Mountains, if you wake up early today you will be able to admire the beautiful mountains at sunrise as you meander through.  Visit Shushtar and Susa, both ancient towns in the mountains.

Leave the train after breakfast to go on an exhilarating drive through the Alborz Mountains toward Pol-e-Sefid.  Climb the Trans-Iranian Railway crossing the famous Veresk Bridge the ‘Bridge of Victory’ in WW1 and the fascinating Three Golden Lines spirals.  Meet the train at Pol-e-Sefid where you will board for your last night.

Reach Tehran in the morning where you will visit Golestan Palace.  Transfer to your hotel where a special farewell dinner has been arranged.  The next morning board the direct BA flight to London Heathrow.