Entry Level
Cultural
Transfers
8 Nights
4 - 12
Group size
Leaders
On this unique holiday you’ll tour the palaces and Grand Bazaar of Tehran and experience the amazing architecture of Yazd, Shiraz and Isfahan.
This cultural tour takes us on a journey through the very best that Iran has to offer; incorporating its exquisite architectural achievements, peaceful mosques, glistening mosaics, blooming gardens, lavish palaces and Zoroastrian fire temples.
You’ll discover the ancient ruins of the greatest empire the world has ever seen, fresh yoghurts with sizzling meats, glorious tapestries, meandering labyrinthine bazaars, windswept desert plains, and the legendary hospitality of its people.
(Available as a small group tour or tailor-made holiday)
To learn more about what it is like traveling in Iran, see our Journal post here.
Each of the cities, towns, villages and even a desert camp we visit have their own unique personalities and hidden treasures, including: Tehran – with its Grand Bazaar and the incredibly opulent palaces of the Shahs; Shiraz – home to the world famous Pink Mosque and other architectural wonders; Persepolis – Seat of the Persian Empire which encompassed almost half of humanity.
Isfahan – its Jame Mosque considered by many to be the pinnacle of Islamic architecture; Yazd – the famous and picturesque Zoroastrian desert city, surviving its harsh environment via water irrigation channels and elegant windcatchers; and many more – including exploring the wilderness via a camel ride in the desert. Add to this the immense variety of Persian cuisine and an incredibly friendly people eager to share their culture, and you have an adventure you will never forget.
The UK Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) currently advise against travel to Iran. As such, the dates showing for this adventure are dependent on a change to the situation and Iran being assessed as safe to visit. We are happy to keep you updated on when this is the case so please do let us know if you are interested in this wonderful itinerary.
Transfer
Lunch
Dinner
4 star hotel
You will be greeted at Imam Khomeini International Airport by both your YellowWood & local guides, to be transferred to your 4* hotel in Tehran to relax and freshen up. We will then enjoy our first group dinner together, discovering the delicious cuisine of Iran in a recommended restaurant in the city.
Flights
Transfer
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
4 star hotel
The capital of Iran, Tehran, is a fascinating, liberal and dynamic city at the base of the Alborz Mountains, which you can see on its skyline. It is the perfect place to start our journey and is full of delights such as the Ahmad Shahi Pavillion in the great wooded Niavaran complex in the North of the city. Home to the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, it has been kept in fabulous condition and houses an array of fascinating souvenirs and ornaments giving insight into how Reza Pahlavi lived and worked.
We visit the UNESCO World Heritage 'Golestan Palace' and the other royal buildings in the gardens of Royal Qajar complex of the preceding dynasty; some of the oldest historical buildings in the city and perhaps one of the most spectacular sites you will see on your adventure. For a change of pace we then head to the bustling and vibrant Bazaar before lunch.
This afternoon we drive to Mehrabad airport for our flight to Shiraz; one of the best tourism destinations in Iran. (Flight included).
Transfer
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
3 star hotel
Visiting the lush Eram Gardens gives us a wonderful start to our time in Shiraz. It is one of the most beautiful Persian gardens in all Iran, with fragrant flowers, cypress trees (one said to be 3000 years old!), and a beautiful 3 storey pavilion.
The beauty doesn’t end here - we move on to the stunning Nasir ol Molk Mosque (1888), better known to the world as the ‘Pink Mosque’. Its incandescent mosaics and stained glass windows cast a rainbow of colours into the interior, as the sunlight shines through them. It is a celebration of Islamic heritage with its design showcasing Islamic art, architecture, and tile making.
We dine and stay in Shiraz this evening.
Transfer
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
3 star hotel
Driving out of the city into the dry deserts of Iran, we are heading towards one of the greatest historical sites in the world! Persepolis was the ancient capital of the Persian Empire, before it was mostly destroyed by Alexander the Great in retribution for the burning of Athens. In 480 BC, under the Persian Achaemenid Empire, it ruled the greatest ever percentage of the global population (around 44%) making it the largest empire in history.
Wonder at the stone carvings and proud pillars before we drive 20mins to Necropolis to see the tombs of 5 great Achaemenid kings, including Darius and Xerxes. Last on our itinerary today (1hr drive) is the magnificent monumental tomb of Sirius the Great, at Pasargadae.
