A weeklong tour across Khorasan Razavi and South Khorasan provinces has been organized by Arand Tour.
On March 21, a VIP bus will leave Tehran at 4 p.m. for eastern Iran. A local house in Birjand and a two-star hotel in the city of Neyshabur will accommodate the visitors.
The tour includes a long list of sights: Kolah-Farangi Citadel, Akbarieh Historical Garden and Birjand Castle are to be ticked in Birjand County of South Khorasan.
Sarbisheh County in the same province has a wonderful village named Makhunik that is famous for the small size of its residents (about 140 cm) and their strange customs and traditions.
In Darmian County, Furg Citadel, dating back to the 12th century, is also on the tour's itinerary. In Qaen County, where visitors can buy saffron, they will visit the tomb of Bouzar Jomehr 4 km southwest of Qaen City.
When in Khorasan Razavi and in the county of Gonabad, the group will explore the qanats (underground water channels) of Gonabad built between 700 and 500 BC and now a world heritage site. Another site in Gonabad is the historical fabric of Riab Village.
Tourists will also visit Khaf, another county of Khorasan Razvi, which is famous for its windmills in Nashtifan, the national heritage site of Malek Zuzan Mosque in an abandoned village, Ghiasieh School in Khargerd Village, dating back to Timurid era (1370-1507), and the huge palace of Koushk-Salami.
Taybad County of the province has the brick tower or minaret of Karat from Seljuk era (1016-1307) and the shrine of Zeynoddin Taybadi. Torbat-e Jam County boasts of the beautiful Sheikh Ahmad Jami Mausoleum Complex.
Neyshabur County in Khorasan Razavi has also many attractions, among which four are on the itinerary: the village of Mohammadabad-Aqazadeh known as 'Wooden Village' and famous for its wooden mosque; the mausoleum of poet, hagiographer and theoretician of Sufism Farideddin Attar (1145-1220); the mausoleum of polymath Omar Khayyam (1048-1131); and the tomb of painter Mohammad Ghaffari, better known as Kamal-ol-Molk (1859-1940).
The group will be back in Tehran on March 27 around 11 p.m. Details and more info are provided at Arandtour.com.
