IRR Iranian Islamic Republic Railways ('Raja Trains').
For train times & fares in Iran see
www.raja.ir
(click the 'house' logo then 'English' top right). Unofficial site, with times and fares for trains in Iran: www.msedv.at/rai/.
Map of Iranian rail network.
Required
by everyone. Visas are now easier to get, but are
still not always granted to independent travellers without a
visa support letter from a recognised tour agency. See
the Iranian embassy website,
www.iran-embassy.org.uk/?l=e,
which has a list of travel agencies who can help you get a visa,
such as
www.magic-carpet-travel.com or
www.persianvoyages.com. Consulate address: 50 Kensington Court, Kensington High
Street, London W8 5DB, call 020 7937 5225 or 020 7361
0823. Recorded visa information
(60p/minute) 0906 802 0222.
Travel advice:
Check Foreign Office advice for south
eastern Iran
at
www.fco.gov.uk.
Page last
updated:
2 June 2010
London to Tabriz & Tehran
Above: The rails stretch all the way from
London to Tehran, apart from a ferry across the
Bosphorus & Lake Van. Photo courtesy of
PhiliptheBill
If you can get a visa, it's now
relatively straightforward to
travel from London to Iran overland by train, using the new
weekly 'Trans-Asia Express' from Istanbul to Tehran. First, you need to reach
Istanbul. See the London to
Turkey page for train times, fares and
how to book. The
journey from London to Turkey takes three nights, with daily
departures from London. Then you take the
'Trans-Asia Express' from Istanbul to Tabriz and
Tehran, a 3-day ride across great scenery. Train times, fares
& information for the Trans-Asia Express are shown below.
There
is a safe, modern and comfortable weekly train from Istanbul to Tehran
called the 'Trans-Asia Express', introduced in March 2001. The train is actually two
connecting trains, a Turkish one from Istanbul to Tatvan pier, then a
ferry across Lake Van, then an Iranian train from Van
pier to Tehran. Only one baggage van actually goes all
the way, being ferried across Lake Van on the ferry. Both
Turkish and Iranian trains have modern
air-conditioned 1st
class 4-berth couchettes and an elegant modern
restaurant car. The total distance
from Istanbul to Tehran is 2,968km excluding the 90km length
of Lake Van.
Istanbul ► Tehran
Tehran ► Istanbul
Trans-Asia Express,
eastbound...
Trans-Asia Express,
westbound...
Istanbul (Haydarpaşa)
depart
23:55
Wednesdays*
Tehran
depart
21:25
Thursday*
Ankara
arrive
08:45
Thursdays
Tabriz
arrive
09:26
Friday
Ankara
depart
10:25
Thursdays
Tabriz
depart
10:56
Friday
Tatvan Pier (train)
arrive
14:50
Fridays
Van Pier (train)
arrive
19:56
Friday
Tatvan Pier (ferry)
depart.
15:00
Fridays
Van Pier (ferry)
depart
20:00
Friday
Van Pier (ferry)
arrive
21:00
Fridays
Tatvan Pier (ferry)
arrive
02:00
Saturday
Van Pier (train)
depart
21:30
Fridays
Tatvan Pier (train)
depart
04:52
Saturday
Tabriz
arrive
06:35
Saturdays
Ankara
arrive
08:30
Sunday
Tabriz
depart
08:23
Saturdays
Ankara
depart
09:30
Sunday
Tehran
arrive
20:20
Saturdays
Istanbul (Haydarpaşa)
arrive
18:34
Sunday
* There is reportedly a second 'Tran Asia Express' per week in
summer, departing Istanbul on [not known] and departing
Tehran on Tuesdays.
You can confirm these train
times at
www.raja.ir (click the 'house' logo then 'English' top
right).