From here we head right into the heart of Iran (6 hr drive), arriving at the ancient desert city of Yazd before dinner, to stay in our hotel… dug into the ground to keep rooms cool!
Transfer
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
3 star hotel
The Zorastrian religion, which pre-dates Islam, is one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions, founded in ancient Iran around 3500 years ago. Whilst it used to be the official Persian religion, today there are less than 190,000 followers worldwide.
We visit the Tower of Silence and a fire temple where Zorastrians worship, believing that fire represents God’s light or wisdom. The fire here has been kept alight continuously since 470AD! The city’s 12th Century AD ‘Jame’ (town centre) Mosque, with its minarets soaring above the city (they are the highest in the country), is still used today and showcases some of the finest Persian mosaics.
Finish today on a high with a rooftop dinner, watching the sun go down amid the city’s windcatchers, for which it is famous.
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
3 star hotel
Our destination today is Isfahan, a picturesque city that was once one of the largest and most important in Central Asia, due to its location at a crossroads on N-S and E-W trade routes. It is a 3 hour journey by car but we pause en route to look at the mud-brick Narin castle in Meybod. Though crumbling (parts of the settlement date back to 4000BC!), it is still imposing and gives an interesting view showing the development of the city around it.
We also visit the Jame mosque and Pirnia house in Nain. This is a great opportunity to discover some of the smaller towns of Iran and meet the local people there. We will of course be continuing to discover the country’s delicious foods in many different types of local restaurants.
We finish off the day relaxing in the the calming atmosphere of beautiful Isfahan.
Transfer
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
We partake in a full-day excursion in Isfahan to visit it’s cultural highlights, including Naqsh-e Jahan Square, Ali Qapu Palace, Imam Mosque and the Sheikh lotfollah mosque and Bazaar, before heading to Hasht Behesht and Chehel Sotun Palace.
Of course, having a relaxing day at the local Hamam baths, or walking around the many beautiful gardens of the Safavid Palaces is also an option, and you are free to see as much or as little as you like, but we would recommend the Jame Mosque - it is not to be missed!
After dinner this evening we can walk down to the famous bridges where many of the city’s inhabitants congregate in the evenings before another comfortable night in our hotel.
Transfer
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
3 star hotel
It is well worth the early start and 2 hour drive towards Matin Abad Eco Resort in the desert this morning. We stop en-route to explore the unique Abiyaneh Village and the delicate and refined architecture of Kashan’s Fin Garden and Tabatabieha House. Built in around 1880 it belongs to the Tabatabaei family, one of the most affluent families of Kashan in the 19th Century. It is astonishingly symmetrical and one of the most beautiful examples of traditional Kashan houses.
When we reach the resort in the afternoon, you have the option of enjoying a camel ride out into the desert to enjoy the sunset and a camp fire, or relaxing in the café on the hotel terrace for the spectacle of the sun’s rays dipping below the horizon.. We will enjoy our last group dinner this evening, at the resort, where they serve delicious, organic and healthy dishes.
Transfer
Breakfast
Leaving the desert this morning concludes our cultural adventure! We have a 3 hour drive from the camp to the airport for flight departures.
If you would like to extend your visit with an additional night or more in Tehran, then we will be happy to arrange this for you.
Time to reflect on your adventure, and plan your next escape!
Single rooms are available on a first come, first served basis. We will charge on a pro-rata basis if a single room is only available for part of the trip.
Carbon Compensation is not the perfect solution, and it is important to first reduce our carbon emissions as much as we can, yet trees remain an excellent natural technology to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to slow global warming.
For every client and guide who attends a YellowWood Adventure, we donate £30 to our partner charity WeForest to plant 15 trees to (over) compensate for the carbon footprint of the tour.
We also invite our clients to match this with an optional additional £30 for another 15 trees to be planted to help compensate for the carbon footprint of their international flights.
WeForest run many tree planting and tree maintenance projects such as this seedling nursery in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil and many other projects in other countries including Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania & India.
Click Here to find out more about their amazing projects around the world.
