The Best Hotels in Iran: Experiences and Opinions

Iran is a country of rich history, diverse landscapes, and vibrant cities, offering travelers a unique and unforgettable experience. From ancient cultural landmarks to modern urban life, every destination in Iran has its own charm.

Alongside these attractions, choosing the right accommodation plays a key role in shaping the overall experience of travel in Iran. In this article, we explore the style of the best hotels in Iran, ranging from luxurious five-star properties in major cities to beautifully restored traditional hotels that reflect authentic Iranian architecture and hospitality. Many hotels reflect the culture of their region, providing guests with an authentic atmosphere while meeting international standards of comfort and cleanliness.

For travelers seeking both quality and cultural depth, hotels in Iran are a pleasant and often surprising experience.

Variety of Hotels for Different Budgets

Iran offers a wide variety of hotels across different rating categories, allowing travelers to choose accommodation that fits their budget and travel style. From affordable options to higher-rated hotels, each category provides a different experience, and quality is not limited to luxury properties alone. Even mid-range and three-star hotels in Iran can be exceptionally clean, comfortable, and well-maintained.

What makes these hotels especially appealing is that many of them go beyond basic accommodation. Guests can often feel a strong sense of local culture through interior design, traditional elements, and the hospitality of the staff. This means that regardless of price level, travelers can enjoy both quality service and a meaningful cultural experience during their stay in Iran.

The Cultural Value of Boutique Hotels and Restored Historic Stays

One of the most unique aspects of traveling in Iran is the abundance of boutique hotels, restored traditional houses, and historic caravanserais that have been carefully transformed into accommodations. These places offer far more than just a room—they provide an immersiveiran cultural experience that reflects the lifestyle, architecture, and spirit of old Iran.

In these hotels, guests can experience traditional Persian hospitality alongside modern comfort. Iranian arts and craftsmanship are visible throughout the property, from handwoven carpets and decorative tiles to wooden doors, arches, and courtyard designs. The atmosphere of these restored spaces allows travelers to feel connected to Iran’s past while enjoying the warmth and attentiveness of contemporary Iranian hospitality, making the stay both meaningful and memorable.

A Wide Range of Hotel Types Along Iran’s Classic Travel Route

Iran’s hotel landscape includes a broad range of accommodation types, from large five-star and international-style hotels to boutique hotels, restored traditional houses, and historic caravanserais. This diversity allows travelers to choose where to stay based on their preferences—whether they are looking for luxury, authenticity, or a balance of both.

Along Iran’s classic travel route, which is the most popular among visitors, many high-quality hotels can be found in major cities and cultural hubs. These include modern, full-service hotels as well as character-filled boutique properties that reflect the identity of their surroundings.

Along this route, accommodation options range from internationally branded luxury hotels to distinctive boutique and traditional properties that reflect Iran’s rich architectural heritage. In Tehran, travelers can stay at the modern, chain-operated Espinas Palace Hotel, as well as the five-star boutique Geran Miras Rashidieh, which combines heritage design with high-end services.

 In Shiraz, luxury options include the Shiraz Grand Hotel and the Zandiyeh Hotel, while boutique experiences are offered at properties such as Mah Gisu Boutique Hotel and Ashrafieh Boutique Hotel, both known for their intimate atmosphere and local character.

Isfahan is home to the iconic five-star Abbasi Traditional Hotel, a historic Safavid-era caravanserai transformed into one of Iran’s most prestigious hotels. In Kashan, travelers seeking refined boutique accommodation can choose the five-star Saraye Ameriha (Ameri House) and Manouchehri House, both outstanding examples of restored traditional mansions.

In Yazd, traditional luxury is represented by the five-star Dad Hotel, while the Moshir al-Mamalek Boutique Hotel offers an elegant stay in a historic garden complex. In addition to these highlighted properties, a wide selection of comfortable mid-range hotels and renovated historic inns and caravanserais are available throughout the route, ensuring high-quality accommodation options for travelers with different budgets and preferences.

It is important to note that these are just some examples of the many good hotels available in Iran. The country offers a wide selection of excellent accommodations, and the hotels found along the classic route represent only a portion of Iran’s rich and varied hospitality scene.

Why Iranian Hotels Surprise Many Travelers

Many travelers arrive in Iran with limited expectations about its hotel industry, often influenced by outdated information or misconceptions. However, once they experience staying in Iranian hotels, they are pleasantly surprised by the special architecture of boutique stays, the warm family vibe of the small boutiques, and high quality of services.

What truly stands out is the combination of cultural richness and genuine hospitality. Hotels in Iran often reflect local traditions through architecture, décor, and art, while staff members are known for their warmth, helpfulness, and personal approach to service. This blend of authenticity, value, and welcoming atmosphere creates an experience that exceeds expectations and leaves a lasting impression on visitors.

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• Hotel
 
• Iran
 
• Iran’s Classic Travel

“Life in War” photo exhibition spotlights Iranian resilience during 12-Day War

 By Samaneh Aboutalebi 

TEHRAN- The closing ceremony of the “Life in War” event, along with the inauguration of its photo exhibition, was held at the Art Bureau of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization in Tehran on Sunday. 