Allow for an arrival an hour or two (or three) late, so don't plan any
tight connections. Travelling westbound, always allow
for a night in Istanbul, don't plan onward travel to
Belgrade/Bucharest/Thessaloniki the same day. If you want to stop off, there are other
trains between Istanbul and Ankara, and between Tabriz and
Tehran, see the Train travel in Turkey
page
for Turkish train times & fares, and
www.raja.ir
for Iranian train times & fares.
Istanbul
Haydarpasa station:
The magnificent Haydarpaşa station on the Asian side of the Bosphorus
in Istanbul,
starting point for trains to
Asian Turkey, the Toros Express to Syria and the
weekly Trans-Asia Express to Tehran. It was built in
1908. Ferries sail across the Bosphorus from the
European side (Karaköy terminal on the Galata side of
the Galata Bridge) to Haydarpaşa every 10-30
minutes, crossing time 20 minutes. The fare is 1 YTL.
The Iranian Railways website
(www.raja.ir)
quotes the one-way fare as 404,000 Iranian Rials including
sleeping berth, about
£25 or $47. The Turkish Railways website (www.tcdd.gov.tr)
quotes fares in euros.
Above: This is the
Turkish part of the Trans-Asia Express, from Istanbul
(Haydarpaşa station) to
Tatvan on Lake Van. It has modern air-conditioned
4-berth couchettes and restaurant car.
The compartment is shown here in daytime mode with
berths folded away and seats folded out.
The restaurant cars on both the Turkish and Iranian
trains are clean and modern, serving affordable full
meals.
Check out the excellent video made on board this train
by Sander Groen...
You can book the eastbound train from Istanbul to Tehran at the
international booking office at Istanbul Haydarpaşa
station. The ticket office in Istanbul accepts Turkish
Lira, Euros, US Dollars and Visa/MasterCard, but not pounds
sterling. It's often possible to find berths available
even booking a day or two before, but as this train only
runs weekly it's probably best to book in advance before you
get to Istanbul.
You can do this by asking a travel
agency in Istanbul to buy the tickets for you. Try these two
reliable agencies:
Tur-ISTA Tourism Travel Agency, Divan Yolu
Caddesi No. 16/B, 34410 Sultanahmet, Istanbul, Turkey.
Telephone +90 (212) 527 7085 or 513 7119. Fax +90
(212) 519
3792. E-mail
erdemir@tur-ista.com. I can recommend their service - please mention seat61.com when
booking. They charge about 65 euro for an
Istanbul-Tehran ticket.
You can book the westbound Tehran to Istanbul train at
Tehran station - you will need to show your passport.
Alternatively, you can book the Tehran to Istanbul train through
a number of Iranian travel agencies, such as
www.irantravelingcenter.com. Also see the
travellers' reports below for some suggested agencies.
Before booking,
check that you can get an
Iranian tourist visa. Iran only used to grant tourist
visas if you made tour arrangements within Iran through
a recognised tour agency, but it is now getting a lot easier
for independent travellers to get visas. See the
Iranian embassy website,
www.iran-embassy.org.uk/?l=e, which has a list of travel agencies who can help you get a
visa, such as
www.magic-carpet-travel.com,
www.iranianvisa.com or
www.persianvoyages.com. One seat61 correspondent
has recommended
www.iranianvisa.com, saying their service fee is only 30
euros. You may be able to find an
agency who will tailor-make arrangements for you, allowing
you to arrive in Iran on the Trans-Asia Express. There
is absolutely no problem reported in crossing the border
into Iran by train, border officials are reported to be
very friendly!
Feedback on the visa situation for Iran, on any tour
agencies prepared to make arrangements incorporating arrival
via the Trans-Asia Express, and on the Trans-Asia Express
itself, would be very welcome.
Traveller
Kester Dampney reports (2008): "I submitted my
application and itinerary to
www.iranianvisa.com for 30 Euros, and had my
authorisation number back exactly 30 days later. They
answered all my questions, and were helpful, even if it did
take a little longer than they said at first. I then
posted my 2 application forms, 2 passport photos, my
passport, my visa fee, a SSAE and a covering letter to the
Iranian Embassy and received my passport back within 6
working days. Easy!". Also see the other
travellers' reports below.
