If you’ve ever travelled in, or around Iran, then you’ve experienced or heard the rumours about the Iranian people. Countless travellers rave about their hospitality and their generous, genuine nature. But are the Iranian people really as nice as travellers say? We spent 31 days travelling Iran and we’ve definitely formed our own opinion.
From the moment we entered Iran, a few things were clear. The Iranian people are very curious about foreigners. Almost immediately after crossing the border from Turkmenistan, we were greeted warmly by local people on the street yelling: “Welcome to Iran!”. People in Iran have three main questions that they want to ask visitors right away, and they usually go in this order:
1. Where are you from?
2. What is your religion?
3. What do you think about Iran?
If the conversation carries on, Iranian people will be genuinely interested in your family, your education, your beliefs and your stance on Iranian politics, customs and ceremonies. People who approach you on the street in Iran are very rarely hoping for business and almost always sincerely interested in you and your perspective on their country.
“You don’t even need to book a hotel in Iran, just stand on the street with a perplexed look on your face and a local family will invite you into their home.” – Danish traveller we met In Uzbekistan
While I wouldn’t rely on this, it would probably happen in Iran. The minute you pull out a map, someone is there to help you. Often if you look thirsty, someone will invite you in for tea and it only takes about 3 minutes of honest conversation before your new Iranian friend will offer up their home, their table, and their life in hopes of making you feel welcome. Granting hospitality to foreigners is deeply ingrained in the Iranian culture and they feel very embarrassed about how they are portrayed in the global media.
“Do you believe the news that says that Iranian people are all terrorists and extremists?” – Iranian man we met at Persepolis
Many foreigners think Iranians are Arabs. They’re not.
People think that bombs go off in Iran. They never do.
People think that Iranians are terrorists. You’d be hard pressed to find a terrorist outside of sketchy border areas.
People think that Iranians hate the West. They don’t. Some hate Americans and if you look at their history, you’ll maybe understand why.
Iranian people are well aware of the media coverage they receive abroad and they are appalled by it. They know who they are and it is pure discrimination of press that causes westerners to gasp when you mention travelling Iran. Iranians are a proud people, who stand for what they believe in and have made great changes in government and human rights throughout their history.
The current state of the country is still a work in progress, and the locals often express their pride for their nation and in the same breath, disapproval of certain government policies.
“You’ll never get ripped off in Iran” – Traveller
It is true, there is less petty crime and bad business deals done here, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. Iranian people are humans, living in a developing nation and the same precautions should be taken while travelling here as anywhere else in the world. While the regular local population is completely genuine, loving and trustworthy, Taxi drivers, tour guides and business owners are still out to make a buck.
“Always confirm your price 3 times in Iran or you may have discrepancies when it comes to payment time” -Goats On The Road
If there is one flaw in the impeccable character and hospitality in Iran, it is the shortcomings in making an honest deal. This isn’t to say that everyone is going to try to get a little extra, but beware that people in businesses sometimes give you a price and then expect more at the end. Be sure that you make your price VERY clear and never give in and pay more than originally agreed upon.
Iranian Taxi Driver: “You are such a nice man, no need to pay”
Spanish Traveller: “Okay, thanks!”
This is a huge mistake in Iran. There is a rule here called Taroof which is a very complex system of saving face. Taroof dictates that gifts and services are offered even if the person offering can’t afford it. One should deny an offer 3 times, which gives the person who’s offering ample time to back out. This helps to make the generosity seem truly genuine, even if the person can’t afford it in the first place.
Sound confusing? It is!
While this social game is less in existence now than in the past, taxi drivers and bazaaris (shop-owners) will often still offer to give their services and products away for free. If a person accepts this offer without following the unspoken truce of Taroof, it is extremely bad form. Taroof is a landmine of social taboos for those who don’t understand it.
“Travellers had raved so much about the people that we set the bar too high and let our guard down” – Our English friends who had $200 stolen by a taxi driver
We have had amazing experiences with the people here and they TRULY are the most friendly people we’ve encountered in travel. We feel safe 100% of the time because 99.9% of Iranians are always looking out for us and trying to make sure that nothing but good things happen to us while we’re in Iran.
We’ve been invited into numerous homes and we stayed with a local couple in Esfahan, but there are, like everywhere in the world, people who are desperate or corrupt and will try to steal from you. There are just a lot fewer here than in other places we visit.
“Iranians aren’t even religious. There’s booze in all of the shops. They party and drink and smoke pot” – Norwegian traveller hell-bent on smashing our misconceptions of Iran. His statement, of course, wasn’t true.
What this traveller was trying to tell us is that not everyone in Iran is a conservative Muslim, and this is absolutely true. We met people of all walks of life and all different religions. We met Bahá’í, Christians, Muslims, Zoroastrians and even non-religious people with very similar views to us. One thing is for certain, the clothing worn outside is a government-forced facade in most cases and many Iranian people would dress differently if they were allowed.
When you enter an Iranian home in Iran, depending on the religion, you’ll probably see the women wearing a t-shirt and shorts. This happened to us on numerous occasions, and we were completely surprised!
We love to explain to people how safe Iran is and how amazing the people here are, because it’s true. But as travellers, and bloggers, we also feel the need to tell people both sides.
Travellers we met before coming to Iran were so determined to make it known that Iranians were amazing people that they often put them at a super human level. The reality is, the majority of the population are conservative muslims, booze is illegal and not easy to find for travellers (locals tend to know where to get it, however), there still are con-artists here, and Iranian people won’t jump in front of a car to save your life.
One thing is for sure, the people in Iran are the most hospitable we’ve ever come across in our travels, rivalled only by eastern Turkey and western Egypt. But it is still important to follow your gut while travelling and always be a little cautious.
Never let your guard down completely and you will have a great time in Iran. It is one of the most underrated and misunderstood places on the planet, so let’s help people understand it by explaining it honestly. It’s such a phenomenal place, that there is no need to exaggerate.
Have you ever been to Iran? Please share your experiences you had with the local people! Comment below.
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Thanks for a balanced and nuanced answer to this question. Taroof sounds like a nightmare, and I think it could potentially really piss me off after a while, but otherwise, Iran sounds like a wonderful place to visit…though still not too sure how I’d feel as a gay man there.
It’s good to know this things about Iranians. You know I still believe in the goodness of humanity. Iran is such a beautiful place I guess though, I haven’t gone there yet. I really enjoyed reading your post.
hi
i am ali from iran,you believe that iranian people are so friendly,hospitable and iran is safeeeeee.you can travel alone,and enjoy in amazing and beautiful iran.
cheers
ali
Ya, taroof can be a bit of a hassle sometimes, but you get used to it pretty quickly. It is a wonderful place to visit and there are many gay Iranians, they use websites to get together and couch surfing actually 🙂 Unfortunately though, the meetings would have to be in private.
Thanks Kara. The people are very kind, hospitable and generous. We had great experiences there.
Hello Ali!
Yes it is safe and amazing! We really enjoyed our time in your country 🙂
I LOVE Iran and I love your blog post!! It’s funny how in an effort to right the wrongs of the media, so many travellers tell warped stories of how liberal Iran is. While I think it’s fair to say that many Iranians wouldn’t dress or behave the way they do if they weren’t obliged to, I also think that they wouldn’t go to the other extreme, as many travellers takes would have us believe. And like any country, Iran still has its conservatives. It’s an awesome country to travel in, and people really are so hospitable- it’s been too long since I was last there 🙂
True, Iran definitely has its conservatives. Based on who we met though, they all agreed that they wouldn’t cover up in public if they didn’t have to. However, there are many Muslims there who would still abide by these rules I think.
Isn’t Iran such an intriguing country?!
Thanks for the comment 🙂
I’m so glad I came to your site for a random read, and the first thing I saw was about Iran. I’ve become obsessed with going there for a while, and even more than ever the past week! I’m hoping I can somehow fit it in at the end of my Asia trip, if funds will allow me. Thanks for making me even more determined to go now! And for writing such a truthful account! 🙂
Hey!
If you make it to Iran, you will have a great time. We haven’t met anyone who would say otherwise. The people are friendly, the sites are stunning, the history is ancient, the food is delicious and the transport is comfortable! Glad you enjoyed the read.
Happy Travels 🙂
Thanks Goats!!!!!!!!!
Really you have done a brave and great job with going other countries like Iran. Brave job because of all these fake news about Iranians in the media. Iranians are very kind to strangers from other countries more because of their rich ancient history and culture. If you read some of their ancient poetries for past 1000 years like Hafez, Omar Khayam and Rumi, you can find out why they love LOVE and hospitality to other human beings.
All the best for you in your road,
Sam
Thank you Sam!
It’s true, there is a lot of hype in the Western media about Iran being a scary place and the people being terrorists. The truth is, the people couldn’t be more friendly and welcoming. The citizens need to be considered separate from their Government when it comes to people making judgement calls about the country
Thank you for commenting :).
This made great reading, not least because we want to make our way to Iran one of these days. Maybe sooner than later. Glad I came across your Twitter account and looked up your site 🙂 Thanks.
Thanks Pratibha! We’re glad you came across our Twitter account too 🙂 Hopefully you can get to Iran one day, it’s fascinating.
All the best
Is the government threatening to foreigners at all? It would be neat to visit, but the government really worries me.
Hi,
This is Yekta,an Iranian citizen !
First of all I’ve never Thought about my country such as this ,I mean it was nice and True especially about Taroof! ( just kidding )
How many persian words can you remember ? 😉
What was your Best food that you’ve tried in Iran ? You can suggest the other.
Hi JR,
No, the government isn’t threatening to foreigners at all. We had no issues and were given nothing but smiles and treated with respect by people at immigration and police. We didn’t have to deal directly with the government though.
Hi Yekta!
We absolutely loved Iranian cuisine! We were lucky to stay in a few homes and were able to have some traditional food. We enjoyed ghormeh sabzi, fesenjān, Tah-chin and anything with pomegranates! haha. We tried many, many dishes and they were all fantastic 🙂
hi . my name is ahmad. an Iranian citizen !
Tanks for freedom in your eyes and your mind and your note
my English language is very bad but:
tanks
so and
I Love ghorme sabzi 🙂
you do test koofte tabrizi and gheyme bademjan ooooooooooooooooof oh do test gheymeh nesa oooooooooooof :))
Hello Ahmad,
Thank you for your comment! We love Iran and the food 🙂
ghorme sabzi is delicious and we did try koofte tabrizi. Everything we tasted, we loved!
