Treasures of Iran

Arrive in Iran

Welcome to Tehran, the capital city and modern heart of Iran! Meet an MT Sobek representative outside customs and transfer to the hotel. Around 10 am gather for a group meeting with your trip leader. Today we drive to the roof of Tehran for an easy hike of about a mile to reach a cable car, which will then take us to an elevation of 11,500'. Afterwards, we continue to Tajrish, for a stroll around the northernmost local bazaar. Return to the hotel. Tonight we'll enjoy dinner at Zeytun restaurant.

Discover the Jewels of Tehran

Start the day with a buffet breakfast before heading to the city center to visit one of the gates of old Tehran. Spend the rest of the morning visiting the National Museum of Iran, which features some of the world's most valuable Persian antiquities right up to the modern Islamic era. After lunch, prepare to be dazzled by the largest collection of jewels in the world at the Crown Jewels Museum, located in the National Treasury. Enjoy dinner with the group this evening.

Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Art

Start the day with a visit to the well-kept gardens of Laleh Park, and Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art, home to an impressive collection of 19th and 20th century world-class European and American paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures. Then explore the stunning Carpet Museum, with more than 36,000 square feet of exhibition space containing the largest collection of Persian carpets in the world! Next, see the modern side of Iran with a visit to the Palladium shopping center. After lunch at a local restaurant, return to the hotel to rest and pack for tomorrow's drive to Yazd.

Take a Scenic Drive to Yazd

Depart Tehran and journey along the highway to Yazd, passing mountains, desert, and a salt lake. En route, visit the 12th-century Jameh mosque in Ardestan and enjoy lunch in a local restaurant. Next, head to Na'in to visit an early 11th-century Seljuq mosque and an 18th-century Safavid Persian traditional house before taking a walk around the town's ancient citadel and old neighborhoods. Arrive in Yazd this evening and check into the hotel.

Explore Ancient Yazd

UNESCO regards Yazd, with its 5,000-year history, as one of the oldest towns on earth. Start your exploration at the 15th-century Mirchakhmaq Square, then visit the water museum, which showcases an impressive desert water-supply system, and the Zoroastrian Fire Temple, which holds a fire that has been continuously alight since 470. Then head to nearby Saryazd to visit an ancient rural citadel — used as a depository for personal belongings since the Sassanid period! Also visit the caravanserai here before heading back to Yazd and wandering through the old bazaar. At the end of the day, visit a Zurkhaneh (a traditional gymnasium, literally meaning "house of strength"), where athletes undergo rigorous training in ancient Iranian sports.

Stroll the Serpentine Streets of Yazd

Begin the day at 14th-century Jameh Mosque, known for its lofty minarets and exquisite blue tile work. From here, stroll through the serpentine alleys of the city's old quarters, visiting the prison of Alexander, the 12-Imam Mosque, and Lariha House, one of the most beautiful and splendid aristocratic houses of the 13th century. After tea and baklava, visit the 18th-century Dowlat Abad Garden and its 110-foot-tall wind tower. Then stop at the fire temple in Chak Chak — the most important Zoroastrian site in the world, located in the middle of nowhere!

Cross Lion Mountain & Visit Pasargadae

Today you journey to Shiraz via Shirkuh ("Lion") Mountain. En route, visit Abarqu, which is home to an icehouse and a 4,000-year-old cypress tree! One of the oldest trees on earth, it's more than 80 feet tall and is protected as a national monument. After lunch, explore the archaeological site of Pasargadae, the first Achaemenid capital and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here you find the tomb of Cyrus the Great, the hillside fort of Tall-e Takht, and the remains of ancient palaces and gardens.

Full-Day Tour of Shiraz

This morning head out on a full-day tour of Shiraz, "the town of roses and nightingales." Begin with Bagh-e Eram (Eram Garden), with its collection of magnificent roses, followed by a visit to the tomb of Hafiz, the 13th-century mystic and the most celebrated Persian poet. Later, enter the old quarter of town, with its heavy traffic and noise, to pay a visit to the 9th-century old Jameh mosque, Khan theological school, and the colorful nomadic bazaar.

Discover Ancient Persepolis

Today may be the highlight of your trip: an excursion to Persepolis (the ancient ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid empire) and the royal necropolis in Naqsh-e Rostam. Alexander the Great burned Persepolis — a vast complex of ceremonial palaces, halls, and tombs — in 330 BC, but there are incredible remains of several monumental buildings. Tour these exquisite antiquities, have lunch, and then return to Shiraz. Explore the 18th-century Vakil Bazaar, a colorful, traditional marketplace packed with Persian rugs, spices, copper handicrafts, and antiques. End in Saray-e Moshir, an urban-caravanserai-turned-exhibition-space for Iranian handicrafts.

Journey through the Zagros Mountains to Isfahan

Today take a scenic drive through the Zagros mountain range, passing many villages along the way. Stop for lunch in Yasuj before arriving in Isfahan via Shahreza.

Tour the Colorful City of Isfahan

Isfahan, the four-time capital of Iran, is a wonderful, colorful city filled with Islamic art and architecture. Begin your tour with the Vank Cathedral, home to a museum, a historic printing press, and a library that includes the first book printed in Iran. Walk to Chehel-Sotoun Palace, with large frescoes depicting court life counterbalanced by miniature paintings of the 17th-century Safavid dynasty, and visit the Jameh Mosque to enjoy a thousand years of art and architecture of the Islamic world in Iran. End today with a beautiful Persian carpet show.

Explore Gardens, Mosques & Teahouses in Isfahan

Stroll through the 17th-century Hasht Behesht (Eight Paradises) Palace harem garden. A short walk leads to the Royal Square (Naqsh-e Jahan), the main polo ground and entertainment center for Safavid kings — and the second-largest square in the world. Across the square, visit Sheikh Lotfollah, the first ladies' mosque in the Islamic world, and enjoy the peaceful ambience, and magnificent calligraphy and tiles. Window-shop through the covered bazaar to the ornate Imam Mosque, which contains an ocean of blue tile work along with a courtyard pool. Finally enjoy a cup of tea at a traditional Sufi teahouse.

Enjoy a Scenic Mountain Drive to Kashan

During today's scenic drive through the Karkas Mountains, take a look at the facade of a Khanegah (monastery or Dervish house), visit a Sufi tomb with magnificent stalactite decorations, and observe a skillful ceramic artist in Natanz. Then explore the remote, traditional village of Abyaneh, whose ancient traditions, costumes, and dialect have been intact for centuries. Arriving in Kashan, visit Bagh-e Fin, an exemplary 17th-century Persian-style garden, and a 19th-century mausoleum with exceptional tile and mirror work unique to Persian art. Tour the bazaar, then check into your hotel.

Explore the Old Quarter of Kashan & Return to Tehran

Today take a morning drive to the old quarter of town, visiting Aqa Bozorg mosque, a traditional 19th-century Tabatabiha house, and Tepe Sialk archaeological mounds — one of the first human settlements in the world dating back to the sixth millennium BC. Then hit the road toward Tehran, passing by Qom. Stop for lunch and ice cream in a Mahtab rest area, and check into our hotel in Tehran later in the day. Enjoy a farewell dinner this evening!

Depart from Tehran

Bid the group and Iran farewell, and transfer to the international airport for your homeward-bound flight.