Currency...
The Turkish
restaurant car accepts Turkish lira, US dollars & euros, but not Iranian Rials. The Lake Van ferry accepts both Lira and Rials,
and it is reported that Lira can be exchanged for Rials on
board the ferry. The restaurant car on the Iranian
train will accept Iranian Rials or euros, but not Turkish
lira. There is no
exchange possible on board the train or at the frontier, but
the train stops for 1-2 hours at Tabriz and euros or US
dollars (but not Turkish lira) can be exchanged for Rials
there. Rials are freely available at
banks and exchange bureaux in Ankara and may be available in
Istanbul.
Planning your
trip...
If you are new
to independent travel, it may seem daunting to plan a trip
like this, but it's really not that difficult. It can
help to plan your itinerary using a simple spreadsheet, to
work out a budget and make sure you book the right trains on
the right dates.
How to plan an itinerary & budget.
The 'Trans-Asia Express'
from Istanbul to Tehran... Photo
courtesy of Arjan Veersma
The Trans-Asia Express in Eastern Turkey....
Photo courtesy of Arjan
Veersma
The Trans-Asia Express arrives at Tatvan where
passengers transfer to the ferry across Lake Van.
From Istanbul to Tatvan, the coaches are modern,
smooth-riding air-conditioned 'TVS2000' 4-berth couchette cars
built in Turkey. Photo courtesy of Arjan
Veersma.
The Iranian baggage van (but not the passenger coaches)
is
shunted onto the Lake Van ferry. Passengers have
to board using the passenger gangway. Photo
courtesy of Bob Johnson.
Above: Sunset on Lake Van. At Van on the other end of the lake, passengers leave
the ferry and board a second train to complete the
journey to Tehran. You'll need to briefly leave
the train for passport formalities at the
Turkish-Iranian border.
Photos courtesy of
Chris Blanchard.
Above:
The Van-Tehran train is Iranian, and also has modern
air-conditioned couchette cars with 4-berth
compartments. Above right: The Iranian train's
restaurant car. Basic meals are included in the
fare on the Iranian train, served in your compartment
free of charge, but you my prefer to buy more extensive
meals in the restaurant car. The food is
incredibly cheap.
Photos courtesy of Bob
Johnson.
Above: 4-berth
sleeper on the Iranian train.
Photo
courtesy of Andy Mac
Above: The
Iranian train from Van to Tehran.
Photo
courtesy of Andy Mac
Above: Tehran railway
station. Don't worry if you arrive a few hours
late!
Traveller
Leon White
reports (March 2009): I can recommend a
spectacular travel agency that was able to give clear and
honest advice over the phone and actually book a train
ticket from Tehran to Istanbul within a few minutes.
This after one agency in Tehran tried to rip me off for over
double the ticket price, the official train webpage returned
countless errors, and other agencies alternately told me it
was sold out until April, that I couldn't travel together
with my sister or that I need to call Iranian directory
assistance to make a booking (also didn't work,
incidentally). The Donyaye Parvaz agency in Esfahan
was able to book the train from Tabriz to Istanbul, and told
me that it is not possible to book to any other destination
in Turkey because of the Iranian system, but if you get off
before Istanbul the ticket can be exchanged for a local
Turkish ticket for the remainder of the journey. The
agency address & phone number are:
Donyaye Parvaz
Chahr Bagh-e Bala
Esfahan
(just behind the Suite Hotel coming from the north over
Si-o-Seh Pol Bridge)
+98 311 66731015
Traveller
Jim Minton
reports (December 2008): We'd
definitely recommend the trip to anyone, and would start by
saying that travellers should have no fears as everything is
very easy, extremely comfortable and is fascinating for
every moment, despite the length of time. Thanks to
the recommendation of Seat 61 and other travellers we too
used Turista travel in Istanbul. They could only buy the
tickets one month in advance of our travel date and we paid
in advance (faxing credit card info and passport details was
all that was required), and when we arrived in Istanbul a
couple of days before departure the tickets were waiting for
us.
