Iran - Andrew Burke [338]
Foreigners can also cross at Esendere (40km from Yüksekova, Turkey) and Sero, near Orumiyeh in Iran. There is nowhere to stay on either side and transport can be infrequent; see the boxed text for further information. Motorists usually cross at Gürbulak and Bazargan.
Bus
Travelling by bus you have two options. The easier is to take a direct long-distance bus to, say, Tehran or Tabriz from İstanbul, Ankara or Erzurum.
Buses to/from Tehran cost about IR250,000 to İstanbul (about 36 to 42 hours), but IR300,000 to Ankara, which is nearer. They leave from both the central and western bus terminals; several bus companies offer the service, but usually it’s just one bus that runs (Click here for bus departures). Those in the know swear it’s better to take the Ankara bus, which is full of students and embassy workers, rather than the İstanbul bus, which is full of traders and therefore more likely to be taken apart at customs.
Alternatively, take it more slowly and enjoy some of eastern Turkey and western Iran along the way. By taking a bus to – but not across – either border you’ll avoid having to wait for dozens of fellow passengers to clear customs. It’s usually possible to cross from Erzurum (Turkey) to Tabriz (Iran) in one day if you start early.
It takes longer in winter when high mountain passes near the border are frequently snowbound.
Train
The train from İstanbul to Tehran via Ankara and Tabriz is called the Trans-Asia Express. It runs weekly in either direction and, at the time of writing, trains on the 2968km journey left Tehran at 8.15pm on Thursday (IR577,300), and departed İstanbul at 10.55pm Wednesday (about €40). It takes about 70 hours and seating is in comfortable 1st-class couchettes with four berths. Check www.rajatrains.com or the Turkish railways website at www.tcdd.gov.tr for the latest timetables and prices, and www.seat61.com for trip reports. (Click here for train departures from Tehran.)
The Trans-Asia Express is two trains; an Iranian train between Tehran and Van, on the shores of Lake Van in eastern Turkey, and a Turkish train from Tatvan to Ankara and İstanbul. It’s evoked some strong feelings among readers, usually relating to the concept of ‘express’, though complaints have been fewer in recent years. Delays are likely in winter when snow can block the tracks and low temperatures can freeze the plumbing. However, there’s a distinctly romantic touch to such a long train trip, as one reader reported:
This was one of the most enjoyable trips I have made. I was the only foreigner on the train, and once this was discovered I had not nearly enough time to visit all the different compartments full of people wanting to chat (and feed me! Oh, so much food…). It is quite a spectacle to watch the (largely middle-class) female passengers switch from coats and scarves into T-shirts and hairpins as soon as you cross the border. The men, of course, fetch beer and the whole thing has a bit of a party atmosphere. I spent the days learning to sing the poems of Hafez and being pursued by the suddenly liberated single girls (Valentines apparently being in the air). All in all, a very, very interesting trip – definitely a journey.
Joshua Smyth
Readers report that although you need to pay for the whole trip even if you are planning to get off at Ankara, the ticket is valid for six months and it is possible to make a new reservation on the same ticket for a later trip to İstanbul. Food on the Turkish train has been criticised for its price and quality. When changing from the ferry to your new train the berth numbers are usually ignored, so you could just grab anything you can find.
TURKMENISTAN
There are three border posts open to foreigners along this 1206km-long frontier. From west to east, there is inconvenient and little-used Incheh Borun and Gyzyl-Etrek (see the boxed text), Bajgiran and Howdan (Click here) linking Mashhad and the Turkmen capital