Over the next few weeks we plan to offer several rail tours geared towards foreign visitors within Iran. As you probably know, Iran is a very large country and, up until now, all our tours traveled mainly by road, often incorporating one or two domestic flights.
Meanwhile, the internal Iranian rail network has been expanding at a fast pace. At the same time, the Iranians have purchased some more luxurious trains from China and other countries. What all that means is that we are now able to offer several rail tours to some of the most important tourist spots within Iran, including Isfahan, Shiraz and Yazd. These tours will still utilize road transportation in places where train transport is not available or not practical. However, the emphasis will be on trains.
What is of particular interest to foreign tourists is that the trains we will be using are quite nice. In fact, it may be possible to say that they compare very favorably to American trains and, hard to believe, some people may consider them nicer.
The top Iranian trains have compartments with four beds. We will be able to offer the option of giving you a private compartment, with only one or two people sharing it.
Train travel will be both overnight and during the day, depending on the route. But we will always try, if possible, to include scenic trips during daylight hours. Of course, we are also at the mercy of the schedule and have to travel when the train travels.
We do want to make it clear that all travel is on Iranian rail services and the tours will not be on private luxury trains. Such tours now run over $16, 000 per person. We are sure that these tours are very nice, but most people we know are not able to spend over $30,000 a couple for a 2-week tour. And, aside from saving thousands of dollars, you will be traveling with Iranian citizens, aboard the same trains. In our opinion, this is more interesting to most travelers than traveling in a cocoon of affluent foreigners. But they will be the best, most comfortable trains in the country.
So please stay tuned. We expect to be offering our new rail tours soon. They will be available for as few as one single traveler.