The tickets had
reserved carriage numbers, but when we got on the train the
guard just showed us to a random empty compartment. There
were plenty of these on the Turkish leg of the journey. The
cabins are for 4, but there was room for every traveller to
either have one to themselves or between 2. They don't have
water, but do have power points so you can listen to music
or charge phones! Don't worry about stocking up on too much
food, as the restaurant car is excellent and cheap, and
includes plenty of veggie options (omelettes etc). There are
also chances to buy fruit and bread when the train stops.
The journey was
smooth, though slow, and there was one very significant
delay which is apparently a regular one: just beyond Kayseri
we were held up for around 7 hours while the army searched
the track ahead to ensure it was clear of kurdish separatist
bombs. The line was clear fortunately, and we were assured
it was just a precaution. It did mean that we crossed lake
Van in the dark rather than the light, and of course we
didn't make up the time the rest of the journey, but was an
inconvenience rather than anything else - and at least we
were stopped in a small village so we could get supplies
from the shops and talk to locals!
The ferry journey
is straightforward, and the boat waits for the train to
arrive - there is no way you can get left behind! On the
ferry you CAN change money (a last chance to get rid of
turkish lira, but also euros and dollars) with the chap who
runs the buffet, and the rates seemed to be pretty fair.
Although you are still in Turkey when you get on the other
train at the end of the ferry, to intents and purposes it is
Iran. The buffet only accepts Iranian money and the staff
are all farsi speakers. Again, let the guard show you to a
compartment - don't worry what it says on your ticket. There
were more travellers on this leg of the journey (almost all
Iranians) so compartments are not as plentiful and some
people ended up sharing, but couples tended to be given a
berth to themselves. Again, its comfortable, and although
the heating is erratic it was never cold.
The border
crossing was very straightforward, though as we were so
late, it was about 1.30 am by the time we crossed, making
everyone - including the guards - a bit cold and grumpy. We
had to queue for a bit on the turkish side to get an exit
stamp, then we got back on the train, to be woken an hour or
so later by the Iranian officials. This time we didn't have
to disembark, and they took our passports for about 20
minutes before returning them safely stamped. Of course, you
MUST have a visa - you won't get one at the border.
Customs took
place at Tabriz - the first stop in Iran, about 10.00 in the
morning. This took about 2 hours, but on our train it was
only the Iranians who were searched. None of the (few)
tourists on the train were even asked to show their bags to
anyone. Some Iranians had goods confiscated, and although we
weren't searched, I think you'd be foolhardy to bring in
alcohol or anything else which is likely to be frowned upon
- after 60 hours or so, you don't want to be sent back
across the border!!
The journey from
Tabriz to Tehran was long, but done at a reasonable pace.
The buffet on the Iranian train was nowhere near as good as
the Turkish one, though in our case this was blamed on the
delay to the train causing the chef to be unable to make hot
food (hmmmm). People were extremely friendly all the
way, and if you bring playing cards, dominoes or backgammon,
you'll be eagerly joined by Turks and Iranians in the
communal areas, which is a great way of finding out about
the countries as well as passing the time. Women do need to
wear headscarves on the Iranian train, which is just one of
the things to get used to in Iran.
An advantage of
making some friends on the train meant that when we arrived
at Tehran at 3am someone helpfully sorted a taxi out for us,
and the station is pretty central so all the hotels are
within easy ride. We spent 12 days in Iran and found
it a great country to visit - not without its quirks, but
really hospitable. The train journey was a fantastic
adventure, and great fun
Traveller Fraser
Lewry
reports (July 2008): I ordered my Iranian
visa through
www.iranianvisa.com, which cost only €30.
