EPIC CITIES

Our trip begins from Tehran. After arrival at the IKA airport and transfer to hotel for some rest, we visit Sa’ad Abad palace complex late in the morning. Then head to Tehran’s mountainous area, Darband to have a light trekking, watch people’s everyday life and enjoy fresh air.

On our second day in Iran’s capital, we visit some highlights such as Golestan palace complex, Iran National Museum and Treasury of National Jewels which are all located in city’s central district: Tehran grand bazaar.

Before leaving Tehran to discover the eastern regions of Iran, we go to Carpet museum in Tehran and take an afternoon flight to Mashhad to gain the opportunity of visiting Imam Reza’s holy shrine early at night.

Today we have an excursion to Nishabur (120 km) and visit mausoleum of Omar Khayyam. Returning to Mashhad we go to tomb of Ferdowsi and visit Nader Shah museum as well.

From today on, we get familiar with desert architecture more and more. Riab village, as the first instance is on our way to Ferdows (360 km).

In the morning we have an excursion to Boshrouyeh (95 km). While enjoying the amazing natural beauties, we visit sand dunes and on the way back to hotel in Ferdows, we discover secrets of historic town of Toon.

Continuing our journey, we head to Birjand (200 km) and take a walk in its traditional bazaar before having lunch. Then visit one of five Persian gardens listed as UNESCO World Heritage, Akbarieh garden in the afternoon.

Amazingly, there are more than it seems to visit in Birjand. So we head to Furg citadel in the morning and visit Shokat Abad garden in the afternoon.

As next city on the list, we go to Deh Salm (280 km) which is famous for its palm trees and high-rise sand dunes and totally in contradiction with the concept of desert, is regarded as a green village in the region.

After lunchtime we leave our hotel for Zabol (260 km). However on our way there is still a lot to visit such as Nehbandan windmills. At night we arrive to our hotel in Zabol.

On our only day in Zabol, visiting Shahr-e Sukhteh (the burnt city) is a must, which takes half of our day. Then we visit Mount Khajeh (45 km from Zabol) which has always played a sacred role in different beliefs through ages.

While on our way to the main city of Sistan Va Baluchestan province, Zahedan (210 km) as our next destination, we visit some ancient castles and when in the city, we go to Zahedan museum and finally the hotel to have some rest.

We are going to visit the world’s largest mudbrick village, the Citadel of Bam (325 km). So we leave hotel in the morning to spend rest of the day in this old city of Iran.

Before leaving for the center of Kerman Province, we visit another great citadel of the region on our way to Kerman city (210 km). Left full of surprises from Rayen citadel, we visit the desert garden of Shazdeh in Mahan and head to the hotel in Kerman afterwards.

To understand the history of city, today we go to Ganjali Khan historic complex, including the historical bath, school, mosque, cistern and bazaar. Then we head to Jabalieh dome and visit the stone museum. We return to the hotel by evening.

To take the most out of our visit from Kerman, we leave for Shahdad desert to visit the structures which wind has carved out of sand hills through ages. On the way back to hotel, we visit the old cypress tree of Sirch as well.

Today we are flying back to Tehran (1hr 30 min) in the afternoon. By then we have a short time on our own during which we can take a walk in bazaar to by some souvenirs. When back to Tehran, we enjoy the traditional farewell dinner together.

And finally it’s time to bid farewell to Iran as we get transferred to the airport early in the morning for our return flight home.