Guaranteed Weekly Departure

Day 1 Depart USA on a scheduled flight to Tehran. All meals and beverages served on board flight.

Day 2 Arrive Tehran Mehrabad International Airport where you will be met by our representative who will assist you with your customs formalities. Transfer to your hotel, the luxurious Laleh Hotel. Overnight.

Day 3 Breakfast, then start your tour of Tehran, the capital of the country for 207 years. Visit the Archeological, Glass, and Carpet museums. You will view an excellent collection of different objects from the 13th Century BC to the 20th Century AD as well as the finest Persian carpets. Later transfer to the airport for your flight to Isfahan. Arrive Isfahan where you will be met and transferred tot he luxurious Abbasi hotel. Isfahan was the capital of Persia during three different eras. What is remarkable about the Abbasi hotel is that it was formerly a caravanserai and is about 400 years old. You will experience pure oriental accommodation combined with the luxury of a deluxe property. Overnight. (B)

Day 4 Breakfast, then start your tour of Isfahan visiting Naghsh-e-Jahan Square, Aliqapou Palace (the first Iranian highrise), Imam and Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, and the traditional bazaar, where you can bargain for your handicrafts and carpets. You will also see the historical bridges of Khajou and Sioseh which was constructed during the Safavid dynasty from the 17th Century AD. Relax in one of the traditional tea houses and drink Persian tea, or experiment with smoking a Persian water-pipe while listening to Persian music. Transfer back to your hotel. In the evening, you will be met and transferred to an Iranian home where you will be hosted for an Iranian home-cooked dinner and have the chance to get to know an Iranian family and their way of life, as well as engage in social discussion. Later, transfer back to your hotel for an overnight. (B,D)

Day 5 Breakfast, then start your tour by visiting the Chehel Sotoon, a palace for receiving foreign officials in the 17th Century AD; Hasht Behesht Haram (belonged to a Safavid king's wifes); and Vank Church, the most beautiful church in Iran from the 16th Century AD. Then marvel at the 700 year old Shaking Minarets. If you wish, you can climb one and shake it, and the second one will also shake for no apparent reason. Later, transfer to Isfahan airport for your flight to Shiraz. Arrive Shiraz where you will be met and transferred to your hotel, the deluxe Homa Hotel. Overnight. (B)

Day 6 Breakfast, then start your tour of Shiraz, which was formerly the capital of Persia in the 18th Century AD. Visit Persepolis which was the ceremonial capital of Persia in 500 BC during the reign of the Achaemenian dynasty. See the Naghsh-e-Rostam. It was the Achaemenian kings' necropolis, cut out of a mountain called Hossein. Also visit the tombs of Hafez and Saadi, the two great Persian poets. End the tour of Persepolis by visiting the Eram Garden. Return to the Homa hotel for overnight. (B)

Day 7 Breakfast, then start your tour by visiting the Vakil Complex including the Citadel, the museum, the bath and the bazaar of the Zand dynasty from the 18th Century AD, as well as the Qavam Orangery House, a masterpiece of architecture from the 19th Century AD. Lunch at a traditional Iranian restaurant. Continue the tour to visit the Mausoleum of Shah-e-Cheragh, brother of the 8th Shia Imam. Return to the Homa hotel for overnight. (B,L)

Day 8 Breakfast, then drive to Yazd via Sarvestan to visit the Sasanian Palace of the 4th Century AD. Continue your tour to the Towers of Silence, the 3rd Century AD burial place for Zoroastrians where, according to their beliefs, the bodies of the deceased were exposed to vultures. Overnight in Yazd at the famous Saffaieh Hotel, known for its beautiful rose gardens. (B)

Day 9 Breakfast, then tour Yazd. Visit the Zoroastrian fireplace. Here you will see the sacred fire which has been kept alive for hundreds of years and is now a Zoroastrian pilgrim center. Visit the Dolatabad Garden of the 16th Century AD, the Jomeh Mosque of the 13th Century AD, and the Alexander prison of the 3rd Century AD. Lunch, then drive to Kerman. Overnight at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Kerman. (B,L)

Day 10 Breakfast, then start your tour of Kerman visiting the Vakil complex, the Bazaar, the Mosque and the Jabalieh Dome of the 17th Century AD. Drive to Bam via Mahan City for lunch at the traditional restaurant Prince Garden, a beautiful 19th Century AD garden. Continue the tour visiting the Mausoleum of Nematolah Vali who was the founder of a Dervish sect in Iran in the 14th Century AD. Overnight at the Bam Eram Hotel in Bam. (B)

Day 11 Breakfast, then drive to the Old Citadel of Bam to visit the greatest mud-brick monument in the world, dating to the 3rd Century AD. Drive to Kerman for your flight to Tehran. Arrive Tehran where you will be met and transferred to your hotel, the luxurious Homa Hotel for an overnight. (B)

Day 12 Breakfast, then you will be met by our representative and transferred to Tehran Mehrabad airport, where you will be assisted with your check-in formalities for your flight back home. (B)

Also Included: All transfers within Egypt, personalized sight-seeing as mentioned in itinerary in a private car with a tour guide and driver. Entrance fees to all sights mentioned, and the services of a professional English speaking guide. Service charges imposed by hotels, porterage, cruise port charges, meeting and assistance at airports, hotels and docks are also included.

If airfare from the U.S.A. is not required, please deduct $920 from posted rate.

SINGLE SUPPLEMENT: For single occupancy in hotels and on board cruise, please add $369.

EXTENSIONS & OPTIONAL TOURS: Extra days and optional tours to sites are available upon request.