It took about three weeks to get the authorisation code - a
week to make the money transfer via Moneybookers, and
another two to get the code itself. All in all, pretty
smooth, with good communication, prompt responses etc.
As for the Trans-Asia Express tickets, I went through
Tur-ISTA as advised, and was able to pick up my train ticket
in Istanbul without any problems. The journey itself was a
treat, especially the section across Lake Van, although the
timetable obviously can't be relied on - we arrived in
Tehran more than 12 hours late. I booked London -
Istanbul through europeanrail.com, which, once again, went
without problem.
Traveller Kester Dampney
reports (March 2008) that there were plenty of seats
left available on departure from Istanbul, and he had a
4-berth compartment to himself. "Something else
to note is that British people are rounded up at the
Iranian border, taken off the train and finger-printed. We
weren't sure what was happening at first (kidnap, arrest,
deportation?!) but it was all ok, though the
officials didn't explain it in English!"
Traveller Chris Blanchard
reports (Sept 2006):
I bought my east bound train ticket from
Ankara to
Tehran at
Istanbul Haydarpasa train station, without any problems.
The ticket office will need to see your passport and Iranian
visa before issuing the ticket. I got my ticket 4 days
before travel. I gather that places on eastbound
trains are more readily available than on westbound trains,
and making the reservation well in advance is strongly
recommended. On boarding the train in
Ankara, I was guided to the
couchette by the on-board staff, which I was sharing with an
Iranian couple coming back from their holidays in
Turkey.
They took me on as their son for the next three days of the
journey. To make life easy going it is wise to bring along
pictures of family and your own food as well, as it is
highly appreciated and very normal that you share what you
have! Despite bringing food along, the meals you can
buy in the train are very reasonably priced (both Turkish
and Iranian trains) and drinking tea all day long is normal.
Food was distributed free of charge at certain points on the
Iranian train, and breakfast and dinner could be served in
your cabin, if you would like this. Being a foreigner
on the train, it really opens doors to other people who
would like to talk to you, practice their English and show
how hospitable and friendly they are (this is genuine
hospitability and a big shock when compared to our
westernized views). Having been invited to a lot of
the compartments I was happy that I could retire to my berth
and sleep at the end of my first day on board the train.
This of course applied to the rest of my journey as well.
Having arrived safely in Tatvan (after coming very close to
a tornado) to board the ferry across Lake Van, I managed to
arrange to get a shower on the ferry (there are no showers
on the Turkish or Iranian trains), which was really nice
after two days without washing. As the Turkish train was
about 5 hours late, I witnessed one of the most beautiful
sunsets I have ever seen in my life over
Lake Van! On arrival
in Van we boarded the Iranian train, which ran to schedule
more accurately than the Turkish train. Raja Trains is
in the process of phasing out the old sleeper trains, and is
replacing them with newer types that are more luxurious and
comfortable than the Turkish trains. Despite this, they
still operate some old rolling stock as well.
The best place to change your foreign
currency to Iranian Rials (including British Pounds!!!!!) is
at the
Tabriz train
station. They are really friendly, speak English and
are very fast and accurate. It is also the easiest way
to become an instant millionaire (by Iranian standards, as
100 euro = 1,000,000 Iranian Rials).
The only hiccup during the journey was the Turkish border
police, as it took them more than 5 hours to check all
passports, stamp and return them, whilst the Iranians took
no longer than 1 hour for the same job. All in all,
this has been one of the most amazing train journeys, in
terms of the people onboard and the landscapes you pass,
that I am looking forward to do it again in the near future.
Traveller John Stubbs reports: I found the
Iran Travelling Centre,
www.irantravelingcenter.com/contact.htm
gave very good and reliable service. I used them to
get all my RAJA train tickets (including the Trans Asia
Express in both directions), and hotel reservations. I just
sent them, by email, a detailed itinerary of what I wanted
and they soon sent me back an itemised invoice. The
Iran Travelling Centre invoices all its accounts in US
dollars which presents payment difficulties in view of the
embargo on sending US dollar to Iran. However, the Iran
Travelling Centre banks with Melli Bank who happen to have a
branch in London (www.mellibank.co.uk).
