Me and 2 friends were traveling in Iran in end of April for 2 weeks. We rent a car from Europcar at Imam-Khomeini airport (24/7) (just European driving licence, full insurance and a deposit of 300€ - the car was 46€ a day)and did a trip roughly Tehran-Esfahan-Khorramabad-Kermanshah-Sanandaj-Marivan-Tabriz-Sanjan-Rudbar-Tehran. Gas is 25 cents a litre.
The ususal price for a car with driver is 120-150€ a day plus food and accomodation for the driver, we saved that, just knowing a local driver can find us quickly a hotel, speak with police at check points and giving us more insight to the country and people. It turned out that even without or little knowledge of Farsi it is possible to do the travellers things - buying food, asking for direction, just exchanging information about us and our countries...
The rented (80€ extra) navigation system worked well (street maps, finding places names and type them in) except periodically problems with the power connection and the fact that the battery of the touchpad was broken.
With knowing the main direction (next bigger town) and this touchpad navigation we found all places. The traffic is wild, especially in Tehran and Esfahan but we did it without a scratch or bump. We passed by several police traffic check points and speed control checks (there are many!) as well as other police posts at the province borders or near the Iraqi border without any check! Also camping in the field (a bit off the road behind some hills or bushes) worked well. Two times we were invited to overnight in locals houses. Our main focus was to see nature, plants and animals and enjoy hiking in the Zagros mountains and it was great. I did not have the impression of Iran as a dangerous country full of suspicious police and secret service stuff... maybe we were just lucky.
Even the road in Kurdistan province close to the border with Iraq, from Marivan to Saqqez was without hassle (bumpy but a short cut to get to Tabriz). Not to compare with Eastern Turkey with all the military posts and checking every 5 km.
I can recommend independent travel in Iran and I am sure it is getting more and more easy.
kaefer6
1
polaatx2
I'm glad you had a good experience. I'm an Iranian-American staying in iran. I've always wondered how difficult it would be for the people who do not speak Persian and aren't used to the insanity on the roads here to drive on their own. Without GPS totally impossible! Even I, who can read Persian, cannot because of lack of accurate signage.
3
Thorn Tree
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