Lonely Planet Iran

Simon Richmond

Description

Lonely Planet Iran is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Hike among the Castles of the Assassins in Alamut Valley, Lose yourself in Esfahan's historic bazaar, or ski in the Alborz Mountains -all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Iran and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet Iran Travel Guide: Full-colour maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - festivals, cuisine, religion, history, architecture, literature, music, crafts, environment Over 50 maps Covers Tehran, Esfahan, Yazd, Shiraz, Persepolis, Kashan, Choqa Zanbil, Takht-e Soleiman, Tabriz, Masuleh, Mashhad, Garmeh, Alamut Valley, Alborz Mountains, Kaluts, Qeshm Island and more The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet Iran, our most comprehensive guide to Iran, is perfect for both exploring top sights and taking roads less travelled. Looking for more extensive coverage? Check out Lonely Planet Middle East guide. About Lonely Planet: Since 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel media company with guidebooks to every destination, an award-winning website, mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travellers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. The world awaits! Lonely Planet guides have won the TripAdvisor Traveler's Choice Award in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

Sujets

• Irán
• Iran

Informations

• Publié par: Lonely Planet
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781786575364
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 37 Mo

Extrait

Iran

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Iran
Iran's Top 16
Need to Know
First Time Iran
If You Like
Month by Month
Itineraries
Visas & Planning
Regions at a Glance

On The Road

Tehran
Sights
Activities
Tours
Courses
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Alborz Ski Resorts
Mt Damavand
Rey
Western Iran
Bazargan
Maku & Around
Khoy
Orumiyeh
Maraqeh
Tabriz
Kandovan
Jolfa
Aras River Valley
Kaleybar
Ardabil
Khal Khal
Zanjan
Soltaniyeh
Takab
Rasht
Around Rasht
Ramsar
Kelardasht
Qazvin
Alamut Valley
Garmarud
Sanandaj
Howraman
Paveh
Kermanshah
Bisotun
Hamadan
Bijar
Marivan
Dorud
The DorudAndimeshk Railway
Andimeshk
Shush
Shushtar
Ahvaz
Khorramabad
Central Iran
Qom
Kashan
Around Kashan
Esfahan
Zagros Mountains
Dasht-e Kavir
Yazd
Around Yazd
Shiraz
Persepolis
Naqsh-e Rostam & Naqsh-e Rajab
Pasargadae
Bavanat
Firuz Abad
Kazerun & Bishapur
Persian Gulf
Kish Island
Bandar-e Lengeh
Bandar Abbas
Qeshm Island
Hormoz Island
Southeastern Iran
Meymand
Kerman
Around Kerman
The Kaluts (Lut Desert)
Rayen
Birjand
Qa'en
Northeastern Iran
Sari
Gorgan
Semnan
Garmsar
Shahrud
Gonbad-e Kavus
Bajgiran
Mashhad
Around Mashhad
Kalat
Bojnurd
Esfarayen
Sabzevar

Understand

Understand Iran
Iran Today
History
People
Daily Life
Iranian Cuisine
Faith in Iran
Architecture
Carpets, Arts & Crafts
Literature, Music & Cinema
Natural Environments

Survive

Safe Travel
Crime
Kidnapping & Terror
Police & Security Forces
Road Safety
Earthquakes
Women Travellers
Directory AZ
Accommodation
Activities
Children
Climate
Customs Regulations
Electricity
Embassies & Consulates
Food
LGBTI Travellers
Insurance
Internet Access
Legal Matters
Maps
Money
Opening Hours
Photography
Post
Public Holidays
Smoking
Telephone
Time
Toilets
Tourist Information
Travellers with Disabilities
Visas
Transport
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
Health
Before You Go
In Iran
Travelling with Children
Womens Health
Language
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers
Welcome to Iran

Welcome to what could be the friendliest country on earth. Iran is the jewel in Islam's crown, combining glorious architecture with a warm-hearted welcome.


In the Footsteps of Empire
Echoes of ancient civilisations resonate down through the ages in Iran. Some of history's biggest names – Cyrus and Darius, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan – all left their mark here, and the cities they conquered or ruled are among the finest in a region rich with such storied ruins. Walking around the awesome and beautiful ancient capital at Persepolis, experiencing the remote power of Susa (Shush), and taking in the wonderfully immense Elamite ziggurat at Choqa Zanbil will carry you all the way back to the glory days of Ancient Persia.

The Beauty of Islam
Iran is a treasure house for some of the most beautiful Islamic architecture on the planet. The sublime, turquoise-tiled domes and minarets of Esfahan’s Naqsh-e Jahan (Imam) Square draw many appreciative gasps of wonder, and rightly so, but there are utterly magnificent rivals elsewhere, in Yazd and Shiraz among others. And it's not just the mosques – the palaces (especially in Tehran), gardens (everywhere, but Kashan really shines) and artfully conceived bridges and other public buildings all lend grace and beauty to cities across the country

Modern & Sophisticated
This is your chance to get to grips with Iran's modern history, too, particularly in Tehran. Enter part of the former US embassy, now called the US Den of Espionage; gaze up at Tehran's beautiful Azadi Tower, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered to mark the 1979 revolution and, in 2009, to protest against the regime the revolution delivered; and visit the haunting Iran Holy Defense Museum to learn all about the Iran–Iraq war that so traumatised the country. Tehran is also where you can take Iran's contemporary pulse at creative art galleries and liberal cafe spaces.