If you telephone the bank and ask for ‘cash and payments’
department, the staff there, who are very helpful, will
advise you on how to transfer the money from your own bank
account. Once Bank Melli in London receives your payment it
is transferred to the Iran Travelling Centre’s account
branch in Shiraz within the next two working days.
Upon receipt of the money by the Iran Travelling Centre,
your train tickets are booked and hotel reservations
made straight away. If you are asking them to book an
international ticket (eg Trans Asia Express) you will need
to email the travel agency a scan of the photograph page in
your passport. Once booked all the tickets and hotel
vouchers are then dispatched by DHL to what ever postal
address you give the agency. Ask the agency to email you the
DHL Tracking Number once they have dispatched the package so
that you can check its progress. I found that within about
10-14 days of sending the money, I had all the tickets/hotel
vouchers in my possession. Making travel arrangements
in this way is certainly more expensive than doing
everything on location if only because of bank charges and
travel agent’s fees. However, I found it well worthwhile to
have the security of confirmed reservations as it eliminated
a lot of time that would have been spent queuing for tickets
and searching for hotels.
Traveller Bob Johnson reports: We used
iranianvisa.com (note no www) whose proprietor, Hassan,
was honest and helpful in facilitating our visas, which we
ordered on line 1 month before collecting them from the
Iranian Embassy in Ankara. We are British passport
holders. They cost 115 euros each and only got us 15 days
in Iran. It was not difficult to get them extended, for
another 30 days, in Esfahan.
We bought our Ankara-Tehran train tickets at window 7 at
Ankara station using a UK Visa card, and reservations were
issued for compartments in both the Turkish and Iranian
trains. Although they did, in fact, have identical
accommodation, it was a bit of a scrum when we got off the
(very late) ferry and tried to find our berths late at
night on the waiting Iranian train (numbered in Farsi!),
although it turned out OK for us.
A traveller reports on a
westbound trip in
May 2005: We managed to find a travel agency who
said they would book the train tickets and send them to us
by DHL - which they did. I now think most agencies in
Iran would do this, but we enjoyed our long email
correspondence (!) with this one based in Shiraz :
www.irantravelingcenter.com. I forget how much this
cost, but it wasn't much and we thought it was worth it to
have the tickets in our hands before we left the UK.
We went to the station in
Tehran a day early to ask about departure and find the
right place. We were told to come at 2pm on the day,
around 3 hours before departure, to do the customs stuff.
This was completely unnecessary as it only took a few
minutes, and even those checking huge amounts of luggage
in for the baggage van were dealt with quite quickly.
The Iranian train was really
nice and old-fashioned and when we got going the views and
scenery were great..! It WAS slow, and there were long
delays on the Iranian side of the border as 2 people were
sent back to Tehran for having an expired visa, plus 1
suspected forged passport. But you certainly got to know
people and there was a good atmosphere on the train. The
endless cups of tea brought your compartment by the staff
didn't go amiss.
Sadly, the crossing of Lake
Van from this direction happens at dead of night..! We
were very disappointed, as the scenery up until dark had
been fantastic - great views of other lakes at dusk. My
friend forgot her annoyance at the delays and longeurs and
vowed to do the journey in the other direction to make the
crossing in daylight. So the ferry crossing was a
bit of a nightmare as we were exhausted.
The charming Iranians who had taken us under their wing
helped to carry our baggage and got us installed
painlessly on the train on the other side, which otherwise
was a mad scramble with no pretence of keeping to any
allocated seat numbers. The Turkish train was all
fibreglass and plastic, after the rather quaint and homely
Iranian one. But there's no denying the staff were
efficient and the timetable was actually kept to. The
food was really good too (it seemed even more gorgeous
after 2 days of bread and cheese!) though shockingly
expensive after Iran prices. It was great to arrive
at Haydarpasa station and then get straight onto a ferry
amid those spectacular Istanbul views. All in all a
great trip and one we have very fond memories of.
