20 Days Tour package

20 Days / 19 Nights tour package

Tehran – Qazvine – Takab – Kermanshah – Ahwaz – Shiraz – Kerman – Zeinoddine - Yazd – Esfahan  – Tehran

Flight to Tehran by  ………..

Arrival and transfer to hotel. Full day city tour of capital:

• Visiting Iran Bastan museum (Archeological museum): Object from prehistoric period to Sassanian VIIIth C. the potteries, cylinders, bone or stone made objects…
• Carpet museum: built in 1978, this museum gathered the carpets from Golestan & Saad’abad palaces…presenting both city and nomadic carpets from XVI th to XX th century.

• Crown Jewelry museum: a vast collection of jewelry with inestimable value.  
• Ceramic museum: once occupied by Qajar dynasty, Sa’d Abâd was once again rebuilt and put to use by Pahlavi during the period of 1920 to 1976… Visiting Green palace (Kakh-e Sabz), and white palace (Kakh-e Mêlât).

Overnight hotel Laleh.

Full day Excursion program:

Departure at 06:00 to Pollour village (60 km., but 2 hours route), then to dam of Latyan. Then to head for Gousfandsara (walking program on the foot of the Damavand mountain.

Lunch picnic.

We will continue our road to Reyneh village and it’s thermal springs. Visiting of village. Return to Tehran around 20:00.

Overnight hotel Laleh.

Departure to Qazvine (was Persian capital from 1524-76). The region’s greatest attraction is the fabled ruin of Alamut Castle, Hassan-e Sabbah’s famous fortress site. The site is a dramatic crag rising abruptly above the pleasant, unpretentious little cherry-growing village of Gazor Khan…

Return to Qazvine for visiting:

• Jameh Mosque, built in 1115, but extensively remodeled in the early 17^th century, and has huge iwans and a fine marble mihrab…

Overnight hotel Alborz.

Departure to Takab, on the way visiting of:

• Soltanyeh (Town of the Sultan’s), was purpose-built by the Ilkhanid Mongols as their Persian capital from 1302.  But less than a century later in 1384 it was largely destroyed by Tamerlane. Fortunately three fine monuments survived, one of them is the magnificent Oljaito Mausoleum…

Then to Zanjan city, and to visiting:

• Rakhtshor-khaneh: built in 1926 but looking considerably older, the unique, unmarked Rakhtshor-khaneh is a dome-and-column subterranean hall whose water channels were originally constructed as a public laundry-place.

And then to Takab city.

Overnight hotel Ranji.

Full day visit of Takht-e Soleyman:

Sitting in a high, lonely bowl of mountains ringed by 1500-year-old fortress walls, this Unesco World Heritage site in one of the most memorable sights of western Iran.

In the 3^rd century AD the state religion of Sassanian Persia was Zoroastrianism and Takht-Soleyman (then called Azargoshasb) was its spiritual centre …

Overnight hotel Ranji.

Drive to Kermanshah; on the way visiting of:

• Bisotoun: at Bisotoun the cliffs are inscribed with a series of world-famous bas-relief carving dating from 521 BC. They were awarded UNESCO recognition in 2006. The key feature is a well-preserved Darius the great receiving chained supplicants while a Farvahar (winged Zoroastrian angel denoting purity) hovers overhead…

Arrival in Kermanshah and visiting of Taq-e Bostan: a towering cliff inscribed with some extraordinary Sassanian bas-reliefs. They are set in and around a pair of carved alcoves:

• Coronation of Khosrow II (AD 590-628)
• Kings Shapour II and Shapour III twiddling their sword handles on their heads
• King Ardashir II (r AD 379-383) trampling on the defeated Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate…

Overnight hotel Azadeghan.

Departure to Ahwaz; on the way visiting of:

Susa: an important Elamite city from about the middle of the 3^rd millennium BC, Susa was burnt around 640 BC by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, but regained prominence in 521 BC when Darius I set it up as the Achaemenid’ fortified winter capital.

