Yes. It is customary to tip porters, servants and janitors in hotels, porters in the airports, waiters or waitresses in restaurants, drivers giving services during tours as well as guides.

Iranian working days are from Saturday to Thursday and Fridays are the National off days. On Thursdays, some companies are totally off and some are working only half day.

Antiques and large amount of gold, silver and jewelry. By definition, antiques are the objects older than 100 years.

Alcoholic beverages, narcotics, guns and ammunition, all horticultural and agricultural goods including seeds and soil; aerial photo cameras, transmitter receiver apparatus, pornography, most films, cassettes, CDs and videos and any kind of fashion magazine. Of course, hunters who are visiting Iran on hunting tours can get necessary permits for carrying their guns and ammunition via their travel agents beforehand.

Of course, it is. Simply use the common sense as you would at home when carrying cash.

No, Iranians use their electronic banking system with locally issued cash and credit cards.

It is called Iranian Rial (IR). Notes are in denominations of IR 20,000, 10,000, 5000, 2000, 1000, 500, 200 and 100. Coins are in denominations of IR 500, 250, 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5. You may come across the word Toman there. 10 IR = 1 Toman. Everyone is using this word instead of Rials.

Yes, there are several dailies in English. Most of the times, you can find one in the lobby of the major hotels.

1) Narcotics and laxatives

2) Explosives, radioactive and inflammable materials or other dangerous materials

3) Items against Islamic moralities

4) Live animals except for honey bees, leeches, silkworms, parasites and bug-busting animals recognized by the institutes

5) Goods forbidden to enter the destination country

6) Items that might cause a danger for post company’s personnel or might hurt the other postal items or equipment, and

7) Private documents corresponded between parties other than the sender or the receiver or any of their family members

Yes, you can find fax facilities in most of the hotels as well as at main post offices in Iran. And, there are a growing number of Internet users in Iran. So, almost all the major hotels provide their guests with Internet facilities and the others are being equipped for the same purpose. Also, many Internet cafes are already opened to the public and many other ones are going to be opened due to the increasing need of the people.

IDD service is available. Country code is 98. Outgoing international code is 00. In case you need to make a short distance call in the street, the telephone booths are yellow and marked in English. There are also phone cards for domestic as well as international calls available.

220 volts AC, 50Hz. Plugs are of the round two-pin type. If you have 110 volts appliance to use on your trip, like shaving machine, hair drier, etc., it is recommended to take a 110- to-220 plug with you while traveling. Of course, you can find it in Iran too, but it can be a waste of time in some situations.

The formula to set your time is very simple: GMT + 3.5 (GMT + 4.5 from March 20 to September 21)

 

Women wear non-transparent, loose garments covering all their bodies except for the hands and face. Color is a free choice, but red, orange, pink or similar colors are not put on during national or private sad occasions. Black is not a must. Chador is not a must either, but when it comes to visit a holy mausoleum and you have the opportunity to experience wearing a chador for a few minutes, do not skip the opportunity to feel the atmosphere. Men put on non-transparent garments too. They may wear short-sleeve shirts or T-shirts (unlike women), but not shorts in the public. The choice of color is the same for men as well. Due to the heat of the Sun and in order to protect your skin, I would not recommend wearing short sleeve shirts. If you do, do not forget to put on some Sun block cream on your skin. But, it is your choice!

 

The roads are asphalted and the maintenance is regularly done. There are highways in many routes and separate lanes to and from cities to safeguard transportations. As a matter of fact, contrary to many tourists' expectations, roads are of very good quality. If you choose to travel overland instead of taking a flight, you can see a lot of landscape, meet the people in the intact rural areas and experience the real life situations in addition to many other opportunities you will not find inside cities. For instance, Iranian guides can take possible opportunities to arrange picnic meals for you.

 

You can buy any kind of soft non-alcoholic drinks. There are Iranian made drinks as well as international brands served everywhere. People drink tap water. It is filtrated and refined before supplied to them, but for the newcomers traveling to Iran, bottled mineral water is available also.