Cheers
HI! i’m from iran and i must say WOW! first foreigner to ever write something nice about us! the hate is so much that when i first saw your blog i thought i was hallusinating things! a big thanks and lots of love to you for the realistic image. and a bit of information on taarof: if you master it well you can absolutely manupolate any persian!!! ( not in a bad sense though! ), it’s actually an aciant culture. back in times it was used with honest intentions, now a days it’s used less geniounly by many people. but there are still many who really mean it! anyway, it was a delight to read your blog hope you return here for another trip!!!
Thanks Bani! We had a wonderful time in Iran, the people of your country are warm and generous.
I’m curious though, what do Iranians Google in order to get to this article of ours?!
Have a great day 🙂
Hi! I’m Amir and i’m from Iran
Thank you for your post about our country
Just let me say that: dear people of world, we are HUMANS! just like you!! We don’t drink blood =))
AND we don’t BITE!
😉
AND of course
Dear hollywood
We are not TERRORISTS! I really felt bad when i watched Robocop ( the new version)
Hi Amir!
Well said! We love Iranians and we love your country…you’re not terrorists 🙂
Cheers.
hi!!!!!!!!
I am an iranian girl!!
i feel so happy because of your this report!!
you know, most of poeple usually say bad things about iran and iranians,but i rhink iranian are not as bad as they say!!
maybe they are thinking to 50 years ago.but at present time iran has lots of changes.iranian are not terrorists!!
we are not bad people,we are human same other ones.maybe we are more kinder than some of people in all over the world.
i am tooooooooooo happyyyyyyy because of you!!!!!!
thanks because of your kindness
taroof is this :تعارف
at the end : بازم پیش ما بیاین!(come to our country,again)
oh!did you eat Kalle pacheh?????????:)))))
we love all foreigners!!
thaaaaaaaankssssssss.
Hello Setayesh 🙂
We love Iran and Iranians!
Hi,
I’m Aryan and I’m from Iran. Everything you said is true about Iranian people , and I really don’t have anything to add on to all you said I can just say thank you so much bruh for telling all these to other people, I hardly tried to tell people in America the truth about Iranian people but they didn’t believe me, perhaps because I’m Iranian myself, but I guess they believe you!
Thank you for commenting Aryan, we love Iranian people 🙂
Hi
I m iranian, here is a few tips for you to deal with taroof
1Every time s1 offer u a free thing say 3times :no thx its realy nice of u!!belive me u must say it 3times thats kinda like the code to alibaba cave!
2 smile while u r saying this!
3 dont be worry
Thats it ! Btw take my advice: the prices of bazaar are varied from store to other stors, the same rule apllys 4 taxies!
Have a nice time in iran
Ps. Thx goat !u realy judged us not by the fake cover the west media have made 4us!
Thank you Zahra 🙂
hi!
i do not know what to say, after reading your nice opinion of my race.
it is hard for us to be known as terrorists . as you know there are many people who are afraid of us because of nothing but lies.
this is something that makes me ashamed of myself even though i know we are good people.
i just add please do not judge a book by it’s cover. ( as you can see in movies a great treasure is in an old and dirty chest :D)
thanks for such a good comment that you put on PARS and PERSIAN people , we are really happy to have a good friend like you.♥
hi!
i do not know what to say, after reading your nice opinion of my race.
it is hard for us to be known as terrorists . as you know there are many people who are afraid of us because of nothing but lies.
this is something that makes me ashamed of myself even though i know we are good people.
i just add please do not judge a book buy it’s cover. ( as you can see in movies a great treasure is in an old and dirty chest :D)
thanks for such a good comment that you put on PARS and PERSIAN people , we are really happy to have a good friend like you.♥
Thank you for your comment Sorena 🙂 We hope to spread the word that Iranians are kind and gentle people.
Hi Man 😀 Im From Iran and Thanks For Your Post Bro 🙂 U Have Line Or Facebook?:D
Thanks! Yes, you can find us on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/goatsontheroad
HI
I thank you for very good talk about Iran.
Make sure your trip to Iran.
Iranians are hospitable.
We are waiting for you.
We enjoyed Iran very much. Thank you 🙂
Hi
I know it’s a bit late to leave a comment on this post but I thought I must thank you for it
I’m iranian and I’m so happy you liked my country
Western media shows us like some terrorist who attack foreigners in the streets and it makes me so unhappy. Your post made me crying thank you for being so good and sharing your experiences with others
we will be happy if you come back again to Iran , i live in Tehran and if you want to come back just send me an email i will help you.
Thank you Saba 🙂 We truly loved our visit to your country.
Wow, thank you for the offer Sina! That would be wonderful.
Hi this is Behzad, I’m from Iran but live in the US. Yes Persian hospitality and warmness is unique in the world; it’s been famous for it for thousands of years not just recently. We love to laugh hard, be kind to others, and make everybody feel good. It’s just how we are. If you think people are friendly now, you should’ve seen what it was like before the revolution, war, and sanctions! We’re taught to treat others like family and give them the shirt off our back, from very early in life. Who else does that?
It’s not what it used to be, alas. But there is a certain shine in people’s eyes and a certain warmness in their hearts there that’ll never go away. Have fun!
Hi, I´ve always wanted to go to Iran.
I´m just so curious about this country.
Could you guys tell me how did you managed to communicate with people?
I can only speak english and spanish
Hi Behzad,
Thank you for the wonderful comment. I can only imagine what Iran was like pre-revolution and war. It would have been even more incredible than it is now. We had great experiences with the people of Iran and always recommend your country.
Cheers!
Hi Jose,
Many people in Iran speak English actually. And if not, you can get by on hand motions and charades! It was very simple actually.
hi actually we cant live with out taroof some times it start a friend ship.
We can relize what u want but cant have a perfect speaking
Holywoid why u think world belongs to u?
We found that many people were able to speak enough English to help us out, or to at least try 🙂
Yes, this is true.
Hi
I am amin
I am soooooooo happy right now because i think for the first time in my life i have read a really honest passage about iran
Thank you Goats on the road
P.S please share this with anyone that you know so they will realize that we are not what hollywood shows us
We are not 300 , argo , robocop or any other things that they are showing us
we are a truly peace loving people
Thank you again Goats
Good luck
thncx a lot for this post
its was awsome
You’re welcome Armin 🙂
Thank you!
Well , as a Persian I don’t really tarof so much , and that’s why people used to get mad at me back in the days when I used to live there haha
You’ll be fine as a gay person if you just don’t say it out loud there, we have so many gays back there but you’ll never notice cuz its crime so people keep it a secret
I miss Iran so much 🙁
Such an amazing place to be
And BTW I’m so happy you traveled to Iran , I’m so glad to see you didn’t just believe the things you heard and actually got out there to really experience it yourself , Iran is so amazing , its so sad to see its getting this much ruined , its getting really hard to live there , people are suffering , and there is nothing to do really , Hopefully things will change
Thank you for your comment 🙂
Really enjoyed your beautiful text❤️
Thank you Sara 🙂
if we have gay in iran one of them r u and they should not say we r iranians.
I worked with many Iranian,nice,good looking,rich smart and super friendly.I meet and worked with them in Europe and USA and I am European myself.Ciao
Thank you for the comment.
We too agree that Iranians are great people.
Cheers!
Hi,
I am an Iranian and while looking for Iran images on Google to find out what foreigners will find about Iran while searching in Google, by chance I found your lovely presentation about Iran and I have to say it was amazing. Happy to see that you enjoyed your time in Iran and additionally you are trying to inform others as well. It is so true that before traveling to a country, we cannot admit how the people will be there unless we spend some time with them. Previously I was working with some European countries while living in Iran and all of them were shocked after coming to Iran as they were thinking that our women cover their faces like Arabs and they can’t drive even, so I was explaining a lot about what we had been through and how we really are, trying to take them to different cities so they would be able to have a better image. Even outside Iran, I am trying to make things clear in people’s mind when it comes to my country. As you know better than me because of media, most of the people are getting annoyed when they hear word “Iran” and I cannot tell you how much this hurts. Anyway thank you very very much for all the information you shared with everybody, I do appreciate it a lot.
Have a lovely day ahead
Maryam
Hello Maryam,
Thank you for your comment. We had a wonderful time in Iran and found that the people were very friendly! The food was delicious and the sites were incredible. We always tell people they should travel to Iran.
Have a great day 🙂
hi every body
i am from iran and i have to say that ianian people are normal like other nations
they are not very nice and they are not terrorist!!
but be sure that we are warm with foreigners
Yes, Iranians are very nice and normal people – we think Iranians are much more hospitable and friendly than people in most Western countries 🙂
Thank you for reading.
Hello my friend
I’m saeed 28 years old . U make me very happy with this believing about iranian people .I hope all people in aroud of world get ur believe . We’d like to have good relationship with other country but unfortunately last presidents don’t let this to do . I hope other people think like u about us .
😉 saeed
I am from Iran. I love my country. I am enjoying form living Iran. We are not Terrorists.
I’m so glad that you had a memorable time there. I’m iranian and live in mashhad ( the most religious city of iran cuz for hollyshrine but less religius persons!!! ) and it’s hard to see some people by mistake and ignorance in other countries think that we are terrorist as same as our goverment or Arabs but it’s totally wrong. Iran is a safe place for all tourists of whole the world (sadly I’m not sure about israeli people again for damn politic reasons however most of us truely love them)!!
And one of the best solution for Taroof is when taxi drivers or shopmans says “Ghabel Nadare” or sth like that, u can just say “I’m Not Taroofi Person” or “Man Taroofi nistam” 😀 whatever they underestand that u’re not :)))
Im from Iran(islamic republic of :)))) If you need photo from here or need some answers for your question U can ask me 🙂
telegram ID:amupxm
hi im very happy that you told people what is the reality!i hope you’ll visit mashhad the next time you travel to iran!and tanx for your really really nice website!
Hello Baby
I am an Iranian girl. First of all thank you for telling the truth about the Iranian people.
So I want to talk to you, my people say: ‘We the people of America and other countries misconception Iranians really upset because Western and advanced knowledge capture them without their media and their judgment.I am an Iranian girl. I am proud of being Iranian. I am proud that my country and my last. I try my people I am proud that despite all the restrictions. We do not Pvshyh Iran. In case of non-compliance with our women’s face veil acid Nmypashnd know you all wrong. We are not religious. Iran ‘s 70 million people, perhaps only 20 million are religious!I’m 15. We’re very good singers and actors, but because we can not limit ourselves to other countries of the world! If you film A Separation, M Like Mother, and many of us have seen the movie you realize.We Iranians have a very good singer. Many women who have yet to be illegal by the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran Znman readers are underground or abroad to pay singing.
