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Travelling from Germany to Iran, I'm looking for the cheapest but comfortable way. One idea is to travel to Turkey then going to Iran form there. There are many flights with reasonable price for Germany to Turkey (easyjet). Unfortunately, I'm unaware of such flights for the second part. What's a good way of travelling from Turkey to Iran?

Also, I'd like to add that duration is an important factor as well, taking 4 days just from Istanbul to Tehran is a very long trip and I wouldn't even try it.

Do I need to learn to speak Persian/Turkish for this trip?

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    Have you looked at taking the train from Turkey to Iran? Takes a few days, but it does look cheap and fun!
    – Gagravarr
    Mar 25, 2012 at 12:20
  • @Gagravarr: I have, but it takes 5 days for a round-trip. If I want to spend 7 days, two days left only for visiting the country!
    – Gigili
    Mar 25, 2012 at 13:22
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    "I'm looking for the cheapest but comfortable way" - i think those options are mutually exclusive. :)
    – iHaveacomputer
    Mar 25, 2012 at 23:30
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    @iHaveacomputer: You shouldn't assume that two seemingly opposed requirements have a direct inverse relationship such that comfort decreases at a constant rate as cost increases. Questions of this nature are seeking what is called a "sweet spot". There is a problem though, in that such questions are always subjective because we don't know how much weight the asker gives to each requirement. But this should only lead to multiple good answers offering different "tradeoffs". This principle can be applied to many questions here - not just this one (-:
    – hippietrail
    Mar 26, 2012 at 10:22
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    @hippietrail: Right, I've added that part to my question.
    – Gigili
    Mar 26, 2012 at 10:25

4 Answers 4

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The absolute cheapest way (despite maybe walking or hitchhiking) is probably to use ride share portals. For example here you can find various people that drive from Germany to Turkey for almost no fee. There are several drives a week to Izmir, Istanbul, Antalya, etc.

From Turkey there are various trains to Iran that are quite cheap. The fares are between 10 and 60 Euros, depending on the actual route.

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Given the fact that you have only one week at your disposal, I would recommend flying. Your best bet is to be flexible on the travel dates and to monitor possible special offers. With this in mind, check out Pegasus Airlines. At the time being, they have interesting fares for destinations in the Middle East (via Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen). As an example, for May 2012, I found a Düsseldorf-Tehran return ticket for less than 300 EUR.

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  • I think you misunderstood something, I have a week not a day. Taking the train from Istanbul to Tehran takes about 7-8 days which is extremely exhausting.
    – Gigili
    Mar 26, 2012 at 10:27
  • I understood that you have in total one week to spend, for traveling there and visiting the country ...
    – user766
    Mar 26, 2012 at 10:29
  • Right, thank you for your answer. Pegasus seems to fit my needs, I'll check it out more carefully.
    – Gigili
    Mar 26, 2012 at 10:42
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You can take a round-trip flight from Istanbul to Tehran around $300 (at the best case $200). Of course you cannot find a cheap flight for a one-way trip. I recommend a direct flight from Berlin which will cost about $500.

And no, you do not need to learn the local language for this trip. English is enough!

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  • Do you call it cheap? I've found round-way flights from Germany to Istanbul at about 100$. What you said is normal price which can be found by Google!
    – Gigili
    Mar 25, 2012 at 14:48
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    This is exactly what I meant, you cannot find cheap flight from Turkey to Iran. There is no promotion on that side.
    – Googlebot
    Mar 25, 2012 at 14:53
  • But What @Gagravarr mentioned above is cheap but time-consuming, I'm sure there should be some not very well known transportation options.
    – Gigili
    Mar 25, 2012 at 15:02
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Traveling

I guess the cheapest option (and more adventurous) was already mentioned by RoflcoptrException.

However, it does not feel like the recommended version nowadays, mostly due to the war in this. If someone stumble upon this page and also consider to pay a bit more (and gain more comfort), I would consider flying.

Flying to Iran recently becomes much more convenient compared to 2010-2012, were the only option was Turkish Airways (stopover Istanbul) with an arrival time around 3am at Tehran. Since last year, there are also direct flights offered from Berlin to Tehran by Germania lasting around 5 hours for ~400€ (return, 2016). Flights are Tuesday/Saturday and scheduled overnight, so one can maximize duration of stay at Iran.

Language

You do not necessarily find to many people speaking English in Iran. This is particularly bad when you have troubles with your luggage or ticketing etc. However, there is always some way to solve issues, most likely, they will try to find someone who is able to help out with English/German/etc..

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  • Thank you for your answer and your suggestions, as for the language issue, some of my friends have had a pleasant experience with this tour guide since they are fluent in English and they offer special services during your stay in Iran.
    – Gigili
    Feb 15, 2016 at 19:24

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