Iran has a good and growing rail network linking the
main cities. Many trains have air-conditioning.
First and second class is provided, usually converting to
4 or 6 berth sleepers for overnight travel.
To find train times in Iran...
To find train times in Iran,
go to
www.raja.ir,
and click the 'house' logo. On the next page click
'English' top right. For schedules, click the
'train' tab top right, then click 'schedules'. On
the next page, click the orange 'train schedule' link.
Tehran to Esfahan...
One of the
most historic and beautiful cities in Iran, train service
to Esfahan is shown below:
Tehran ► Esfahan
Esfahan ► Tehran
Daily
Daily
Tehran depart:
22:40
Esfahan depart:
22:50
Esfahan arrive:
06:10
Tehran arrive:
06:15
This train has
air-conditioned first class 4-berth sleepers and 2nd class
seats.
Buy tickets at
the station, remembering to take along your passport.
There is a weekly train with
couchettes/sleeping-cars and restaurant car from Tehran &
Tabriz via Lake Van in Turkey (where passengers leave the
Iranian train, take a ferry and join a Syrian train at the
other side) to Aleppo & Damascus in Syria. Fares are
not expensive. Times and fares are available at
www.tcdd.gov.tr (click 'English' then 'passenger' then
'trains to the Middle East'). Also try
www.raja.ir
(click the 'house' logo then 'English' top right) and
www.cfssyria.org.
Traveller's reports:
Traveller Pol O Gradaigh reports
"The Syrian sleepers were fairly wrecked; in a couple of the
compartments it was impossible to resurrect the seating, and
only the beds could be used. On the other hand, the beds
were extremely comfortable. Also, the compartments each had
two beds but side-by-side compartments have a connecting
door, so a party of three of four could travel together
The Syrians provided food free of charge, but it was mostly
composed of packets of biscuits, packed croissants etc. The
exception was lunch the first day, which was some sort of
chicken curry out of the fridge, very partially warmed up.
Teabags were provided but not hot water! The moral of the
story seems to be to bring your own food, especially if you
feel the need for fruit or vegetables. There are shops
selling drinks and sandwiches just outside the station in
Aleppo, and grocery and vegetable stalls just outside the
station yard in Meydan Ekbez. On the Iranian train,
full meals were available for about $2.00 each (according to
the Iranians, they are free on the Tehran-Damascus return
run). The train crossed the Iranian border about 1.00am. All
this involved was an Iranian policeman coming on board,
collecting the passports and coming back with them after a
while. The Syrian border was similar. At the two Turkish
border crossings it was necessary to get off the train. All
the crossings were painless except for entering Turkey,
which involved extremely rude officials and delays while the
customs officers (oddly, responsible for collecting the visa
fee) hunted for their forms and stamps."
Traveller David Kennedy reports
on an Aleppo-Tehran train trip in 2007: "We
booked, though were not allowed to pay for, our onward
sleeper from Aleppo to Tehran a week ahead. Our names
were entered onto an official-looking form by the
international train ticket sales chap and we were told to
return by 10am on the morning of departure. On our return a
week later there were a few hundred people in the booking
hall waiting for the Tehran train. All the sleeping berths
had long since been allocated and we were still just in time
to bag a pair of seats. So a week in advance is too early
and the morning of departure is too late to guarantee a
berth or seat. The carriages are fairly wretched, but
luckily our car was primarily made up of Syrians also going
to Iran for a fortnight's holiday. There was a great party
atmosphere and to some extent this made up for not having
the expected sleeper berths. We left around two hours
late. The Syrians were intrigued and somewhat amused by our
notion that there was a timetable - the RAJA printout a good
ice breaker in fact. The Aleppo-Tehran train leaves on
Monday and that's all you need to know. Two hours out of
Aleppo one of the two old US diesels broke down and so half
the train decamped to picnic and we were welcome to join
in. Food is also provided just as Pol O Gradaigh reports,
but take additional water, fruit and veg if you don't care
for cold tinned processed meat. It was well after dawn the
next day when we got to Malatya in Turkey and the scenery
from here on through to Mus is spectacular. Worth the price
of admission alone I'd say. We got to Tatvan about six
hours behind schedule. We'd missed the boat and no one
cared if it reappeared that night or the next morning.