I am Iranian, yes! We love American actors and singers we hear a song we Hayshvn. Jennifer Lopez pitbul Onedirection and….
In general, I want to say: We Iranians are humans too! Claiming other people would like to have our friend! We see the love and affection! Please change the way you think about us, we love you.
I’m sorry that my English was not so good at the end. Thanks to the Iranian side!
I am an iranian 14years old girl.you dont know how much happy you made me with your article.i wish someone can do something for this country
Thank you for your great article
hey .. very useful article.. thanks.. 🙂 I wish you the bests .. tc
Nice Article !
I was searching in google image “Iran people” for curiosity and checking what google think of us and I see this image https://www.goatsontheroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1210749-001-720×266.jpg
That’s just great there’s only few foreigners who have red your topic and most of the comments come from iranians
I wonder why ?
🙂
Thank you. We have visited Mashhad!
Many foreigners have read it, but I think Iranian people search the internet to see what people think of them and their country – which would lead to more Iranians commenting and seeing the article. Plus, when someone says something nice about your country, it makes you happy, so you comment 🙂
hey nick 🙂
i just hace a question !? and its :
what r u think about our leadership ?! 🙂
srry , have’
Hi I’m Iranian. Its such a good news for me to see that tourists and travellers like my county.I’m living in Tehran. I wonder why you think Iran is safe enough. Maybe in the past yes but not now.there are lots of things happening here to make you feel not secure….
But anyway thanks for visiting my county and a massive thank you for your way of thinking about us.:-)
All the comments are true. But there is a sad fact about Iranian people you omitted. Yes they are hospitable too much. but on the flip side، they do not love each other and are not interested to help each other as much as foreigners. If you ask why Even me living in Iran have not the exact answer? maybe they see each other as the rivals on sources. some people Put the responsibility on the regime.
Hello…!
I am mohsen from Kermanshah city in Iran…
you can travel to Kermanshah and see history of this sity(Tagh bostan)
I have one request and that is say to people of world iranians aaaaarrrrrreeee’ttttttttttt terrorissssssssssssst
hooooof…
exciusme
thanks… : ) 🙂
hi im sarah from parsian your composition interested me
i wish you the best
thnx.
Hi. It’s really wonderful to read such a good essay about Iran & It’s people. All the things you’ve experienced is true & nobody can deny it. But the most important thing about Iranian personality is that They always need a leader to change something. Anything, even for change themselves they need a leader or a friend to teach them & show the way. They are not spontaneous at all. This is the most weakness point they have had all over the history. I’m a member of track & field national team of Iran. I love Iran but the government don’t pay attention & I think I can have a better life in another country, Canada, USA , England. love to experience living in abroad
🙂
iranians always are the best peoples all over the world
no one can’t be like us
Thank you for sharing this information
Most of comment’s writen by iranian [LoL]
Wow,Such an Amazing Article I’ve ever seen.BTW Im iranian And Im so Glad you Like it.You really make Me Happy Because only few People knows about Real Iran And Iranians.Of course We have some Issues from Government .but come On we are not terrorist !!Thats only political problems between Iran and Countries.Btw I’m hoping this enormous issues fix from the Government and Shows the real Façade of Iran And Lovely Iranians
Cheers
Hi.. Well I saw your writing dude.. and i’m agree with you that Iranian people totally are different with Arabic..
i’m glad you came in Iran..
Well something that i should say is the people and the government are mostly have a different mind..
some of us prefer the government some of us not prefer it.. you know..
It’s not a good thing.. well i’m Iranian boy and i appreciate you for giving the truth to people who read your post..
And the last thing is I don’t like living in Iran 😀 cause it’s relate to our personality .. some of us like living here and some of us don’t. 🙂
Thanks Body 😉
Hi,
I’d like to mention one thing. You see? Most of the Iranians here are like “we aren’t terrorists!” That’s because many countries like Israel are trying show us like terrorists and we’re trying to say ” NO! WE’RE NOT TERRORISTS”. %85 of Iranian people hate this government and leader but they can’t do anything so we’re stuck! And it’s true that our leader is a terrorist ( khamenei) he’s a true terrorist. Btw I’m so glad that you came to my country for a while and you realized that we all like all the people in the world.
All the best for you
As an Iranian, here’s some advice, if you want no trouble with the government (government= airport security, police, sh**head religious people) :
1. Don’t talk about or (even worse) defend: homosexuality, Israel.
2. Don’t criticize Islam, human rights in Iran, Iranian politics and leadership.
3. Don’t bring / drink or use / ask for: alcoholic beverages, drugs and gambling.
4. Try not to loose your hair cover in public, if you are a woman. (important in religious sites)
BTW this is just the government (less than 1%). Us, Iranian people (99%), do what we like and talk about / make fun of pretty much anything…
And about the taxi: ask ordinary people or authorities about the fee and make sure you tell the driver you wanna get there with that fee only, before entering the taxi… (this is what I do in almost every country!)
i am Amir and i live in Iran
in this article you said every thing about the culture and personality o Iranians. so thank you!
but you didn’t talk about the 2500 years of Iran traditions. in Iran we have very beautiful music, that the government thinks its bad, taboo and haram! also there are very very much of beautiful natural landmarks.
so please come to Iran and share this article so that the world no longer thinks we are terrorists….
haha, I know!!
thank you bro,
iran is wating to see you again!
if you travel to iran again , i want to invite you to my home
after nuclear deal iranian goverment and iranian people are want to improve communication with world.
and we hope that more people come to iran.
one thing that you didnt say is:
everywhere that you go you can see the people that they speak about Politics:)
maybe you said and i didnt see:)
anyway thanks for your text
if you come to mashhad you can come to my home:)
we will be happy:)
You will be welcome we don’t care if ur straight or gay. Trust me u will love it there. 🙂 x
hey guys,
the number of comments vouch for you where you said they ask about your thought about iran … people in iran love to hear foreigners saying good things (tooo good) about them and their country. many times trying to hide anything unpleasant about their fellow iranians or the iranian society and the country as a whole by overwhelming care and kindness, when at the same time they treat each other remotely different. I think the iranian society is unbalanced regarding their behavior toward travelers and foreigners due to lack of connection to outside world. so after gates eventually being open and more foreigners going there and people getting used to them and the country’s bad reputation in the western media eventually wearing off, people wont see the need to be “too” nice. they will continue to be nice but to more normal extent. I am your iranian regular reader and this is my first comment as for the first time I thought I could add an insight. I am learning and going to start my own travel blog in both english and persian and you have been a big inspiration and help. sorry it became this long. and keep up the good work.
Hi.
Thank you for your great article
I really liked it
One I just want to clear out about taroof:
Tarof is when you offer someone something voluntarily
I’m matter of showing respect (not for real )
Strange but here’s why:
Before the economic difficulty and western sections and Islamic revolution Iran was a very wealthy and free country, I’m that time people do taroof for real
When we used to say take it for free we really mean it
Why? Because we could afford it
In today’s Iran economic difficulty (thanks to western government and politics) it is hard for us to afford to give away something for free
But at least we try to say it in order to show we care
It is storage at first boot if you look deep into it’s history you’ll like it and you’ll know why
Thanks again
And keep the great work up
If you don’t understand Taroof don’t worry about it, I as an original Iranian who have lived whole my life here don’t understand it yet , and most of the times I get embarrassed because I don’t get it whether it’s a real kindness or a Taroof 🙂
Thank you for your comment. All the best to you with your blog!
Interesting article. I have my ticket and will visit for the first time in three weeks. Esfahan, Kashan and Tehran await.
iran is verry good u cant say iranis bad or good of internrt
iran is verry good now and i am iranian
if you want to know where is iran and How are Iranians you must travel to Iran. my people are the best people in the world. iran is not like iraq and afghanistan. Security in Iran is great. if you travel to Iran I promise you will be have good times in my country.im 16 years old but i know what american diplomats say about Iran. they are lying. Iran never wants nuclear bomb and isnt a threat for the world.amercia and Israel are threat to the world.I dont mean american people i mean their diplomats.
Hey!!
WoW
Thank you for showing truth about Iran.
I’m in Iran Right now
And I really like Taroof here, its look like a Game
live with faith in this kind of God.Believe in Him..Accept Him,make deals with Him.Believe in Him,reply to Him.This is how He is.He will take you to the border of hopelessness . And then you say “I’ve been here all along.live with faith i this kind of God.when you face a problemin your life say,God I know that you know how to fix it,but you don’t.
smile
He is doing it on purpose.Don’t lose hope!He knows.I once advised that when you take the youth to various camps,don’t put them in so many classes.Instead ,teach them through actions.they said “How can we teach them through actions”?I said ,serve them soup one night for dinner”. they said ,”Well , we do this often” I said , “One night ,do not distribute spoons.” tell them <sorry boys and girls<there are no spoons for your soup tonight."you will see how one person will curse.another will mock,another will say,"these people do not have the competence to manage <they didn't even bring any spoons.How can we eat soup without
spoons?". Another person will drink it from the bowl,another person will take out a spoon they brought themselves.one person will give their spoon to another person.another will make fun of others saying,"I brought my spoon and yo didn't." everyone will their true colors here.once they show their true colors,then you tell them,"the spoons were here the whole time,behind this curtain.we would like to thank all those who reacted nicely". after this distribute the spoons everyone will bow their heads in shame.all the deficiencies in life are like this.they are all behind the curtain.what is it that you want?you want to get married?It's here ,behind the curtain.believe it!.It's behind the curtain.you want a house?It's behind the curtain.you want a loan?It's here,but doesn't give it.He doesn't give it on purpose.He wants to see your reaction.God has it,God has all of these.he has everything.Why do you doubt Him?. the average person searches everywhere to see where it's at,and I'm saying that it's all behind the curtain!all of your needs are behind the curtain.He doesn't give 'He doesn't give it on purpose.in reference again to the camps, that night when the youth became embarrassed by their reactions to having spoons,if you tell them another night that there is no food tonight,they will all laugh and say,"No problem"believe me! they'll say ,No problem.you will see satisfaction in their eyes.they have become humble and submissive now,because they were taught how to become humble and submissive.the night before ,they were embarrassed by their reactions.if they are told ,"there is no dinner tonight ,get up and go"the youth will say,"OK,no problem will go one night without food."if they are asked why they don't complain about not having dinner,the youth will say,"As soon as we complain,it may come out from behind the curtain,and we will be embarrassed."this is how to teach the youth how to become true human beings.interact with them in this way.God is my witness I am not trying to entertain you with my words. I want you to GRASP the lesson.live like the Imam khomeini.this is how the Imamlived.do not live without planning ! make your plan! but next to it,have a little bit of trust in God. I remeber I told my friends at these youth camps,"let's do something ,someone has thrown their t-shirt over there.take his t-shirt, put it aside,and substitute it for another one.throw the substitute on the ground so it becomes muddy and dirty.when the youth came ,we asked him,"is this your t-shirt on the ground?"he replied ,"Ahh!yes you[curse word],you threw my t-shirt on the ground!"he said a cure word.then we showed him his t-shirt and said,"that was a fake one thrown on the ground.you cursed too soon".after that ,whatever incident occured at camp,no one wouid even utter a complaint.if it was said ,"your shoes are missing."they would reply,"It's no problem."the same person ,who two days ago would have gotten angry over these incidents,found out that everything is just a test,a game,an illusion
Hi…
Seriously,Iran is a paradise for foreign travelers.People are really good to tourists and they love to invite them to their houses.They host you like its your own house.They wont keep anything away from their foreigner gusets and they never get tired of hosting them and its totally related to their perfect history.
