Is Iran safe for tourists?

[Mahmood M Poonja]

Having been organising tours to Iran since the 1990's we have often been asked the above question. From the experience we have had it is a very safe destination. The people are very hospitable and actually like to meet and talk to foreigners especially North Americans. We have regular tours to Iran and we cover all the major sites that are of importance and have never encountered a situation that could have made us think otherwise.

Will be interested to hear from anybody who has other or similar experiences. 

[John Kipper]

My girlfriend's parents were in Iran on vacation and they said they always felt perfectly safe and the people were very friendly. They think the anti-american stuff comes from the government not the people. if i could afford it, i would go in a minute!!!!

[Mahmood M Poonja]

I am not surprised about this. Over the 15 years that we have ben doing tours to Iran we have not had any person coming back with a negative image of the people and even general security. We cover a all different areas in Iran so we are not confined to one area. See www.bestway.com to get an idea of the different parts we cover. It is unfortunate that we often get the wrong messages.s

[Maz Livingston]

I traveled to Iran recently and enjoyed the archeology, the countryside and most of all the people. It's nation of picnic-ers and campers. I was invited many times to sit down and share tea with a family. I never felt unsafe, quite the contrary. I work for Explore, an adventure travel company and we offer several small group trips to Iran. It's a fascinating Country. Here are two of them:

http://www.exploreworldwide.com/holidays/details/ancient-persia?vid...

http://www.exploreworldwide.com/holidays/details/damavand-mountain-...