Iran - no visa without a guide for British passport holders
 

It seems that as a British citizen you cannot even obtain a visa without booking onto an organised tour with a guide who you must be with throughout your entire journey through Iran. This is if you take your own vehicle or not. Your visa will not be considered without the tour booking.

I am interested to hear if any British, Canadian or Americans have been through Iran in the past year and who you used for your guide, costs and recommendations. I've tried searing the HUBB and the internet but am struggling to find any recent info from people who have needed a guide. Maybe this is because Brits aren't going through Iran now because of this?

My wife and I are really looking forward to visiting Iran but the thought of having to spend every minute of the trip with a guide on an organised tour takes the spontaneity of the trip away. Not to mention the additional cost.

We are looking to go later this year and appreciate any feedback from people who have been recently

You may wanna contact Lois:
http://www.loisontheloose.com/my-adventures/iran/

Greets

Claudio


Gesendet von meinem iPhone mit Tapatalk

AFAIK Lois got her visa just before the new rule came into force.

There are quite a few posts about this subject (Iran usually comes under the 'Middle East' forum) so it's worth searching. There us a guy called Hossein in Orumiyeh who I think has arranged things for a few people. Try a thorough search or just trawl through threads on the ME and Trip Planning forums.

EO

Thanks for the reply guys.

Managed to locate some info on Hossein and have sent an email, hopefully he can help.

Guide or No Guide
 

husband and myself (NZ passports) entered on 650cc bikes with Carnets from UAE to Iran by ferry.

When we applied for visas in NZ we gave the embassy an outline itinerary of our proposed route. We had substantial assistance from local Iranians in Bandar Abass on arrival. We would not recommend going in via UAE. It's expensive each bike was almost US$400 EACH. This is more than anything we gleaned from internet.

We spent three weeks travelling without a guide and we tried wherever possible to stay off the busiest highways and out of the larger cities.

We were stopped repeatedly by police checkpoints in the south east and north west. Sometimes they justed wanted to look at the bikesand shake hands but at other times passports and documents. And in north west twice we were escorted to the police stations for these checks.

In general the police were perplexed but polite and on these two occasions we called an Iranian friend with good english who spoke on our behalf.

Tomorrow we leave Orumiyeh to cross to Turkey.

Our blog
marco-ursala.blogspot.com
has plenty if detail about the Dubai hassles as well as our grand adventure.

Ursala