Fasciating country !
Cheers !
Hi,
I read this article a little bit too late since I was there in Easter. My experience were more or less like yours, But there are big contrasts in the country. In Tehran you are invited to parties and people drink while in south east of the country people are different and sometimes fanatic. While further north they are very liberal and nice and hospitable.
Generally I found them really nice and friendly and enjoyed my travel. It is a safe country to travel in. I wish they could have a better government that really cared for its people! So sad!
With all do respect @Alibaba, I don’t agree with you…
Iranians welcome foreigners because all Iranians know how it feels to be an stranger in a foreign place/country… Iranians call this feeling: “ghorbat” and sensing this feeling is in Iranians blood… They just can’t stand it! They come and help and offer what they can do… This has been true for the last couple of thousand years…
But of course, everything can change…
@sajjad, there are a lot of things that you must know… It’s not that simple…
I lived with iranian for 6 years and i can narrow the way they behave in three main points:
1- Do not trust anybody
2- No need to be truthful just find yourway.
3- As iranian you are more clever than others nd no body can find how dirty is your business.
Hey goats, It’s Paria from iran and I’m really glad to see that you liked our country! A friend asked me too see this article, it seemed funny to me that forigners say that taroof is confusing! Yeah sometimes we cant realize the difference between reallity and taroof, but in those situations you can say: Kind of you, I’m not a taroofi person, or sth like that. Happy to hear that you liked iran and happy to see yor website!
Great time
As a half American (Mayflower descendant founding family) on my dad’s side and half Persian on my mom’s side, let me give a response to your comment as balanced as my bloodline.
No. Gang rape is not a Persian custom. That’s truly and absurd and disrespectful comment said for the purpose of racial hate mongering. If it indeed happened to your friend, then I’m sorry your friend was the victim of violence. Unfortunately, such violence can happen anywhere, in any country even the US.
I’d like to share a story about a Persian friend of mine who had a similar experience in America. Pay close attention to how she handled it versus how you are handling it. My Persian friend unfortunately was a victim of gang rape in an American University. But, the interesting thing about her, is that she didn’t going around saying Americans have a custom of University gang rape and that’s just part of the culture. It must be due to their primarily tribal ancestry of Brits, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Normans and Germanic tribes. The thing is, unlike you, my Persian friend didn’t think this or say this about Americans. She understood through her tragedy that individual people can be bad but whole races and whole populations of countries are not.
I think if anything, the difference in how my friend handled her tragedy versus how you are handling your friend’s just underscores every positive thing said about Persians. Your comment has had the affect of making me more proud of my Persian side than my American side. I want to be equally proud of both. So please don’t say things that make Americans sound foolish and racist. It’s embarrassing and I don’t appreciate it.
I’d also like to add that your type of racial hate mongering has horrible consequences on good people. When my very handsome Persian uncle first came to America right after University in England, a group of American guys around his age threw acid in his face. Luckily the acid was watered down and my uncle got to water quickly to wash it off his face. Otherwise, he would have been scarred for life. I’d like to point out that he didn’t go around saying that Americans are barbarous people who abuse foreigners by throwing acid in their face to disfigure them. No, instead he never talked about it and loves America and Americans and realized it was only a few bad actors. I only found out because I told him how much negative press Iran was receiving lately because of the Jewish controlled media and he told me things have been this bad before, shared his story, and said it will pass. It’s just politics to win elections.
I don’t want these negative stories to give any Persians a bad impression of Americans. Americans are great on the whole and I love my country. Americans who actually get to know Persians love them right back, love the food and funny enough if they’ve dated one often tend to want to date only Persian going forward. There’s a lot of love here too.
I’d also like to add that Persians are one of the most successful immigrant races ever in America. The percentage that come here, even with nothing and become millionaires is staggering. We know many in our own family and even one billionaire. I believe the reason for the success is the Persian is a few reasons. (1) the huge value placed on education and getting into the best Universities, (2) the parents mentality of paying off their children’s education so they start life debt free, (3) the mentality to open their own businesses, while the American mentality is to work for someone else. Unfortunately, I didn’t get that awesome Persian business gene, but I’m trying to work up the courage to start my own business.
To sum up. There are good and bad people in every part of the world. I love Persians. I love Americans. Persians end up super successful here and actually employing a lot of Americans. SO, try to immigrate here if you can, get rich, hire Americans and improve our economy. It’s a win win if you are lucky enough to win a visa in the visa lottery. Thanks. Love!
Hey there
First of all I’m so happy that you came here and you find out why some of know USA as an enemy. (Others just google about iran-iraq war that happend only 2 years after the 1979 revolution and US support iraq in the iran iraq war) But What is past, is past 🙂
Here is a tip about TAAROF
The process goes this way:
Q: Sorry how much is this?
A: Its free for you
Q: Thank That’s nice of you but tell me 🙂
A: no you’re like my guest.There is no need to pay
Q: Thanks please tell me the price
A: it costs 10 dollar. 🙂
Second type of TAAROF is in such places like parties
for example the host holds the basket of fruits in front of you and:
H: Have an apple it’s fresh. 🙂
G: no thanks I’m full 🙂
H: oh come on. These bananas are sweet try them 🙂
G: no thanks. 🙂
H: If you don’t want make me upset just have an orange please 🙂
G: okay thanks I’ll have one. 🙂
(note : during the conversation the SMILE is necessary )
Of course have taarof everywhere and everytime is very boring. But as you know only some people have taarof during conv,
you see? Its just in our culture.But it is being deleted slowly because the society and young people are going to be modern and they like to be like other part of the world and maybe after 2 or 3 generations this old Persian habit will be forgotten. unfortunately..
AND OF COURSE THERE ARE SOME BAD IRANIANS AND NOTHING IS 100% PERFECT AND COMPLETELY NICE IN THE UNIVERSE. AS YOU KNOW. 😐
Wish you the best.
hi it was so good ….
good luck
Hi …. I hope all people of the world find out the people’s well-being
Man, please this taroof thing is not a sign of generosity, it’s a way for taxi drivers to rip you off, by which the driver evades setting a price in the beginning under the guise of niceness/politeness and demands an exaggerated price in the end when the client is transported. The exact same thing happens in other Middle Eastern countries too. Middle Easterners are kinda tricky and disingenuous (I’m one BTW). It goes this way:
Man: How much does it cost?
Taxi: You’re a nice man, You deserve to be transported for free.
When they reach their destination
Man sets to go out
Taxi: HEEEEEY, you didn’t pay.
Man: What ???? You said it’s for free
Taxi: I said you deserved to be taken for free coz ur a good man, but I’m a poor taxi driver, I work for money
Man: Pfffffffft, How much do you want?
Taxi: 15$
Man: WTHHHHH, it was only a 5 minute drive
and then a disputed arises.
This is how I handle it:
Me: destination please, how much?
Taxi: you’re a nice man, I’ll take you for free
Me: I’m fucken having a bad day, in no mood for this trickery, the price or I’m out
OR – on a good day
Me: I have only 2$ in my pocket … go on man – and he’s in an embarrassing situation for this disingenuity haha
Hi friends ! Thank you for your nice article .
I really enjoyed of reading that .
I really have to say congratulations to you because of your freedom mind and your truthfulness .
I’m Iranian , I live in Iran and I really love my country , but I don’t realize why do some foreigners say bad things about my country without having any travel or being here for even few years !
Again I say ”thank you for your nice article” , it made me feel so good about my country
Have fun friends. I wish that you come again here and enjoy:-)
i think some of these foreign ladies and gentlemen or non-iranians are very racist and dogmatic regarding iranians. Something like rape and abuse is laghable and impossible about iranians/persians. Dear iranians r the most civilized and respectable people in the globe. Ofcourse we don’t finna say the whole iranians r good for certain there r bad people every where but majority of them r angles on the earth. In spite of their economical issues and bad living circustances, they r still humans and haven’t lost their humanity. Consider such a life condition in other places in the world I think people whould slaughter each other. So certainly, seeing afew bad people in such a under-cruelty society can’t be far fetched and unnormal. While we witness lots of rape, cruelty, violence and etc in so-called advanced coutries in the world whether europe or america. My foreign friends . Don’t be jealousy and sensitive about iranian people we’re exactly like u but merely to some extent kinder and cooler and more attractive from character viewpoint.
I`m Iranian … each time that I think about roreigner people , I thought that they hate us ! we’re not terrorist ! we are like you … we are humam too , but our politics aren’t good … we dont have eny good choice ! we have to choose between bad and worse ! you see it ‘s not justice … so I DON’T want because of this things froeiner people hate us… please please do not hate us !
HI
thanks for coming to IRAN
I HAVE a request please sey to your people Iranians are not TERRORIST !!!!!!!!!!!!
WHISH TO HAVE A WORLD PEACE …
Hey guys come on here this country we want u here no difference what we believe we re humans we need each other to share our feelings cultures
Hi. This is pardis
First if all thank u for your article about my countrey
I just want to add some things:
1. Iranians are not arab. We are persian. Iranians always emphasis on their race. Because 1400 years ego arabs tried very hard to change our religeon, our language and even our race!
Iranians forced to be muslim 1400 years ego by arabs and most of them can not forget this fact.
