Most of us learned to ride a bike as a child with our parents and received a bicycle as a birthday present. As a teenager, we cycled in the streets with our friends and even wished to travel to the moon with them! But have you ever thought about why a cycling tour is so popular despite all its difficulties?
There are so many reasons, but I want to mention some of them; Cycling
Increases muscle strength and flexibility
Improves our fitness
Reduces stress in our life
Use less fuel and save the nature (it’s really important for me!)
Now, imagine you can use bicycles as transportation in travel; that’s amazing. You have the chance to enjoy the landscapes around while riding because a bicycle isn’t as fast as a car and it is also a kind of exercise beneficial to your health. Since riding a bike isn’t as slow as walking, it is a suitable vehicle to visit large countries like Iran. Cycling tours highly depend on infrastructures such as great roads, plenty of accommodations, and lots of attractions to visit.
Fortunately, Iran is great in all aspects; there are lots of cultural and natural highlights, accommodation, and great roads to make your trip a memorable experience.
In this post, I want to describe one of the most amazing Iran cycling tour itineraries as a motivation trigger to ensure you about traveling to this fascinating country.
Day 1 and 2: Our exciting travel lasts two weeks and we start by greeting at Shiraz international airport. Shiraz; the city of love and poetry has lots of highlights such as the Eram garden, Nasir-al Molk mosque, and Vakil complex. so, we will enjoy two days of city tour in Shiraz and at the end of the tour, we’ll transfer to our hotel right outside the gates of Persepolis; the capital of Achaemenians.
Day 3: We start the day with a visit to Persepolis early in the morning, which used to be the richest city on earth during the Achaemenians empire. Normally it takes 4 hours to visit the whole complex. Next, we will start our cycling for 70 km toward Banesh through amazing and exciting natural sceneries and transfer to the hotel in Sepidan (usually it takes 3 hours but you will be offered extra time if you are into photography!)
Day 4: This is my favorite day! We start by Cycling toward Margoon waterfall (40 km), then cycling to some points that are uphill and a support vehicle is provided to help and carry the bikes (first 40-50 km then drive toward Eqlid 120 km – 2:30) one of the most elevated cities in Iran, at 2250 meters, it is also considered a border between the high mountains and the desert.
Day 5: We transfer back down to the desert, passing fields of wheat, barley, potato as well as orchards of walnut, apple, and pear trees, and take a break to wander around Abarkouh and visit the well-known 4,000-year-old cypress. Then a short drive takes us to the start of our riding at the town of Dehshir. From here, we cycle on a side road to Tang e Chennai and pass a few villages but for most of the ride, the stark beauty of sand and sky will be our companion. From Tang e Chenar we’ll transfer the highway to our overnight at Zein al-din Caravansary to spend a night under a starry sky.
Day 6: A day off the bikes to explore the city of wind catchers! A short drive takes us to Yazd and we pay a visit to the highlights of one of the oldest cities in the world.
Day 7: On this day we drive to Meybod, visit the Zoroastrian pilgrimage in Chak Chak; 40 km cycling that is downhill until Ardakan then drive toward Naein (120 km – 2:30), we will visit Aqda on our way, Chaparkhane, and Khaje Nemat Tower. Finally, we visit Jameh mosque in Naein, then we continue driving to Varzaneh (90 km – 1:20 minutes) to arrive at our cycling start point, cycle 35 km from Varzaneh toward Qehi.
Day 8: We have a short morning cycle (40 km) as we are not far from Isfahan, one of the former capitals of Persia and Iran’s third-largest city today. We end our ride at Nik Abad, a small village with an ancient citadel (then 70 km driving toward Isfahan about 1 hour). We transfer to Isfahan for lunch and then go on a city tour to see why so many people have called the city the most beautiful city in the world; with a profusion of tree-lined boulevards, picturesque bridges, Persian gardens, a historic bazaar, UNESCO-listed Naqsh-e Jahan Square and important Islamic buildings, we will have a lot to see in Isfahan on our afternoon city tour.
Day 9: It will be a free day to continue exploring Isfahan. Visit the Chehel Sotun Palace, Armenian Church, or cross some of the many historical bridges.
Day 10: We will transfer to the start of our ride today (80 km – 1:20 minutes) and start cycling for 40 km to reach Abyazan village, then we transfer uphill to 2,500 meters to arrive at the fascinating and colorful and of Abyaneh (55 km – 1 hour).
Day 11
On this day, we have an amazing downhill to the desert. Coming down from 2,500 meters, we will spend the night at 955 meters in the town of Kashan.
Day 12
Riding directly from our overnight stay, we cycle on an old road towards Kashan. After lunch, we will look around some of the historical mansions, the Fin garden, and the bazaar.
Day 13
On the last day of the Iran cycling tour, we will ride directly from the hotel to another old road. On the way, we will stop for a visit to the underground city of Nosh Abad that is believed to be more than 100 years old. Then we continue riding about 30 km, jump in a vehicle, and continue to Qom and visit the Fatima shrine. Finally, we transfer to Tehran.
Day 14
As the last city and the last day of the tour, we will visit some of the remarkable attractions of Tehran; the capital of Iran.
This was just a brief itinerary of one of Iran cycling tour; there are lots of captivating routs for cycling in Iran, you have a wide range of options from biking in Zagros mountains to spectacular Iran beaches. If you are interested, read more about cycling in the land of wonders and feel free to contact us for more information or tell us about your dream tailor-made cycling tour.
Enjoy watching some happy moments of our cycling tour in Iran.