TICKETS |
ALL TICKETS WILL BE DELIVERED BY EMAIL (PDF). NO DELIVERY OF PAPER TICKETS BY POST.
Reservation, Booking, Ticket prices, Children fares, Payment, Bicycle transport, Bus, Refund policy & Passengers rights.
In order to travel with Iranian Railways you not only need a ticket, but you must do a reservation prior to your departure. Rail transportation demand in Iran is high and trains are always less than needed. On many destinations all seats are already sold out even one or two weeks before departure. See how to buy and reserve your ticket in advance:
Get your ticket fast and everywhere. No postal delivery, we send you an email with the online ticket as pdf file. Print it out and show it at the ticket control inside the station. For the following departure stations you do not need to print out the ticket - just show the screen of your mobile with the online ticket and QR-Code: Tehran, Mashad, Isfahan, Yazd, Bandar Abbas, Kerman, Qom and Ahwaz. All long distance trains can be booked online while some regional trains are sold only locally.
We calculate the price based on the official exchange rate in Euros. For the cancellation of online tickets please consult the General Terms and Conditions for more details. Refund is also possible at major railway stations in Iran in Rials payable in cash to the bearer of the ticket. The penalty is 30% until 3 hours before departure of the train and 50% if requested between 3 hours before departure and departure time. No refund after the train has left.
Online ticket with online payment: Pay online and get your ticket online.
There are several ways to pay your ticket. European customers can choose to pay directly from their bank account. Customers from all countries can pay by credit or debit card.
Due to the high transportation demand and the few trains available on some routes it is highly recommended to do the reservation as soon as possible, especially if you want to travel with high quality overnight trains or Pardis express trains. You can easily check the availability of the desired journey in the timetable search. If tickets are running out or few days are left for your departure you can do an express booking. In this case we deliver tickets within 24h provided that they are still available.
Here are some reference values for frequently asked relations:
All other trains should be bookable 2-3 days before departure, but consider that not all connections run daily. If you don't want to pay the express booking fee and if you are not in a hurry you should book at least 10 days before departure.
Group reservation: please contact us. We will forward your request to a partner agency in Iran.
For a tourist round trip to the most requested destinations (Tehran-Shiraz-Esfahan-Yazd-Kashan-Tehran) we recommend the following order:
- Tehran to Shiraz: with comfortable overnight train, leaving in the afternoon and arriving in Shiraz the next morning.
- Shiraz to Esfahan: actually this route is not served by train (Tehran to Shiraz trains do not stop in Esfahan). So bus or taxi is the only alternative. While usually you can get bus tickets at the bus terminal, you can also book them with us for this route. Select departure and arrival, travel date and number of passengers, then click on 'check for available buses on this route'.
- Esfahan to Yazd: Afternoon train with arrival in Yazd 3 and a half hours later, running every other day (or bus on days where train is unavailable).
- Yazd to Tehran: daily express trains (Pardis) in the morning or in the afternoon which will take you back to Tehran in 5 hours or overnight train.On your return you may also add a stop in Kashan where these trains call at comfortable hours.
For this trip we would recommend you to book at least three weeks prior to your departure.
Railway tickets in Iran are reasonable cheap for the service you get. With 20-25 Euros (25-30 $) you can travel hundreds of kilometers in a first class overnight train. Prices are similar to VIP bus tickets but especially on long trips comfort is much higher than with any road transport, while some highspeed connections might be faster than any other land transport available. You can easily check the price of your journey on the timetable search. For every train the price will be listed in Iranian Rials and in Euros according to the daily exchange rate of the Central Bank of Iran. Pre-orders get 30% discount and some trains have up to 25% discount if booked earlier. All payments are in Euros.
If during the booking process you select 'private compartment', you will have to pay for all seats in the compartment, i.e. 4 tickets in a 4-bed compartment and 6 in 6-bed. The exact price will be calculated in the next step. Considering the high demand on most lines and the low number of trains available, with respect to other passengers in need of transportation, we do not recommend private compartment for less then 2 people in 4-bed compartments and less than 3 people in 6-bed compartments. The women only compartment has no extra price.
You can book tickets for men and women in the same compartment, no matter if there is any family relation between them. Mixed compartment is mixed compartment. Gender segregation is not an Iranian tradition and fortunately does not apply to railway. But if a woman prefers to travel in a women only compartment, the option can be selected during the booking process.
Bicycles can be transported on most long distance trains except Pardis express train. You need to book an ordinary ticket for each passenger and then show up at the railway station before departure at least one hour in larger stations and half an hour in smaller stations. Please refer to the information desk. The railway staff will decide whether to transport your bicycles in the luggage car (if available) or on the platform of a passenger car. A small fee may be charged for transportation.
For your convenience we have included several bus routes among the most requested destinations which are currently not served by train at all or may have a train only every second day. Simply click on 'check for available buses on this route' once this option is shown in the route selection dialogue. It will not show up as long as trains are available.
Usually it is not necessary to book buses in advance but it may be convenient to do so around the weekend, when demand is high. Bus companies do never publish arrival times (and don't refund any fare if the bus is late), so the arrival times shown on our website are just for general reference. Buses serve almost every place in Iran and are available several times a day, on main routes even hourly or more frequent.
VIP buses have higher quality standard, with AC, reclinable seats for overnight trips and offer free snacks and drinks. They have usually around 25 seats. Travel times are similar to trains on medium routes but always slower on long distance routes. Travel quality and service is not bad - if travel does not exceed 6-7 hours but quality of overnight and long distance trains is of course much higher than with bus (you can sleep in a bed on trains, you can walk around and there is a restaurant car as well as a toilet), also traffic safety is higher (roads in Iran are unsafe).
For trains to Qom and Mashad (any route), especially during religious holidays, please book at least 1 month prior to departure. Please note: there is no special service nor are there reserved compartments for Shia pilgrims. All our customers are treated in an equal manner, with no difference between sex, religion or nationality. We try to get the tickets for all but if they are sold out on the booking system we cannot do anything. Who comes first takes the seats.
International Tickets:
International Tickets for train service between Iran and Turkey are available on iranrail.net for the train between Tehran and Ankara or Ankara and Tehran (Trans Asia Express) and between Tehran and Van (in both directions). Both trains run weekly.
The departure times of trains and the fares in this site come from Raja.ir, fadaktrains.ir and safirrail.ir ticket booking portal and show realtime availability. Intermediate times are available for all trains but not all departure stations are bookable on the system. In case there is no departure from the choosen location, but a train stop listed in the timetable, you need to book from a previous station and board the train later.
select route on the network or departures from a city
to booking facility (search for a train by origin and destination)
Please consult the General Terms and Conditions for more details.