Routing
1. Day: Departure
Your adventure is about to start. You board your airplane and a couple hours later, you arrive in Isfahan.
2. Day: Arrival in Isfahan
Your first day in Persia. After a couple hours of sleep and a tasty breakfast, we are starting to explore Isfahan by foot. Our destination is the Naqsch-e-Dschahan square (image of the world), which is now also called Imam square, one of the world&squot;s biggest town squares. We will also be visiting some of the surrounding mosques and palaces and immerse into the hustle and bustle of the bazaar. In the afternoon, we are getting to know the motorbikes.
Later on, we are strolling along the mostly dried-up river Zayandeh and have dinner together in on of the city&squot;s most famous restaurants.
3. Day: Trip to Garmeh / ca. 395 km
It's going to be hot today: we are driving to the desert. But not just any desert: We will be in the Kavir-e Mesr, which is a part of the big Dasht-e Kavir where the highest temperature ever has been measured: over 70° Celsius.
4. Day: A trip to the desert
Garmeh is a very special place. Some years ago, it was left by its inhabitants and was about to decay. Then Maziar cam up with a brilliant idea: The artists who was living in Teheran decided to transform his parents' 400 years old home into a guest house. Thereby, he also influenced other former inhabitants of Garmeh to do the same and over the years a dozen guest houses were renovated. In these houses, guests can live in the traditional way: you sleep, eat and live on the floor.
We can spend the day either with a walk through the oasis, climbing up a mountain close to the oasis, or a motorbiking tour to a salt lake in about 80km distance.
We will spend our evening in the dunes of Mesr, if everyone agrees. Maziar and some of his friends will bring us there in SUVs. We will eat our dinner under the starry sky and listen to traditional Iranian music.
Maziar will tell us the fee for this trip, which is not included in the tour price, in Garmeh.
5. Day: Trip to Yazd / ca. 295 km
We are leaving the magnificent Garmeh today, but still stay in the desert. Before we reach our destination, the ancient Yazd, we leave the main road and visit the abandoned Kharanaq, a city of clay.
Most of the houses are decayed and there is nothing much done to preserve them. We can, however, still wander through the crooked streets and imagine ourselves some centuries ago and immerse mentally into the hustle and bustle back then.
6. Day: Yazd
You can spend your day according to your wishes. For example, an expanded walk through Yazd and its well-preserved and still inhabited old town is an opportunity to spend your day. We recommend you visiting the water museum where you can learn about the genius solution of the desert city's problem with water supply already hundreds of years ago.
7. Day: Trip to Kerman / ca. 365 km
From today on, we will be biking towards the south and we have a lot of kilometers to drive. We are located on the desert fringes but still encounter temperatures as if we were in a blast furnace. In the later afternoon, we will arrive in Kerman.
8. Day: Trip to Shahdad / ca. 95 km
You might feel as if you were in Arizona today. Shahdad's rocky landscape is very similar to the famous rock formations in the USA. We will spend our afternoon and evening here and let ourselves be enchanted by the exceptional natural phenomenon.
9. Day: Trip to Bam / ca. 225 km
We will hurry and bring the couple kilometers to Bam behind us quickly. In Bam, we will visit the old city of clay and its fortress. In December 2003, it was almost destroyed completely by an earthquake. Fortunately, the government decided to rebuild the city soon after the earthquake and progress was made. I have been there for the last time eight years ago and already then, I could see the differences. Thus, we can probably get a good impression of the old settlement.
10. Day: Trip to Sirjan / ca. 380 km
This day and the next are mostly days for motorcycling with a break in Sirjan. We have to drive more than 600km to get to Shiraz. Iran is a really big country.
11. Day: Trip to Shiraz / ca. 385 km
Let's continue - we will arrive in Shiraz in the evening.
12. Day: Day Trip to Persepolis
Today, we let our bikes rest and let ourselves be chauffeured in comfortable busses to Persepolis. A local guide will tell us about the secrets of the old imperial city which was destroyed by Alexander the Great in the year 330 BC.
The other half of the day we can spend strolling through the bazaar of Vakil in Shiraz and visit the famous Nasir al Mulk mosque.
13. Day: Trip to Yasuj / ca. 100 km
On our way to beautiful Isfahan, we will stop in Yasuj. The landscape is fabulous and we can enjoy our last two days on our bikes.
14. Day: Trip to Isfahan / ca. 395 km
Our roundtrip reached its staring point: We are back in Isfahan.
15. Day: Isfahan
Today, you have again the opportunity to explore Iran&squot;s "most beautiful city". We came up with something special for our dinner. We will be driving to an out-of-town caravanserai with a taxi and enjoy the good cuisine there.
16. Day:
I am certain that you take a completely different picture of Iran back home. Spread your experiences and help to correct the negative prejudices conveyed by the media. Iran's people deserved to be presented how they really are.
"Be omide didar", in English "Goodbye and see you soon".