Eighty-three German tourists are set to visit Iran’s historical and cultural heritages by traveling through vast expanses of the countryside in October.
Called “Zendegi” (Persian for “life”), the luxury train is scheduled to leave Tabriz in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan on October 6 and will journey through Zanjan, Tehran, Isfahan and Yazd before making its final stop in Shiraz, Fars Province, IRNA reported.
The tour is a joint effort by Iran’s Raja Rail Transportation Company and an unnamed Turkish travel agency.
“The Germans will fly to Tabriz from Turkey, and once their train journey ends in Shiraz, they will fly back to Germany via Tehran,” said Simin Mizani, director of travel services at Raja.
She said Raja and the Turkish travel agency signed a two-year cooperation agreement last week to conduct similar tours on a regular basis.
Several tours have given a boost to the country’s rail tourism in recent months, which culminated in last week’s signing of an agreement between an Iranian company and three Austrian firms to establish the first-ever tourism train between the two states.
Masoud Soltanifar, Iran’s vice president for tourism, has said the country’s capacity for rail tourism will double in the near future.