We fully believe in, and practice Responsible Tourism, using hotels run by locals. We put time and effort into building our relationship with them to ensure you have a a great trip. We choose hotels based on cleanliness, comfort, safety, proximity to our route (to avoid unnecessary extra travel), and a warm client welcome, as well as reliability in their service to us. Wherever we can, we will choose smaller more characterful, individual hotels, but in areas where tourism is still developing, this may not be available.
Day 1 - 7: Tehran, Shiraz, Yazd & Isfahan: To spread the benefits of our group visiting, we use a range of hotels in Tehran, Shiraz, Yazd & Isfahan, which are of a consistently high quality (3 & 4*). You can expect ensuite rooms, air conditioning and wifi. Yazd is a unique desert city and temperatures during the summer can be very high. As a result, they have taken the initiative to build many of their higher end hotels into the ground to keep the building cool.
Day 8: Matin Abad Eco Resort (https://matinabad.com/en/). Tel: +98-21 88715232
We understand that it is useful to leave details of all your accommodation with friends/family whilst you are away, so before your trip we will email you a full list of the accommodation.
The temperature ranges that you may experience on this trip are significant and so in spite of air conditioning at hotels, and warm bedclothes as required, we recommend that you bring layers of clothing that can be worn separately to remain cool, or together, to warm up.
Unless you have booked a single room (where they are available) and paid the single room supplement for those nights, you will be sharing a twin room with another client (of the same gender).
Supporting you on your holiday will be an experienced, approachable and knowledgeable English speaking, Persian guide. This ensures you access to the right cultural information and support on your trip, with your Persian guide offering insight into local history, life and customs as well as ensuring the smooth running of your adventure.
Your group will be any number from our minimum group size of 4, up to a maximum of 12 clients. This number works really well with the ratio of guides, and ensures the optimum level of service to you during your adventure.
We get clients booking alone, as couples and in small groups of friends. If you have a group of friends or family who are interested in having their own customised trip, then please let us know and we can cost it for you.
Many of our adventures involve an element of hiking or trekking, but the focus for this adventure is exploring the lesser known cultural and historical sights of Iran. You need to be in good health and be happy to explore a city on foot, plus have an open mind to adventure travel, and experiencing different cultures to your own, first hand.
Your YellowWood adventure starts in Imam Khomeini International Airport. We understand that arriving into an unfamiliar airport can be very daunting, so we aim to give you as much information here as possible, to help you prepare.
Flights are not included in the cost of your holiday, except for the internal flight from Tehran to Shiraz, and whilst we are happy to help advise you, responsibility for booking the correct flights rests with you. We recommend that you use a comparison tool such as www.momondo.co.uk or www.skyscanner.net when searching for flights. We will send you a Flight Information Sheet with further pointers on which flights to book for your adventure.
For the latest travel advice from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office including security and local laws, plus passport and visa information, check www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice. We also receive notifications direct from the FCDO so we are always aware of the ‘status’ in our destination countries.
Imam Khomeini Airport is fully functioning and modern airport with the facilities that you would expect from an International Airport. You will not have to fill out a visa form on the plane, but ladies will need to put on their head scarves before disembarking. All tourists will need to purchase a visa at the airport on landing. Please ensure you read our Visa Section thoroughly and ask if you aren’t sure of anything.
So, before you are met by your guide &/ driver, who will have a sign with your name on, as well as the YellowWood logo, you have a couple of jobs to do!
Toilets can be found in the arrivals lounge.
On arrival at the your hotel, you will be welcome to settle into your room.
NB: Members of the group may land at different times if they are from diverse destinations. We all meet up at the hotel and have time to refresh before heading to a local restaurant for lunch and a trip briefing before our City Tour.
We use domestic flights with an Iranian National Airline to fly from Tehran to Shiraz on Day 2 of the holiday. This is an included flight that we will book and pay for on your behalf. Domestic flight baggage allowance is 30kg so has an impact on how much you bring with you on your international flights, as you will need to bring all your belongings with you from Tehran to Shiraz.
Your Persian guide will be travelling with you on the flight, should you have any concerns. Group transport will meet us on arrival in Shiraz and transport us to our hotel.
Holiday insurance is essential for all Yellow Wood Adventures. Unfortunately anyone without insurance is not able to take part in the holiday, so please make sure you arrange cover. We recommend sorting your insurance when you book so that if you have problems during the run up to your holiday, and need to cancel, you are covered, particularly in the light of effects that the pandemic has had on travel.