2. Iranians are not terrorists. Please tell your friends that we are not terrorist. You can search about ISIS and its citizens. You can find plenty of europians, americans, russian, chinese and etc who have joint ISIS however you can not find any iranian guy in ISIS (plz google it to be sure). In addition as you said iran is a safe country. Nowadays there are plenty of bombins ij middle-east or even ISIS. However iran is still quit safe fortunately.
At the end. I would like to say we LOVE you american or europian kind respectable guys too. I hope you travell again to iran. Best wishes 🙂
who says we hate americans……not at allllllll. we like them ..:))))))
hello ~
I’m from Iran and I’m very happy after reading this , knowing that people visiting my country are happy and think good about here … we like tourists and want them to have the best time.
and guys don’t be worry about this thing called “taarof” it’s not very scary , though I sometimes don’t know if i should accept or refuse :)) but it’s so normal and you’ll see it a lot when buying something, taking a taxi or talking to aged people or youngers. but i will be happy seeing people come here ^^
hello.
yes we never hate Americans. i must remind you, we have 8 years war with iraq and had more than 1 million killed by iraqian. also many iraqian killed by iranian soldiers. but now, less than 25 years of finishing war, we are friendship with many iraqian persons. we travel to iraq and iraqian travel to iran safely. i (as one persian person) promise, every body from every point of this world can come here and see visual place and enjoy their times here and then come back in their countries without any problem.
we are glad to have some time conversation with every tourists.
i have many friends from some other countries and always invite them to see here and i will help them as i can.
and i’m sure most persian people have idea near of me.
i have 2 personal motto. one is:
“All The World is Just a Village, and All People Are Neighbor. Be Friend and Respectful with each other.”
and another is:
“GOD is the source of Pure and True LOVE”
i also wrote this motto “GOD is the source of Pure and True LOVE” in my website and if exactly search this motto in google will find my website and see this.
i love my country by name “iran” but i interest to call my country “persia” cause this is the name of this area for about 7000 years and just from 1935 change to “iran”.
for example you can see in map “persian gulf” or many websites like google.com use “persian” language replace with “farsi” .
at all special thanks of “Goats On The Road” for show reality of this nice and pure Area.
pleas clear your mind of every bad things and objects and start to visit this persian land and make your good memories.
hanif jafari from persia
Thank you
You’re so sweat
Hi, I’m an Iranian.
I can not say that all Iranians are good because everywhere in the world is good and bad.
but media lie about many things like iranians and muslims are terorists or they hate the world and blah blah blah.
Do not listen to what they say about Iran or muslims.
we love you Because we all are humans….and we have people from all Religions in iran.
hope you enjoy traveling to iran and I suggest to visit SHIRAZ and ESFEHAN and TEHRAN first becouse this Cities are my favorite 🙂
hey goats 🙂
thanks for your comments about iran but….its not fair ,you know why ?because all tourists go and visit the big and well-known cities but there is more about this country
i hope next time you will come to amol ( a city in mazandaran-iran) and we will show you so many fun things,
love you guys
and wait for you 🙂
I have to say that I’m not surprised to hear how nice Persian people are. I’m sure they hear a lot of disinformation about people from the U.S.
Government actions and policies have a tendency to influence what people think of the general population of other countries.
I’ve been reading a very fascinating book trilogy that takes place in Hameden and Tehran. It got me curious enough to google images of the people of Iran.
Being a hairstylist, I wanted to see what the general population looks like! I wanted to be able to picture in my mind real people of Iran….not the government faces we see in the news……or the pictures in the news of angry male mobs! I wanted to see REAL Persian people.
I came by this blog on accident, enjoyed the article, and started reading all the comments.
I must say that I am very intrigued and warmed after reading them.
I feel the need as a U.S. Citizen to let you know that we don’t think of the Persian people as terrorists. It’s called “disinformation”. There will always be the ignorant individual that judges a whole nation of people by the actions of other individuals and government policies.
I do have to admit that I thought traveling to Iran would put me under a microscope by government officials. After reading this blog and the comments, I am happy to say I have a different opinion.
Governments ruin the reputation of their own people by their actions and lies. Power corrupts.
I have to admit that it also breaks my heart to read how desperately you folks want to reach out.
Please do me a favor and Google image people of the U.S. going state by state. Each state has its own individual culture. You will be interested to see that we are all just regular people that generally like other people at face value.
I live in the Houston, Texas area and Houston is the 3rd largest city in the U.S. We have many people who live here from all over the world.
I am very interested in Persian food and would love to get recipes from people who actually live there!!
iranians are good
hi my name is sheya means lover and its a name girl 😀
i think iranian people is happy,, and makes jokes a lot everytime,, but there is something bad about iranian people that most people here cant talk english very well but they try to show their hospitality in diffrent ways,, and iran has a deep amazing culture,, and the aim of iran is just peace and kindness, i dont know why few countries try to show iran angry or sth.. maybe they are jelious,, and maybe they really dont know about us..
tnks alot
from sheyda 😀
Hi everyone I am from Iran. Iranians people are very nice and friendly. Please don’t think bad about IRAN!!!!!!
AND DON’T MISS IRAN
Hey,the way you are thinking about iranians is so intersting and true,BTW,Im looking for some information about Croatian and Portuguese people,Havnet you ever travelled there?
hi, u say that “Iranians aren’t even religious. There’s booze in all of the shops. They party and drink and smoke pot” but it is a lie
Hi Barry,
If you read the article, you’d see that I didn’t say that. I said that another traveller that I met said it and I disagreed with him. In fact, I said it was a lie too.
Hi I’m from Iran and i wanted to thank you because u told the truth.Great article
I suggest u to travell to Iran again
Haha …I’ve never heard that before …someone likes Tarof …as an iranian sometimes it makes me angry but sometimes it’s very usual acting and even you didn’t remember you did TAROF already…..
I hat some Non-iranian friends , one of them was living in Iran for one month and she was sometimes confused with doing it in right time , so she asked me to inform when the right time for doing TAROF IS..EXCEPT TAROF and skin colors part … I think we are no different after all …you Eat you laugh you Live ..the same we all do
i’d like add more on what it seems …i don’t know (Iranians as being innocent people )
I don’t hate my people vice versa i love my people …but there are things that need to be cleared out for whom still wants to come to Iran..you will having like great Time in Iran however what i’m about to say might be unpleasant and uncomfortable ..(U DESERVE to KNOW REST OF THE TRUTH ..I’m not trying to put obstacles in front of non-iranians)
Based on my experiences of my whole life ..Iranian people are hypocrite..they are very warm and friendly with Non-iranians but themselves ..trust me ….(Iranians are very smart ..they will be like Wolf in sheep cloth thing) and
they don’t respect and help their own kind like when they do with non-iranians …..
Unlike Europeans (as we speak , they always say ‘wir sind eherlich!’ ,’we are honest ‘ a quote from my german friend ) people here is not always EHERLICH , i’m not saying iranians are Liars .NOO ….but they don’t always tell truth ..they keep the truth most of the times ! ..i think if Iranians hadn’t that problem ..the life would’ve been easier i guess…
Watch out about too much price of products the sellers give u..most of them are FRAUD …
Hi . im from iran. I should tell you sth about our religion and goverment. Most of iranians are shiee( for example like catholic in christianity )…. Some of us are real muslims and they have accept its rules. ( like myself ). But some of us dont. All of iranian people want to overthrow their goverment. This sentence is completely wrong. And because our country want to be independent , we cant obey whatever the usa or the west want. ( for example saudi arabian. They are the wests servent. ) . so unfortunetly the media lie about us and say we are terrorisms or at least we are supporting them. It is an accusation. Actually we are the number 1 enemy of daesh ( isis) . and we are fighting with them. Or the media say iran is not a safe country. But the truth is that iran is the safest country atleast in our region. Why can isis attack france or belgium but they cannot attack iran. With due attenrion to that iran is very near to them however the european countries are not. It is because of our security. We dont want nuclear weapon. Our leader ( ayatollah khamenei ) has ordered that having nuclear weapon is haram. ( haram means that we cant do that. It is a sin ). One more thing , we are not arab. We are persian. Okay !!??
I’m an Iranian living in karaj.first of all to those people are gay…you really don’t need to mention it,because being a gay or lesbian is agaist the islam.so if you say it,it MAY cuase alittle truble,its relies on your host.And about taroof,it is a habbit.iranians allways doing that to make you feel good.but if a shop-owner saying something for example” it is free or it costs nothing in persian
((Ghabel nadareh)).the only thing you should do is just pay the things you want and say thank you.one important thing is some of esfahanians are misser.if you have any questions about iranians send me an email please,it will be a pleasure for me to answer yours.my email address is Thunderash97@gmail.com
I am an iranian girl and your definition of taroof was very interesting to me. 😀 I don’t talk about taxi drivers or shopkeepers but we sometimes mean it really and if a foreigner doesn’t accept a gift or something that we offered to them that looks impolite to the person who is offering you(iranians). It’s in our culture.but don’t worry about it if you want to travel to Iran cause nowadays educated iranians do not offer you (taroof) something they don’t really mean as they are more familiar about foreigners respond.
🙂 I’m so happy that you had a great time in our country.
Hi I’m mina i got so happy when i read it i’m iranian.it’s really good to know that someone is still out there to make somethings clear about iran.thanks
Thank you for this post :))))
I hope you have good memories of us 😀
Because our pride 😀
Come again :)))))
People from Iran are all nice and friendly on the outside, but behind closed doors the men belittle their girlfriends/wives and see them as less. Furthermore, the men are incredibly dominant; what they say goes no matter what. What I have experienced is that they are not very emotional beings with a practical point of view. The ones that claim to be non-muslim have still been brought up as such which means that the ‘norms and values’ will always be rooted in their idealogy (especially the direspect towards women). However, they often cannot do anything about this as the people living there have never known anything else. It is true that Iranians are non terrorists, they keep themselves to themselves and don’t get involved in these practices – anonymous Persian woman.
Hey im from iran it maybe be.late (after 2 y tnears) but tnx for coming to our lovely country im glad u have enjoyed ur travel here I hope u come back again.everyone is welcomed to come here well we dont hate americans we hate americas government for what they did to us in past and still so on
A american or not u will be welcomed here and loved by ppl
And by the way here is very safe no bombs no terrorist. U can come here and enjoy ur time
Hi
I am from India. I have not been to Iran but I can tell you that everything you wrote is absolutely true about this great country. They are genuinely nice people but unfortunately they have been given an unfair image outside. I plan to visit Iran and learn more about it.