• Palace of Darius the Great: That is now just a muddy rise on which a 30cm-high labyrinth of brick-and-wattle wall fragments marks the former room layout…
• Tomb of Daniel: As in a typical imamzadeh, Muslim pilgrims crowed the glittery interior of the tomb of Daniel, kissing the zarih grate around a green-draped grave slab.
• Choqa Zanbil Ziggurat: One of Iran’s UNESCO World Heritage sites, Choqa Zanbil’s magnificent brick Ziggurat is the best surviving example of Elamite architecture anywhere…

Dinning and overnight hotel Pars.

Drive to Shiraz via Bishabour:

It was the grand capital of possibly the greatest of the Sassanian kings, Shapour I. Shapour and his armies defeated the Romans three times, and much of Bishabour was built by Romans taken captive after their Emperor Valerian was defeated in AD 260…  visiting of:

• Palace of Shapour
• Anahita’s Temple
• And six large bas-reliefs commemorating, among other historical moments, Shapour’s investiture as king and his victory over Roman invaders…
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Overnight hotel Pars.

A.M. Full day Excursion to Persepolis:

• Persepolis – capital of achemenains (518 B.C.):

This site of ruins was considered the capital of empire for 2 consecutive centuries. Visiting the entrance staircase of Persepolis; through the Gate of Nations, we have access to the palaces of Darius the Great, Xerxes and Artaxerxes, palace of hundred columns and Apadana.

300 meters of staircases with the walk decorated by bas-reliefs representing submitted countries peoples.

• About 4 Km of Persepolis one of the most important achemenians and Sassanian sites in Iran. It was there, in the mountain Kuh e- Hossein that Darius the first and three of his successors have chosen for building their tombs upon it. Visiting Naqsh –e Rostam: visiting the tombs of four of the achemenian kings: Darius the 1^st.  , Artaxerxes the 1^st., Xerxès the 1^st.,  and   Darius the 2^nd.   

PM. Visiting:

• Hafiz and Saadi mausolums: lots of Iranians consider these monuments the most important landmarks across Shiraz.

Dinner in a traditional restaurant.

Exploring the poetic capital of Iran:

• Bagh-e –Narendjestân (Narendjestân garden)“ is one of the most beautiful house of Shiraz. Situated in a garden, it was reconstructed by one of Shiraz’s aristocratic families of merchant class in 19^th century…
• Nasir-ol Molk Mosque: mosque with 2 iwans, prayers halls with numerous coloumns and lighted by colored glasses, specification of Qâdjâr dynasty…

• House of Governor of Shiraz
• Regent mosque (Vakil): mosque with 2 iwans, built in XVIII th century. 
• Citadel (Arg) : fortificated citadel, brick-made,  quadrangular form…

Departure to Kerman. On the way visiting of:

• Sarvestan Palace, a Sassanian palace, built in 4^th century
• Jameh Mosque of  Neyriz city.

Overnight hotel Pars.

Full day excursion for visiting of:

• Mahan city: visit of the splendid dome over the Aramgah-e Shah Nematollah Vali, the mausoleum of a well-known Sufi dervish, is one of the most recognizable images of eastern Iran.
• Bagh-e Shazdeh (Prince Garden)
• Rayen: the demise of Bam has been the rebirth of the Arg-e Rayen, an ancient adobe citadel in Rayen…

Return to Kerman, and visiting:

• Gonbad-e Jabalye, it’s mysterious, because its age and original function remain unknown! It may have been an observatory, or it was a tomb…

A.m. continuation of Kerman visits:

• Jameh Mosque, its four lofty iwans and shimmering blue tiles date from 1349…
• Imam Mosque, dating from the early Islamic period, the mosque has suffered considerable damage  over the years …
• Hamam-e Ganj Ali Khan: built in the Safavid period, it was once Kerman’s most important Hammam, now restored and transformed into a museum.
• At leisure for Grand Bazaar

P.M. Drive to Zeinoddine Caravanserai…

Overnight hotel Caravansérail.