Prior to the holiday, we will ask you to send us details of your insurer, policy number, 24 hr emergency assistance contact details and the name, address, and telephone numbers of your NOK or persons to be notified in the event of an emergency.
Your insurance needs to cover you for the following fairly standard inclusions:
We would also recommend that you have cover for the following optional items:
For information on Iran, such as climate, weather, language, social norms, food & drink etc, please have a read of our Country specificinformation.
Ivona Donaldson
We went on a trip with YellowWood Adventure before so we knew it is going to be exceptional and it was. We had a very knowledgeable guide, our accommodation was always central, friendly and clean apart one night in the desert where we could gaze at the starts at night. That is also the only place I saw happy camels.Thank you for an excellent trip, it is one of the best holidays we had!
History & Architecture of Iran (prev. Iran Cultural Adventure), 2018
Richard Nierenberg
History & Architecture of Iran (prev. Iran Cultural Adventure), 2018
Alison Thomas, Sydney
We had a really good itinerary, and an Iranian guide who was happy to be flexible to accommodate preferences and opportunities. I could have spent more time in each of the destinations so you must have got the balance just right!
All adventures can be tailored as private bespoke trips.
Please contact us for more information:
+44 207 846 0197
Select dates: Choose the dates for your adventure and consider adding any extra adventures or add-ons to enhance your experience.
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Make Booking: Click on "Make Booking." If you're booking more than 56 days before your adventure, you'll be redirected to secure WorldPay to make your deposit. If it's 56 days or less before your adventure, you'll need to make full payment. Rest assured, your money is held securely by the Travel Trust Association.
Your booking will show as 'pending' in your YellowWood online account.
Confirmation: We'll be in touch as soon as possible to confirm your booking or discuss any availability limitations. Please refrain from booking transport or flights until we've emailed you to confirm your booking. (Note: Receipt of your booking form is not confirmation.)
Making payment: Once your booking is confirmed, we'll change the status of your final invoice from 'Pending Approval' to 'Outstanding,' indicating that it's ready for payment online.
You will receive a reminder email for your final payment 56 days before the departure date.
Feel free to contact us with any questions about your adventure or booking, we're here to help!
To help you choose the right adventure for you, we have given each itinerary a grading that relates to the level of Walking / Trekking you will experience during the trip. This grading can be found on the Yellow map on the adventure page of the website.
All of our trips involve a level of general activity so are designed for people who are in good health, enjoy the outdoors, and have a taste for adventure and some level of fitness. As will be clear from our destinations, the climate (and altitude) may be different to that which you are used to, so please take this into consideration when choosing the most suitable holiday.
Please read our Adventure Itinerary & Essential Information for more information and don't hesitate to contact us if you would like to chat through whether you have found a suitable adventure for you.
You need to be in good physical health to enjoy your active holiday, but you don’t need to be an experienced hiker. These itineraries offer a mix of sightseeing and easier walking for around 2-4hrs a day, with the emphasis on sights and cultural experiences.
Walks will be well marked or on defined pathways, and often around sites of interest. The expected amount of descent/ascent will depend on the landscapes of the destination, but will not exceed 400m/day, and will often be much less. Walks are at low altitude (below 3000m).
You will not be required to carry more than a day sack with water and essentials. Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have a pair of comfortable and worn in walking shoes/boots.
You need to have a good level of fitness and be a regular walker for these adventures, with ideally some trekking experience. You can expect to be walking for 3-6 hours per day, not including rest stops, normally on good trail paths but with some uneven surfaces at times.
You will not be required to carry more than a day sack. You may be walking in more challenging temperatures. You will generally be walking at low altitude (below 3000m) but may walk at altitudes up to 4000m. The amount of ascent could be up to 800m in a day but will frequently be less. You may walk on consecutive days.
Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have suitable clothing for this adventure.
You need to have a good level of fitness with previous experience of trekking. Extra training before your trip will ensure that you get the most out of your adventure. Areas will be remote and terrain uneven.
Expect to walk for 5 – 8 hours a day, not including breaks, with some very steep ascents and descents. You will be walking at altitude (over 3000m but not higher than 5000m).
Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have suitable equipment/clothing for this adventure (see the packing list for your adventure).
Please check individual itineraries for details of what you will need to be carrying with you.
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