Hi
I am Iranian
Thank you because of this writings about us in your website
Thank you very much
Okay.let me help you as a Iranian persion. Our lives and our people are just like yours. The only diffrence between us is that we born in Iran and we called Muslems wich we are not. ( at least the young generation) and grow up here thinking about how bad american people think about us. For example im always sad because my favourite music band named Metallica can’t come to iran because of our goverment. This is bad and our people need help. I love my country and i love my people but the only problem here is the goverment. So feel free to travel here cause every one love foreigners mostly americans and of course the taroof thing is not a huge deal. Most of taxi drivers dont know english so you just have to pay them .
I love my country.I love Iran
We can ex-change our nations if u like ? Yeahhh buddy i am Persian … what u saw is not what we see … This country is a prison for me and millions of ppl in here . i just live ONCE i don’t want to live like this … when u came here u knew that u will leave any way . u don’t exactly understand whats happening here … Trust me .. it’s not a good place for saying these . Excuse me …Best wishes
There were few comments criticizing the dark side of human nature to clarify the reality of Iranian. Not on a destructive way. The truth hurts however from there we arise sound. These comments have been deleted. So …???
I just got back from iran and for me iran has a beautiful landscape but the people is not as friendly as i thought they would for coloured skin people. I traveled with my italian friend and tthe hospitality reeceived by me (tanned skin) is horrible starting from the airport until the end. Basically im invisible, everytime i asked for direction they will asked me to pissed off and if my italian friend asked for direction, they would willing to bring him there. However, im from malaysia(for them malaysian are undeveloped nation) and they thought im a prostitute because im travelling with my italian friend. If you have light skin colour, you will enjoy the iran and their hospitaliy if you are not white, might as well stay away from Iran. Sorry admin about this post its smells racism and a negative point of view towards Iran but traveller should know about discrimination there.
Because they thought maybe your Iranian not a tourist!
as an iranian i’ve gotta tell ya that persians are really friendly and cool…although there are good and bad everywhere and iran is not exceptional..but i bet you’ll like it here because people here have a high sense of humor and the new generation of iranian people are extremely open-minded
They could have thought you were an arab we dont like them because of our history
HI….i from republic islamic of iran….if you hear iran support terrorist or iranian are terrorist all these things are lies ….look before revolution in iran. iran had king and he was with usa. iran was the friend of usa we were the slave of usa so we start a revolution. after that because we said we dont want be slave of usa……so who say i want be free i dont want be slave i want grow he will be call wild and terrorist…..because in time of king we were friend of usa but now we are terrorist???really??……terrorist …..usa want have more money oil power and…so usa want a cause for war…..terrorist a best choice….who can believe 11 september???do you think two air plane can go on the air and bomb ….and the Organization of Information and Security of usa can let that thing happen???if thats it so a six month child can kill all people of usa!!!! …..please go and read history of iran after revolution and usa ….you will stand usa is dangerous or iran….please see how many war had iran and usa….
and in media they want show you Islam is isis….thats a big lie all the world of Islam say isis isnt Islam they just wear the cloth of Islam and kill people for money power and….we fight with isis in iraq and syria we help people in syria and iraq we are support terrorist??? if i say french and usa sell guns to isis ….usa and turkey buy oil of isis israel improve soldier of isis when they hurt in war and army of iraq and syria found documents about support of usa’israel’turkey’Saudi Arabia ‘Some European countries from isis …..they just talk about human right but they are evil we stand it and we dont accept them and Human Rights Organization please go and see what happen in yemen if you know what happen you dont have trust to it…..Oppressed is terrorist!!! …..damn all Dirty politicians……we dont have problem with people of usa we are looks like another people of the world our problem is tyrannical policies….im 18 years old we dont like war we have hate….war is badest thing…. we are laughing ….living…go to picnic …Marriage…and….we are not wild or terrorist ….
i hope another people come in to the iran and study for find the true please who say Islam is terrorist please please please read all Quran then say Islam is terrorist or not…
please dont believe what they want show you in media and…all these are lies
at last this is our massage to Dirty politicians we stand i will die but never be the slave of Ruthless
i wish for you from god always be happy.health.successful with your family and your friends
in iran we dont say good bye we say god save you and i tell you that. god save you my friend
please laughing and have hope ….dont forget dear GOD and your friends and family….
if i hurt you with my talks im sorry….
Sad you didnt mention shiraz,know as little paris 😉
Lol… I grew up in Iran, and I know one thing for sure, persians find it extremely adorable when foreigners try to speak farsi Glad you had a good time there.
Hi I am not Iranian but I like this country and its language.
what’s your job?
Travel Blogger.
hello….the only thing that you did not understand is when we (iranain people ) see a europian people or american or foreign countries people we thought we saw a (im so sorry but i must use this word) alien because we havent see them before and we thought they are so trusted people and also beautiful and they are so heigh level people so we are so kind about the people like you and we show and also feel our self very shy about you but i must say that we are not so kind with each other because of econamy or money or other problems that make our mind busy jelous angry and sad if you were iranain people on that time you would see what ever i said and also there is another thing … you know when we see people like you we think we see the all the modernize and high level countries people and we think we must be so kind as a being kind to a very famous man …..at last lets get rid of all these speechs TELL me did you like Iranain Food??
Hi.l am an iranian.this spring i’ve found alot of friends from the other countries like italy,usa…..
l don’t know why other peaple in the world think that we are wild. Of course we are not.we are so freindly . We are not arabs.we are persian.and we have a good life in here . I am sure that if any one came to our country,it would be so hard for him to leave here.our peaple are uniqe.
Hi everyone.
I’m Negar and I’m Iranian
First of all I want to thank ,, goats on the roads,, and the writer for this post.very nice
As you said there are both nice and bad people all over the world so as Iran..
There is another thing that I want to say :
I know there are extremist people about religion and other things in Iran but Not ALL the people in Iran hate and disagree with hijab..
I myself don’t like this force from governmens but l don’t have problem with hijab itself
I saw this Q&A on internet (l really love it):
Q: Why Muslim women have to wear hijab?
A: because their beauty is for their man(husband), not for mankind…
Negar
Hi,i’m an Iranian and i like to answer those people that asking why iranians don’t travel much like other people.
First i myself LOVE to vissit all around the world as many do in Iran but some problems like poverty and some politics issues privent us to travel to anywhere…….
If have any questions,please feel free to ask.It is an honor for me.
Thanks for reading
Oh by the way my email address is thunderash97@gmail.com
Very nice article.
From Iran
Thank you!!
(from Iran)
Hi…I think each country has its own culture and Taroof is one of the cultural properties of Iran and in my opinion its just to show your kindness…and as an Iranian I can say it isn’t that much hard that foreign people think!…but actually it’s somehow boring sometimes or sometimes you may not want to give your own food or other things to the other, but you feel embarrassed if you do not Taroof and it isn’t that much good then! and I also want to say that people in Iran are different from each other in opinions like people in other countries…so if you talk to them, some of them may get angry and believe that just their own opinions are true…but yet, the other may listen to your opinions well and speak to you politely and choose the best opinion…I just think it’s not just about Iran’s culture…It’s about humanity that you do not think just your own opinion is true! I hope everybody would listen to other opinions and just try to choose the best ones by faith and according to logic and humanity…
they are not like that at all,i’m iranian my self.probably the thought you were arab
most iranians don’t like them because of our history
Im happy because you enjoyed Iran, have a good day.
fana from Iran
Hi there
as an Iranian! i believe the taroof is complex!
but it means that people wants to have respect for you!
and I hope to travel Iran again and discover more about this old country
I’m an iranian! Thanks for your article! We love othere people of world even American people! Our problem is with the government of USA! Not people! We love peace! ❤️ I liked to see you but unfortunately I lost my chance and you aren’t here anymore!
Hey guys!i come from iran i was curious about the comments about this topic!TAROOF is a really hard thing to learn for foreigners here as a persian girl i have to say i hate it!they say what they dont mean it 😐 we are famous for hospitality but we trust no one!they are always some poor people to take advantage of tourists because they think the tourists are rich and you have to be careful about the money and documents TRUST NO ONE IN IRAN although they look really nice to you!and be careful when you go across the street the cars wont stop for you!
سفر خوش!
Hi ! I’m an Iranian girl . As you say taroof is really confusing ! Sometimes it also confuse us too . But don’t worry ! You will get through this . Travel to Iran ! I bet it will be one of your best experiences ever .
I’m a 14 year old Iranian boy. you can accept tarof and the you might not see a bad reaction but it doesn’t have a good form
if i am the president of Iran, i will delete the Ta’arof in our culture 🙂
OMG that’s awesome facts about us up there
Yeah most of these facts are true
For example if i see a traveler confused here and don’t know what to do of course I’ll help him/her and of course I’ll invite him to my house
About that taroof that’s aswome it’s not too hard to find out how should you use it just need a little time and experience and trail and error
I think the biggest problem here is that just there is few guy’s like me can speak and understand English completely (master of self reliance)
You’ll probably have some problems with language but not a big deal
I am sorry you had such a experience. You’re partially true. Iranians can be a bit racist some times and this is because they (well I am Iranian too, so maybe I should say we) have not really been disenchanted with the Aryan myth. Thus, Iranians view themselves as a White people (I know it might sound ironic to White Westerners, but they actually do!). However, I would say they hospitality depends more on nationality than race per se. I bet if you’d said you’re American, especially in any of the bigger cities, everyone would be sweethearts and to you and try to make sure you feel welcome.
Hi, can i ask you what is your job?
i mean how can you traveling to another country and dont go to your work,
And how can you earn mony?
I’m iranian.really happy about youe ideas….people think that we are unreliable…
Hi farzin,
We are travel bloggers and writers. That is our job 🙂 You can learn more about making money abroad while travelling here: https://www.goatsontheroad.com/sustaining-travel/
Hello
Im iranian boy
I enjoyed your text
But the question is how safe and friendly is Iran for LGBT people? I bet not much.
I think it is always a good advice to end an article like this by warning LGBT people to avoid visiting Iran as it is not safe for them.
I’m a Iranian.
I love all tourists becuse they are visitors.
I’m think must help a tourist because everybody is human.
Taroof in iran a old costum but I’m while try to help is serious.
If ours government is murder it’s not Iranian people fault.