Departure to Yazd:

• Friday Mosque : the city’s most important Islamic landmark, and one of the most beautiful mosques of Iran
• Alexander’s prison: an octagonal mausoleum, built on 1036-37.
• 12 Imam Mausoleum (Maghbareh-ye Davazdah Emâm), built in the same period as the prison.
• Traditional Bazar  of the city

• Fire temple (Atashkadeh): built on 1934, its architecture is a combination of Iranian and European style.  The interior part of the Temple withholds a sacred Fire (can be viewed from the other side of a protective glass), which is now lit for 1500 years in a row.
• The Towers of Silence: circular structures were used for Zoroastrian’s funeral. The corpses was always considered unholy, therefore burring them caused the soil and all the living creatures to be tainted. So they used to leave the corpses up on the heights for the carnivore birds to rip the flesh from their body… afterwards they buried the bones underground.
• The stone Mills of Hanna

Overnight hotel Moshir.

Drive to Esfahan; on the way visiting of  Naiin city :

• The ancient town has long been famous for its carpets and 10^th century Jameh Mosque. This mosque has no iwan and is especially notable for its fine mihrab and innovative yet simple use of stucco decoration, which is remarkably well preserved…

• Mohammadyeh village.

Arrive Esfahan arround 18:00.

Overnight hotel Kowser.

Esfahân, pearl of Iran. Golden Domes with enamel covered septum’s: Esfahan, by the legends, is

told to be shaped from an image of Paradise.

Exploring the city: Royal Ground, surrounded by Imam Mosque with aquatics minarets and Ali Qâpu palace with its 6 remarkable floors, Sheikh Lotfollah mosque.

• Friday Mosque: contains the most ancient relic of the city.  It is one of the most significant mosques of  both Iran and islamique art.
• Haroun-e Velayât Mausoleum: built in the beginning of XVI th century, with facade decorated by the magnificent enameled mosaic…

Followed by an interesting visit of Zourkhaneh, the home for Iranians traditional sport.

Continuing the visit of Esfahân:

• Armenian Jolfa quarter: researchers chase back the precedence of this quarter to the era of Shah Abbas the Great.  Vank cathedral symbolizes implantation of Armenian churches in Iran.  

Exploring the brick and stone-made bridges running over and spreading throughout all Zayandeh roud, five recently built ones and six ancients:

• 33 Archs Bridge: 160m long, built in 1602; this magnificent bridge connects the two quarters of Chahar Bagh St. and Armenians.
• Khadju bridge: Built by the Shah Abbas the second in 1650; it is the most beautiful bridge of Esfahan, serving as a barrage, too.  

• 40 columned palace’s (Tchehel Sotun):located in a beautiful garden and built by Shah Abbas the Great the 1^st (1587-1629); the naming of this landmark has its own story to tell. The reason was that the shadows of the 20 standing coloumns were casted back to the viewer by the crystal clear water of the pool, making it 40 columns to count.  The columns also bear the weight of beautiful wooden roof, painted and decorated by beauteous inlaying work.

• Leisure time for Bazaar, one of the most rich and colored of Iran.

Departure to Tehran via Abyaneh village.

Lunch in Kashan, and visiting:

• Ebrahim mausoleum: founded by the Safavians, and decorated by the Qâdjârs.
• Sialk prehistoric hills: oasis of Kashan was residential by the end of the 6^th millennium. As a proof to this statement, we can appoint to the Neolithic site of Tapeh Sialk, situated in the margin of actual city. This site was abandoned around 8th century B.C. Tapeh Sialk presents us remarkable ceramics, which allow us to trace the evolution of technique: first hand made, then by wheel and kiln…
• Then to Qom, and visiting of holly shrine of Hazrat-e Massoumeh

Arrival Tehran at 19 :00. Farewell dinner, and overnight in hotel Laleh.

Transfer to Airport for return flight ……………….. End of our services.