Redefining Hospitality
Across Iran, a nation made up of numerous ethnic groups and influenced over thousands of years by Greek, Arab, Turkic and Mongol occupiers, you'll find the people are endlessly welcoming. Offers to sit down for tea will be an everyday occurrence, and if you spend any time at all with Iranians, you'll often find yourself invited to share a meal in someone's home. Say yes whenever you can, and through it experience first-hand, Iranian culture, ancient, sophisticated and warm. It’s these experiences that will live longest in the memory.

Masjed-e Shah mosque, Esfahan | Rafi Nourinia/500px ©


Why I Love Iran
By Anthony Ham, Writer
What's not to love? The landscapes here are wonderful, from high mountains to deep deserts where the soulful presence of the Asiatic cheetah still roams. There's the architecture and the magic of the bazaars. There's the utterly civilised appeal of taking tea in a teahouse overlooking the river in Esfahan or with nomads out in the Zagros Mountains. Or wandering the mud-brick alleyways of Yazd then venturing to a Zoroastrian fire temple on the cusp of the desert. Yes, I love all of these things. But Iran's greatest gift is its people.
Iran's Top 16

Meet the People
In any competition for the title of the world's friendliest people, Iranians would be definite finalists. It’s the people that leave the most lasting impressions from any journey to Iran, their warmth and their hospitality, their willingness to set aside enmities between countries and welcome you with open arms and doors. Whoever you meet, you will regularly be asked what you think of Iran, told ‘You are our guest’ and brought tea and food. Meeting Iranians is, quite simply, the best experience in Iran.

Spice merchant, Bazar-e Bozorg, Esfahan | Tim Barker/Getty Images ©


Top Experiences
Esfahan, Half of the World
There are moments in travel that will long stay with you, and your first sight of Esfahan’s majestic Naqsh-e Jahan (Imam) Square is one of them. This square is home to arguably the most majestic collection of buildings in the Islamic world: the perfectly proportioned blue-tiled dome of the Masjed-e Shah, the supremely elegant Masjed-e Sheikh Lotfollah and the indulgent and lavishly decorated Ali Qapu Palace. Far from being a static architectural attraction, the square and the nearby teahouses overlooking the river throng with life.

Naqsh-e Jahan (Imam) Square | lkpro/Alamy Stock Photo ©


Top Experiences
Yazd
Few places have adapted to their environment as well as the desert city of Yazd . It’s a gem of winding lanes, blue-tiled domes, soaring minarets, covered bazaars, and fine old courtyard homes topped by badgirs (windtowers) and watered by ingenious qanats (underground water channels). Several of these homes have been restored and converted into marvellously evocative traditional hotels. Many travellers declare Yazd to be their favourite city in Iran, and it's not difficult to see why, combining as it does a whiff of magic on the cusp of the desert.

Amir Chakhmaq Mosque Complex | javarman/Shutterstock ©


Top Experiences
More than Kabab
Iranian food is one delicious surprise after another. Once you’ve tried several varieties of kabab, khoresht (stew), ash (soup) and flat bread, ask for fesenjun (chicken in walnut and pomegranate sauce) or anything with bademjan (eggplant), or try Gilan cuisine with its predominantly sour flavours. Then you can try the shirini (sweets)… As exquisite as so many Iranian flavours are, it's the buzz that surrounds eating, the primacy of food in so many social encounters that makes it truly one of life's great pleasures.

Khoresht | hlphoto/Shutterstock ©


Top Experiences
Nomads of the Zagros
About two million Iranians from several different ethnic groups still live a nomadic existence, travelling with their goats in spring and autumn in search of pasture. Qashqa’i and Bakhtiyari nomads spend the summer months in the Zagros Mountains, before heading down to the coast for the winter. You can get a taste of nomad life on a day trip from Shiraz, or stay with the Khamseh (and eat their delicious handmade yoghurt) in the hills above Bavanat .

Nomads of the Zagros | Marcin Szymczak/Shutterstock ©


Top Experiences
Ancient Persepolis
The artistic harmony of the monumental staircases, imposing gateways and exquisite reliefs leaves you in little doubt that in its prime, Persepolis was at the centre of the known world. These days it's Iran's premier ancient city. Built by kings Darius and Xerxes as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid empire, a visit to the World Heritage-listed ruins of the city also testifies to Alexander the Great’s merciless destruction of that empire. Don’t miss the monolithic tombs at nearby Naqsh-e Rostam.

Naqsh-e Rostam | OPIS Zagreb/Shutterstock ©


Top Experiences
Skiing the Alborz Mountains
Think Iran and skiing is hardly the first thing that springs to mind. But Iran has more than 20 ski fields and most of the action is conveniently concentrated around Tehran. The Dizin and Shemshak resorts are the pick, with steep downhills and plenty of untracked powder to keep skiers of all levels interested. Chalets and ski passes are inexpensive compared with Western countries, and the slopes are relatively liberal, beloved as they are by Tehran's upper middle class.

Skiier, Shemshak Ski Resort, Alborz Mountains | Christian Aslund/Getty Images ©


Top Experiences
Choqa Zanbil, Susa & Shushtar
Even if you don’t normally seek out ancient ruins, these three World Heritage sites will make you reconsider. Its great bulk, semidesert isolation and fascinating backstory make the Choqa Zanbil Ziggurat , which dates back a mere 34 centuries, one of the most impressive hi