Thank you
This a very very good, thx for your positive opinion, you’re welcom anytime, we love our guest it’s a blessings, if you need place to stay and anything next time let me know no taarof BTW haha always welcome, much love from iran
Hi. I’m sorry for having this experience. I’m pretty sure that they thought You are Iranian or Arab. It is not common or even proper that an Iranian young girl travel with a boy who is not her husband so that might be why they insult you. But I never saw that Iranian hate people because of their color. The only thing that might matter in Iran is the nation you’re coming from.
that was graet . tnx
you know what’s worse ? As a Persian born in Europe, I still naturally practice tarof. Somebody offers that amaziiiiing slice of cake that I absolutely want but I will be like “no really, thanks for your generosity” and the fucker takes it away like “oh ok” almost disappointed that I didn’t take it. Then I feel so ashamed to “change my mind” so I just have to get over the cake !
i am a Iranian kid living in china and i was really happy that you sent this, most people say iranians are terrorists and it really hurts my feeling because its impossible to find a terrorist here in Iran, and Iran is the safest country in the middle east. Thank you so much for not listening to the rumors and coming to Iran and sharing your thoughts 🙂
I’m an Iranian and I enjoyed reading this article this is really the truth about my people 🙂
I
I think you were mistaken for an Afghan. The racism against Afghans in Iran is really huge, they basically treat them like garbage. So when an Asian looking tourists visits Iran, there is a high chance they will encounter racism. And it’s a fact, Iranians treat people differently based on their country of origin. If you are from Europe or America, you will be treated like a royalty but if you happen to be from a poorer Asian or African country, they will act racist towards you.
Hi
I read all of your notes about us and I enjoy with that. thanks
I hopeful you and you’re friends coming again to iran and me and my family will glad to be your host in our home in Tehran
Hi I am Iranian and I live in Mashhad and I think there are nice and awful people in my country it’s about your luck. to who you get involved. (can’t speak very well excuse me if i had errors.)
LOL, try not being white, then you see the truth.
Well I’m an Iranian and I really hate OUR PEOPLE!I really can’t understand why they’re only kind toward WHITE foreigners!Well,goat,I believe you are lucky.Iranians would do anything to keep their face even as far as to lie!My people treat whites like celebrities but as soon as they see a black or chinese(for example),they just avoid them!What we Iranians lack is HUMANITY!And for sure if you have visited a damn place like TEHRAN(Where I am)You surely would have changed your mind.It’s so stupid that we don’t help our own kind but are super generous to white foreigners…I wish we were more like Japanese people…
And about religion…I can say for sure that we don’t have a complete Muslim cuz Islam prohibits Muslims from lying but this is what we Iranians are professional at
They Just treat good with western People. They treat so bad with estern Like arabs and Afganian and pakistanian People.i hate them
Iran is an amazing country and living there is not hard Iraninans are not suffering we got a really good president, most of the Iraninans love Mr.Rouhani and support him Iran is a modern country as a Iraninan I can tell that country ia not as bad as some paeple think I love my country
Hi mr im an iranian girl and i live in iran and i must tell u we never have problem with gay or lez maybe must of people in iran dosent like this kind of relation here but lez or gay exist here too
But i suggest u dont mantion u are gay here because sex and this kind of things are hiding nobody mantion this things here but if u see iranian people who is open minded u can tell
If i had mistak in my text im sorry my wnglish is not good enogh
Im Iranian and I want to add an important note here:
“DO NOT COME TO IRAN, because you might experience the best trip that you have all over your life” 🙂
hi
I am an Iranian.
We’ve traveled the country happy.
Thank you for introducing my country to others.
I can not speak good English.
Just wanted to say thank you.
Again, travel to Iran
bye ^_^.
Amazing read. Thanks
Amazing read!. Thanks
no the truth is guys are not safe in any Islamic country
Hey
To be honest I’m an iranian guy. I see my country as a place full of any type of people. You are capable of seeing hospitable or in wise an immoral person. But if you try to be a kind one to’em they would also be kind person to you. Yes i know my country is seem to be a bullshit country to other countries based on politics and terrorism but it is just based on our religion not anything else. You are not able to see any terrorism in my country just in countrys near us so you are able to find my country as a safe one.
About price I just can say don’t worry about beacause one of cheapest one is my country. About being rubbed you are able to see it in any country not just in mine. About clothing we are not wearing clothes like Arab people just south side of the country because of being near’em and also being near sea. We care about are past and we are proud of it. Best history of world we have that none of the countries in whole the world have like this. About souvenirs alot of delicious things we have. And don’t forget this one my country have types of cultures with types of languages with types of climate.
A real four-season country. These are a bit of things which makes me to be proud of my country.
It would be my pleasure to visit this paradise. You can not find this jungles or this type of deserts anywhere.
What the hack bud?
You first say don’t come and then say it’s best one you’re making me mad the bold language advertises negative meaning
Hi Thank you so much for your nice article Iranian people are so nice and they truly love and respect different cultures and I’ have sadly seen that some people think of them as same as arabs which is not true and i can tell that except of religion (for the majority of people) they have absolutely nothing in common
I’m former Iranian and I don’t like my people at all; they are two faced and are dishonest; and if they gossip about someone or someone’s son or doughter or husband or wife; the family that’s being gossiped about will never hear about it; not even from their very close friends no matter how close they are; unless the person or the family accidentally hears the gossip about them; they won’t approach the one gossiping about them; the avoidance is to avoid conflicts and arguments and to keep the peace; and they would still say hello to each other as if nothing really happened; basically being two faced to avoid conflicts and arguments and avoid the drama.
Hello everyone
I am an Iranian 16 years old boy and I am so happy to read this real while everyone is telling something bad about us and that’s not true.
Most of the things you said was true
Thanks
I have to really appreciate u for your fever to us .
If u liked to come to Iran again i want u to come to my historical city (Yazd).
Iwish u happy days.
Among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the different tongues and Olwankm the verses of the worlds “Koran Karim
Being polite and respectful is of course necessary in Iran.
Dear friend, I enjoyed reading your post, it’s not the same as you say (this is a kind of compliment
:d :d). I hope that one day all the people of the world will come to believe that the Iranians, and especially the Iranian Muslims, are from peace and friendship and not terrorists.
Hi im an iranian iran is very safet to travel and places of interest if you would like to my country. We iranian will welcome you thank you for your article.
So i travel a loooot! And…
I thought going to iran will be like stepping into a battlefield And there will be angry men telling you to cover yourself or religions people being angry of me not being a muslim and…. all the sh**********ss they say in media !
To be honest, i was afraid to go there but i met with an iranian person and she told me I should go there so i started searching about this beautiful country and after reading your opinions i went there and stayed for 3 months!
Believe me i was forced to come back to us again ! Lol
I saw every single friend that i made there as a family member after one week !
They were so nice that most of the time they didn’t even let me to pay for my food or anything that i wanted to eat and try there !
They were so friendly that i felt im home more then my own country!
Omg just let me tell u about foods !!! U can not imagine what a heaven of foods iran is !
About hijab i have to say that it was actually not as bad and hard I thought it would be ! It was a bit hard to wear scarf on those hot days ! But they had beautiful scarf and sth called *maanto* and when I went to good shopping centers of there trust me it was lime a runway !
So to be honest i can not wait till the next summer to go there and visit all those beautiful places and cities of iran again !
I had my best trip ever!
And it’s all because of your amazing website so thanks a lot for giving me the courage to do this amazing job.
Hi
I’m a iranian.
We aren’t in common with our government.
We are Peacemaking peoples.
We are famous for hospitality.
Rest assured if you travel to Iran, you will not regret it.
May God protect you greatly.
Good buy.
Why anyone would still associate “terrorism” with Iranian people in this age of information/internet is BEYOND COMPREHENSION…
A simple google search and debunk these popular (mostly American) beliefs that Iranians are terrorist.
Apart from being a genuinely “friendly” culture (attested by greek historians and even the Bible), Iranians in the 21th century are more eager to show westerners their friendliness simply because it is the “West” that has vehemently been dehumanizing Iran every chance they get with the help of Hollywood propaganda (“Not Without My Daughter”, etc).
I can write entire books on how Hollywood directors have systematically and purposely LIED and DISTORTED the image of Iranians for their world audience since the 1980s. Hollywood fiction is VERY different – if not the complete opposite – of reality.
For example, thinking Iran “is all sand” or that Iranians “are camel jockeys” are rampant assumptions among many brainwashed Americans.
That is why Westerners who visit Iran are hugely surprised to find out that Iranians are NOT the “desert dwelling Arabic Bedouins carrying knives and wanting to murder every American person on this planet”.
When Americans visit Iran and meet Iranians for the first time, they feel they have been duped with false and outdated stereotypes. When they see the snow tipped Damavand mountains, the walnut trees and the Caspian see shores, they uncover part of the Hollywood lies. Or when they encounter elderly villagers in Abyaneh or talk to young Iranians in Tehran, they understand how the image of Iran has been unjustly tarnished by U.S. media.
This vile and vicious stereotype that has maliciously been concocted by Hollywood has damaged Iranians to such an extent that their good nature and friendliness is now an element of surprise for most people visiting Iran.
I’m so glad that you loved Iran
You see I’m Iranian
thank you for the wonderful things you said about iran and also the bad things because they are true and knowing them would help us making them fade over time (but not completely .of course).I cant believe how you managed to know us in your travel . some of the things that you said were so true i could easily relate my self to them and laugh at some of them (like taroof). you cant believe how much iv beeen depressed because of it ;they go offer you beautiful things and you have to refuse them because of courtesy.
and yes we LOVE our country and hate our government.(who doesnt)
1-please try out our literature ,its rely good(try out SHAHNAMEH (book of kings)).
2-and dont forget to check out the palaces in TEHRAN.
3-and when you shop; PLEASE haggle ,its almost a tradition (shopkeepers rise their prices because they know almost any sane person in iran will haggle)(i hate it)
4-dont eat sausages we have serious doubt which animal it comes from.(mostly cats and dogs …im noy lying there are plenty videos on that subject.
5- try out iranian foodf like” AB-GOUSHT” . “GHORME-SABZI” .if you are in the north (winter is coming) try out “MORGHETORSH” .and dont forget about the kebabs( they are so good).
6- the north of iran is really beautiful specially GILAN.
