Carnet-de-passage to enter Iran???
 

Hi!

A greek friend of mine is planning a bike trip upto Iran. Starting at late September from Greece, he will pass Turkey to enter Iran. Is a carnet-de-passage needed or nothing else but a visa (from Iranian embassy in Athens)?

Thanks in advance,
Alex

Hey,
According to the adac (german car club) it is mandatory.

Gesendet von meinem ONE A2003 mit Tapatalk

As BikerMarvin says, it is mandatory. No way of entering Iran without it.

You can actually enter without visa if you enter through the Armenia / Iran border, they give visa on arrival.

If you are entering from Turkey, they will even ask the Turkish side if you have one- I suppose they don't want people getting stuck. Iranian side at bazargan was fine, a guy will help you (and then ask for money - you don't have to pay). You can skip the queue as a foreigner. They seem very used to overlanders here. Even solo women. You will have to buy insurance - about 2km from the border - USD90 and valid for a year.

Carnet is mandatory.

I've seen a motorbike in Iran without Carnet. It was a half Swiss half Georgian guy (not sure about the swiss part) who spent 3 days at the border (can't remember which one but think Turkey) negotiating his entry into Iran without carnet. He succeeded but cost him a few days and around 250€ non refundable. He also only got a 10 day single entry because of this. I met him at the turkmenistan border where we tried to cross together. I succeeded (all paperwork done in advance ;-) ) but he eventually got stuck in between Iran and Turkmenistan.
1st of all he had a hard time getting out of Iran because of this "one off" document which they didn't know (but eventually he got through) 2ndly he got stuck at the Turkmen border because (guess what) he had no visa for Turkmenistan... !!! Haha.. never heard what became of him.. definately would never get into Turkmenistan, but do you think Iran would take him back without Carnet and without Visa?!.. if anyone knows the sequell.. Id be very interested :-) (this was summer 2014)
He rode a very very overloaded ktm 990 adv.
Second way to get into Iran is via Hossein (if he still offers his services).. search the forum, you'll find his details there.. good luck!

Yes. Mr. Hossein is still offering his services. I will be meeting him tomorrow at the Iranian customs office. He stresses right from the beginning that you absolutely need a CdP.
http://iranoverland.com

Cheers,
Axel

The procedured must have changed as he 'held the key' to get into Iran without CdP..
But hey, has been 2 years now since I was there.. since then, many things in that region changed!

Hi Axel!

What are the feedbacks with Mr. Hossein? Which border do you want to cross/did you cross? Turkey-Iran?

We are thinking to cross the armenian-iranian border, it seems more "easy"...
How does it work with the carnet de passage? Is there a cheaper way but still doable way to do it?...

Thank you for your help!

Bea&Andrea

Last June I crossed from Armenia into Iran and a week later out to Turkmenistan. I used Hosseins services - no issues at all.

Wrong!

You can enter without a carnet, many people have done so. It is not cheap, average price seems to be about EUR 500 roughly (for a car). You can enlist the help of Mr Hossein or try it alone. Doing it alone will certainly take a lot longer, but may be cheaper.

I personally would take a carnet, as it is simpler, cheaper (so long as you have enough money for the deposit), and allows you to keep a vehicle in Iran for 90 days.

But it is NOT mandatory.

Iran Visa?
 

Hi everybody.

who can confirm the visa is posible at Armenia/Iran border? and how much?
even for Europeen? or only Armenian, and countries around Iran.

i was planing to do it Trabzon /Turkey, but if in Armenia/Iran border they do it... well, it's better,

Thanks

Yannis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUdg...ature=youtu.be

We got ours beforehand and crossed into Iran at the Armenia border, but while researching at the time I did come across this report about VOA at that border: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...ders-Iran.html

interesting....
well, it's just question of daring, and luck.

i think it's the same with the Carnet... if you don't have, i'm sur u can manage to enter Iran paying something, and wast time.

I have never heard of anyone getting an Iranian visa on arrival at a land border of Iran. They are only available on arrival at international airports as far as I know.