Being up-tight London commuters, unable to accept such a
lack of info and keen to avoid another night
in uncomfortable seats, we rather harangued the Turkish
guards billeted watch over us until we got an answer. The
boat was coming with in the hour, we crossed lake Van that
night and I can report that the deck of the lake Van ferry
is more uncomfortable and a not a little cooler than an air
conditioned train. The Syrian's partied on, singing,
dancing and eating. We arrived in Van at dawn. The
Iranian trains are modern, clean four-berth compartment
sleepers. There is a restaurant car. The reservation you
get given in Aleppo bears no relation to the train so you
sit/sleep where you will. The guards, in an effort to avoid
having Muslim women in together with unrelated men will lump
random single men in with obviously western women. If you
don't care for this simply stand your ground, they're not
fierce. We received a small rebate and a free tin of tuna
as the in-compartment entertainment system, complete with
LCD TV, had failed throughout the train. I'd like to tell
you what the trip was like from here on but after two nights
without sleep we nodded off all the way to Tabriz. To
change money, the easiest place would seem to be your first
major stop, Tabriz. There's a bank staffed by Eng Lit
masters. They quoted T.S. Eliot as I changed my money.
You'll find Iran is a bit like that if you've not been
before. We arrived in Tehran at dawn the day after we were
scheduled to arrive, around twelve hours late. In Tehran we
wanted to book a train back through to Istanbul in three
week's time but were told that, as it was holiday season,
all the trains (and almost all flights) were full. It
seems one could use a local agency to book train tickets in
advance from the UK. We used Mohajeri on Nejatolahi street
in Tehran (mohajeri.com +98 (21) 8882 1990 - beware Iranian
phone numbers change constantly) to get us out of the
country via the weekly flight out of Tabriz (our tickets
subsequently voided at the gate but that's another story)
and they told us they could have got Iranian train tickets
ready for us if we'd called ahead from the UK. We had
partial success getting tickets for travel around Iran
whilst we were there. In this regard, outside of Tehran, a
little Farsi goes a long way and it isn't half as difficult
as Arabic. The standard of trains is high, the run to time
and they are exceptionally cheap so, as you'd expect then,
they get fully booked.
Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable
Train, bus and ferry times for
every country of Asia, Africa, America and Australasia are shown
in the famous Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable, published every
two months. It's essential for every serious overland
traveller, and an inspiration for armchair travellers!
Always
take a good guidebook - I've found that
the Lonely Planet or Rough Guides are easily the best out there for
independent travellers. They seem to be researched in
much greater depth than most other guidebooks, and unlike many
other books which seem to be tailored to one end of the market
or the other, the Lonely Planets offer a range of suggestions
for low-budget, mid-range and up-market travellers.
This covers
Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Israel and several other
countries.
Travel insurance...
Get insured...
Never travel overseas without travel insurance from a reliable
insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover
cancellation and loss of cash (up to a limit) and belongings.
An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
Columbus Direct or
Go Travel Insurance, or go to
Confused.com to run a price comparison on a whole range of
travel insurance providers for your dates of travel, seeing
their policy's features at a glance..
Get a pre-paid currency MasterCard from Caxton FX...
You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX currency card, available in euros, dollars or the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' card.
Find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up a £1,000 bill
in data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. It
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also works for laptop or PDA data
access. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If
you're resident in
Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, try
If you're resident in the USA or Canada, try