BYE
Hey! It is Maahi, I’m from Tehran (capital city of Iran). I can’t thank you enough for these nice words, and for expressing a non-biased opinion. As a young citizen who can speak fluent English, I’ve met travelers from all ove the world and it really makes me happy to meet these beloved guests who chose my country to travel. Some attitudes are to be enhanced though, for example I hate Taarof because it is still confusing for me (and I live here!!!!!). Wish you the best experience in Iran! This is my e-mail if you have any questions from an insider:
mayaq360@gmail.com
so True and realistic facts about Iran that I’ve ever read. welcome to Iran
I couldn’t agree more with you, I’m a young traveler from Switzerland traveling all over the world. I traveled to Iran two times, first time I traveled alone, but the second time I convinced my friend to travel with me. Don’t believe media it’s all bullshitting when I wanted to go to Iran, everyone told me Iran is not safe but from the first day I arrived, I ended with tons of kindness and warm welcoming people all you could see is hospitality and their majestic architecture!
another thing which is funny is the fact my friend Lucas is now in a relationship with one of those Iranian girls that he met in Iran, lol I still can’t believe it!
So Don’t be scared and travel to Iran it would change your view definitely !!! 😉
Hi Iam Iranian too .Iwanted to say thank you for writing this informations about us 🙂
Hi Iam Iranian too .Iwanted to say thank you for writing this informations about us 🙂 and the thing about welcom to Iran its right but its also the only thing they can say
Hi Iam Iranian too .Iwanted to say thank you for writing this informations about us 🙂 and the thing about welcom to Iran its right but its also the only thing they can say
To Sam:
Most of the people in Iran respect different views and lifestyles of the foreigners but there’s only one thing that I recommend you to keep a secret and that is your sexual orientation if you are GAY. I know that a sane person won’t go out talking about his sexual life out loud , but here in Iran you just have to be a little bit more cautious! It’s not that they harm you or anything but they still have a looong way to deal with such matters.
Internet is full of articles praising Iranian hospitality. But it really is big fat LIE. I came to live in Iran with my Iranian husband about two months ago and I haven’t seen any hospitality. Iranians don’t speak English at all, not even one word. But they are very curious and talkative. I am blonde European so they are very curious to come to talk, but not to me, to my husband. And then they talk to my husband in Farsi for half an hour completely ignoring me and making me feel complete outsider. Iranians are very happy to accept an invitation to come to your home. They always leave their wives at home and never bring anything they always come empty handed. They never invite you to their home in return but they do invite themselves to your home again and again. Those tourists who write articles about Iranian hospitality must have completely different experience than me. They maybe visit Iran through some project or organisation and they have ready network of English speaking people waiting them before they arrive to Iran. Bigger cities also can be different. And when you are tourist Iranians maybe think they should give so good impression to you because soon you are going back. But when you come to stay here they don’t bother. And when you are married to Iranian they consider you Iranian as well. And they are never hospitable to each other.
It sounds like we had a completely different experience than you. We were invited into numerous homes for meals, tea and actually, to stay with one couple – which we did, for 7 nights! Men talk to men, women talk to women – that’s how it is in Islamic culture. I find it weird that they won’t invite you into their home? That’s not what we experienced at all. We met and hungout with numerous Iranian couples, both the men and the women.
Maybe my experience would be different if I was a man, if my husband was a foreigner too or if I would have come to a bigger city. Iranians care a lot what people think about them in other countries. They want to give tourists so good impression about themselves so that you will go back to your country talking so much good about them. But my husband is Iranian and we came here to stay so they consider me as an Iranian too. I am not going back to my country so they don’t see any reason to try to impress me.It is not at all like that men would talk only men or women would talk only women. No, they talk a lot. But tell me, how did you find those people you hungout with? How did you find people who speak English? Because I haven’t found even one person speaking English in last two months. After all it is just sad there are so many articles in internet talking so much good about Iranians and I also read them before coming here. So my expectations were so high and I got so disappointed when I came here. And honestly I haven’t felt myself this much lonely in my entire life.
Hi.i read your nice guide.thanks to you for writing such this travel guide about iran.im from iran_shiraz city and im ready and happy to give you and other members all information about iran(cultural,historical,political and …) for free!
Im always online! And will be happy if you contact me.i love to be friend with foreigner and learn their culture
Facebook id:mehdikh423
Number:+989176001053
Instagram id:mehdikh423
Im in whatapp and telegram with this phone number too +989176001053
Regard_mehdi
@ Sam
Someone here mentioned being gay, trust me Iranians would not be able to overcome such fact. Like, I took a pole in school, I asked students to say the first thing when they here the word “GAY”, the result was “pornography”, so while outside they might seem understanding, but inside Iranian will have trouble understanding a real gay person. Best to keep to yourself.
Hope a happy trip Sam.
I’m an Iranian girl..It made me happy when I read this
Most of the world has a bad memory of us
That’s about terrorism
but it was nice to see there are somebody over there and even they know we are compeletly different from terrorists
Thank u so much for your information and weblog
But there is a big problem here that you didnt note. Iranian nice and generous treetment is Only against western people. Europe and US. Becouse while western people are first class citizens -as western media, news and movies show this- Iranian eople see theirselves as second class ones. And they need to prove theirselves to this people to be accepted as first class. They do anything to prove that. They even may say (we dont believe in Islam) becouse they know you may hate muslims, we are not Arab, we are not trorrist. All this is being proved to you. There is a self confidence problem. And i think all of this is programmed by US. Then Iran will be the best country you can travell to. Everything almost will be free. And you western people will enjoy that. But this is a big problem for Iranians. They have failed in media war. And this is bad. IThis is respectful to fight a war for your people. But iran people even dont fight back to you, just to being proved to you. I hope they will. (All in respect).
Hi guys I am a iranian , first I want to say that , I hope you like our contry ,
And I say too that , ” taroof ” means Compliments …
Thank you so much for The travelling You to my country
…just don’t marry one. Lol!
I speak as an Iranian who has been away since 2000 but totally spent a good few decades there.
after decades overseas and much introspection and thinking about life and culture and how people say and do things there and among them, I have come to conclude Iranians are the most two faced people on earth, having met only about 10 nations and their cultures up close for some time.
They are simply the most passive aggressive, self-deceiving, confused bunch of people I have ever met. The entire country is in a self-delusion no matter how you cut it when it comes to FACTS OF TODAY. When I say the entire country, I am including the many millions of Iranian diaspora as well, not just the people inside.
These are also among the most untrusting, abused and victimized and at the same time fakely confident and proud people I have seen. It is like they need a heavenly psychologist to come down and heal them all….
Which means they are fake AF… they all PRETEND.
This speaks for the mindset of about 75% of “iranians” a fake nation, bunch of oppressed different nationalities with little originally in common who were forced to be one nation for the brutal kings they claim in name of civilization… Just look at this comment, just look at how desparate they have to be for their identity… this is not even an Islamic problem, this is a much longer issue of a crowd with generational and severe psychological limitations and problems, so much so as half the DSMV is PART OF THE CULTURE there.
Sorry, Iranians are a sick people with their heads in the sand, blinded by their own means, to never see the truth of who they are and do something about it instead of all this denial and pretension. IT is childish almost.
I love the smell of my own ass too.
No, you do not like them because you refuse to see how racist you are and how many other cultural issues exist in that uncivilized place.
Most Iranians who classify a group of people with one giant brush and say we do not like them are RACIST AS FK
Iranians have a lot of issues. Somebody should start a national introspection and meditation movement. Yall are simply 97% MINDFUCKED beyond your own comprehension. Trust me.
Please go back, you are not forced to stay anywhere else and represent…
They welcome you fakely… the moment you cross a line, your humanity and life and respect and everything else about is just fair game without much formal rights or procedures… I mean they do this to theyselves… easily. yearly. In fact all the time.
Its passive aggressiveness. its being fucked in the mind. Go think and meditate and read about this crap and learn to live a higher quality life free of crap identity and nonsense.
This. This. Sadly, this is half the fakeness around you there. This fake confident, this boasting that reeks of fakeness and sadness. feelsbadman, while the rest of the world is getting further ahead, Iranians are stuck in some nonsensical mindset that requires an earth shattering event and a lot of thinking for them to get out of… These are t he reasons nations once in a while break up… experience violent events or civil wars or attack others… when a nation bans speech, chances of those events only increase. When a people cannot handle criticism without getting offended left and right, they fail themselves.
Iranians are generally VERY VERY VERY JUDGMENTAL AND EMOTIONAL UNSTABLE and closeted and closed up folks.
Their denial of this statement will be the resounding confirmation of how their brains and culture work. They are a very protestant and persistent (almost dogmatically) people.
Look at how they “accepted” Islam. They are not considered true muslims by 90% of muslims haha, and yet their islamic claims in the world and their meddling for Palestine is even more than the Saudi Arabians who are literally owners and inventors of Islam.
Iranians are the most confused people on earth.
You are lying to yourself. You are not being honest with yourself. Your culture is crude and racist, closeted and closed up, freedom is banned, and everyone lives in fear of an invisible God. The rest of the western world did away with this stuff about 150-200 years ago, at least the society and the people are not forced to any of it and you can insult any public official as much as you want without threatening them because you have free speech.
You hate the governement of anywhere. You hate. That is the only thing I understand about you. You are capable of harboring resentment and hatred. And I promise you, you have not thought about any of this for 1 sweet min in your precious long life.
Iranians are the most passive aggressive, self-deluding, confused mother lovers on earth. Learn to start loving yourself first <3. start with that, banish your capacity to harbor resentment and hate and maybe practice forgiveness of self and your father and fathers… and maybe just maybe then, you can start finding better things to harbor and say about yourself or others.
And then some of the population is just that, TOO STONED.
It is almost ingrained in our genes. We are all fucked in the head somehow. wash that shit away. assassinate it in your head. Dont do it. Next time you did, embarass yourself and take it back and override it. DO IT MAN.
Live. But dont you ever live freely.
Live. But practice fear hourly.
Live. But embrace anxiety, it is everywhere. Look at USA they tell ya!
Live. But don’t show.
Live. But don’t talk about it.
Live. But don’t ask about it.
Live. But don’t act like it.
Live. But don’t expect it.
Live. But live a lie.
Then we wonder why addiction and stress and mental issues and suicide and overall quagmire is the theme of the nation and country… we then proceed to blame previous generation, previous voters, the British bastards, the American infidels and brutes, our own basiji and government, and all along we fail to see our own selves in the fogged out mirrors.
Land: as beautiful as anywhere on earth.
People and culture underneath their pretentious showboat of a surface: See my other comments.
These are a confused, self-deluding, angry and passive aggressive people constantly being victimized and played by powers to be.
I commend your self honesty and not being so blind like 99% of these folks.
This. This man knows his stuff about Iran. Thank you for speaking the truth.