Question:
A mate and me (both male) are planning on travelling to Iran in autumn. 1. There's a lot of advice on what women should wear or not wear, but what would men wear? Would short jeans (to the knee or so) be regarded as inappropriate? What about trainers like Nike? 2. Would it be advisable to apply for our visas together or separately? Do we mention the other on the application form? Even though we are not related in any way? We will probably not take the same flight and arrive in Tehran within approx. 5 hours of each other. 3. Do we have to book hotels in advance and mention our intended route on the visa application or can we just get the flight and then walk into some hotel we like and ask them once we are there? 4. What about domestic flights or train tickets? Is it possible to book them before leaving? Or even necessary? Or can we just walk into some Iranian travel agency and ask for the ticket to our destination of choice?
Answer:
Dress code for men is similar to that in Europe but it prohibits short trousers. Although Iranian men are not dressed in shorts, they will almost certainly wear short sleeved shirts and t-shirts. Sandals and flip flops without socks are acceptable for both genders and make no problem.
If your itinerary is not the same it is better to apply for your visa separately, although when you send your request, your tour operator will do so automatically, so you need only to send your request. Iran visa issuance is easily done in the below three ways:
1. Fill in the visa form on Iran visa application, it takes about 3-7 working days to get your reference number and two working days to collect your visa at the embassy by direct referral or one working week by posting the docs to the embassy. You can pay the visa fee in cash in Iran.
2. Fly to Iran and get a 30-day on arrival visa at the airport. This kind of visa is issued for 98 nationalities excluding USA, England, Canada, Colombia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Bangladesh, and Somalia. If your nationality is among the countries authorized to get it, you can easily collect you visa against offering your passport, a passport-size photo and about 10-150€(depends on the nationality) to the staff at the airport. There is no need to fill in any form beforehand.
3. Refer to the Iranian embassy in your country and ask for a visa to be issued for you. Usually this way takes longer time about 30 days.
You don’t need to book your hotels in advance if you will not travel in a high season but domestic flights and trains should be booked before since those are fully sold out far in advance. For hotel checking and reservation, look at this link:Iran hotels
And for flight, ferry or train check: Iran transport services.
