Tehran, the capital of Iran,  is a cosmopolitan city, with great museums, parks, restaurants, and warm friendly people. It deserves at least a few days of your Iranian itinerary.

 

The city can be roughly divided into two different parts - north and south. The northern districts of Tehran are more prosperous, modern, cosmopolitan and expensive while southern parts are less attractive but cheaper.

 

Tehran has also earned itself the rather unenviable reputation as a smog-filled, traffic-clogged and featureless sprawl of concrete bursting at the seams with 14 million residents. But you can also find an endless number of nice and cosy places in and around the city - if you know where to look. Tehran is also a city of parks and possesses more than 800 of them, all well-kept.

 

Tehran is easily accessed by plane, train, bus or car.

 

Getting around traffic-clogged, sprawling Tehran is a true test of patience. While taxis are your best bet, they are pricier here than the rest of the country. A large local bus network will also take you almost anywhere you need to go, as long you can make sense of the routes and Persian line numbers. The true star of Tehran's transport system however, is the brand new metro.

 

Tehran is easy to get around on the bus system, and they also have a metro system throughout.

 

You'll find cheap & good enough abgoosht stew in any of the places they call ghahvekhuneh (قهوه‌خانه) which you can find in any non-strictly-residential area. Just ask for a ghahvekhuneh or get this قهوه‌خانه printed and show it. Nice traditional working class ambience as a rule.

You can find several food courts around Tehran with a variety of cuisines from Thailand, India, Italy, China and Turkey.

 

Coffee shops are a great place for people watching as well as drinking.

There is a string of coffee shops on the south side of Jomhuriyeh Eslami Ave, a couple of hundred metres west of Ferdosi St. You can stock up on coffee beans and related paraphernalia, or even sample a cup for 4,000 rials.

 

 

In many places you can find fresh sickly-sweet carrot juice - as well as some other juices - for just 30,000 rials a cup.

By most main bazaar in Tehran you can get a drink of blended honeydew melon with ice and sugar. Its delicious and extremely

refreshing on a hot day.

 

Tehran is still relatively one of the safest cities to travel through, particularly considering its size and security. Common sense and the usual precautions against pickpockets in bazaars and crowds should ensure your visit is hassle free.

Even late at the mid-night it is safe in most parts of the city while you will find the city still crowded. It is advisable not to take a private taxi for instance at 2AM.

The fake police that target Esfahan's tourists have also found their way to Tehran in recent years. These are usually uniformed men in unmarked cars flashing phoney IDs are requesting to see you passport or search your luggage. It goes without saying that you should just ignore such requests and head to the nearest police station if you feel unsafe. The trouble is that it can be a little hard for the untrained tourist eye to tell these from the real police.

Another thing to watch out for are phone snatchers. One guy will wait on a motorcycle while another rips your smart phone out of your hands and jumps on the back of the bike before they take off. Happens in less busy streets at night. A precaution is to only use your phone inside shops.

The traffic in Tehran is very dangerous and should be considered some of the worlds worst. Try to cross the street when the locals do. At first it looks impossible but the drivers do a very good job to avoid pedestrians even though they drive crazy.

Gay and lesbian travellers should be extremely careful when travelling to Tehran due to strict and harsh regulations on homosexual activity. Iran justice has death penalty for homosexuals, even teenagers.

Exercising extreme caution in public is the key thing to remember, and in fact, it is mandatory to abstain from any kind of intimacy even for heterosexual couples, but it doesn't mean you cannot hold hands.

It is also recommended, even for westerners and non-Muslim women, to wear a head scarf or veil, on their head, when exiting their apartment or hotel rooms.

If you decide to smoke the qalyan (waterpipe), make sure that you are not smoking opium or other kinds of drugs if you don't intend to do it. Although drugs and alcohol are illegal in Iran, it is not impossible to obtain them, especially in Tehran. Since the Iranian government decided to ban the qalyan and cigarettes in public places, it is a bit difficult to find a decent place for smoking.

And if you really want to try the qalyan, you can expect to find this in dodgy places.