The ceremony was attended by Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Qomi, head of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization, Mohammad-Mehdi Dadman, the director of the Art Bureau, alongside several artists, documentary filmmakers, war photographers, and media activists.

“Life in War” event, launched in October by the Iran Photographers House, aimed to document the lived experiences and resilience of the Iranian people during the 12-day imposed war by the United States and Zionist regime. It received widespread attention from artists, media professionals, and the general public across the country.

Speaking at the ceremony, Qomi expressed gratitude to the organizers and underscored the importance of conscious and artistic narration of life amid war. 

“War is an undeniable reality and erasing its narrative and imagery means erasing part of the truth,” he stated. 

He emphasized that sometimes humans face unwelcome realities that nonetheless contain inherent good. “Wherever there is good, it must flow—as life itself flows—and this flow requires precise, responsible, and artistic narration,” he mentioned. 

Addressing challenges faced in documenting life during wartime, Qomi noted that photographers often face restrictions such as denial of access to scenes and confiscation of press cards, with their role as narrators frequently unrecognized. He stressed that imagery is an inseparable part of war’s truth and its removal equates to erasing reality. 

He also praised photographers and organizers for their dedication and expressed hope for continued dialogue on this subject in future sessions.

In another segment of the exhibition opening, Hossein Golyar, executive secretary of the event, emphasized the significance of documenting people’s lived experiences under wartime conditions. 

He also noted that over 3,600 works from 668 professional artists, citizens, narrators, and youth across 23 provinces and 49 cities were received within 45 days. 

He stressed that while some public narratives may be technically simple, their honesty and immediacy provide high documentary value. The combination offers a multi-voiced human portrayal of war in the photo exhibition.

Golyar addressed difficulties faced by photographers and narrators during the 12-day War. “Field insecurity, strict image-capturing limitations, and psychological pressures posed serious challenges,” he added. 

While some restrictions are understandable under security conditions, he advocated balanced solutions to manage security concerns while enabling truthful documentation.

During the ceremony, distinguished participants were honored for their contributions.

In the professional single-photo category, first place went to Seyyed Amir Panahpour, while second and third place awards were given to Mohammad Hassan Zarifmanesh and Hasan Shirvani respectively. 

In the professional photo series, Hamid Vakili was named the winner, while Pouria Torabi received second place and Meqdad Madadi received third place

The special youth award was given to Arash Sepehri, Arshia Mirzai, and Fatemeh Saranj. Public narrative winners included Donya Eskandarzadeh, Seyyed Serajeddin Hosseini, Mohammad Reza Rahmani, Vahid Zarei, and Hassan Shahabi. Public video winners were Fatemeh Qaedi and Fatemeh Hadipour. Public photo winners included Reyhaneh Rouhani, Leila Sadat Aghili, Seyyed Javad Mirhosseini, Mohammad Amin Noubahar, and Mohammad Parsa Nateqi.

The “Life in War” photo exhibition opened with 89 selected photos and narratives from 65 artists. The list includes notable names such as Mohsen Ranginkaman, Alireza Esmaeili, Foad Eshtari, Zahra Ashrafi, Meraj Amani, Zeynab Tajeddin, Sahand Taki, Pouria Torabi, Fatemeh Jabbari among others.

The exhibition, which will run until March 6 in Tehran, will tour other cities nationwide.

Moreover, a comprehensive and exquisite photo book of the selected works will be published in the near future. This volume aims to transform digital works into a lasting cultural and historical document and is slated for publication next year after technical and artistic refinement.

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• “Life in War”
 
• Art Bureau of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization
 
• photo exhibition
 
• 12-day war
 
• Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Qomi

Beyond the colonial gaze: Rethinking Iran on its own terms

By Xavier Villar 

MADRID – The concept of a colonial toolbox remains a potent but often under-examined framework for understanding contemporary international discourse. It does not refer to a physical object, but to the enduring repertoire of practices, epistemologies, and governmental rationalities developed by imperial centers to categorize, manage, and ultimately subordinate colonized populations.

Its relevance today complicates any simplistic notion of a post-colonial world order. For much of the non-West, the colonial is not yet past; its logic persists, adapts, and is recycled within the language of modern geopolitics, media, and diplomacy.

This adaptive quality is crucial. The toolbox does not merely repeat; it iterates. A canonical example, articulated by scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak as “white men saving brown women from brown men,” was visible during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, framing military intervention as liberation from Islamic oppression. This narrative did not originate in Washington, but echoed moral justifications from earlier imperial projects, such as the British East India Company’s interventions in South Asia. The mechanism is one of recalibration, where old tropes are actualized to serve contemporary strategic ends, creating a continuity between imperial past and hegemonic present.

A more recent manifestation can be observed in Western media representations of Iran, such as The Economist’s article titled “The violence in Iran that could lead to a civil war.” The piece constructs Iran as a tragic topography, inherently prone to irrational, cyclical violence. In this framing, violence is rendered ahistorical and apolitical, a raw spectacle of bloodshed. The Iranian populace, both inside the country and abroad, is depicted as trapped in an eternal, chaotic feud, incapable of nuanced political action or self-governance.

This portrayal is a profound delusion. The colonial toolbox does not seek fidelity to truth, but the construction of narrative as truth. While it is wise to remain skeptical of grand narratives, the material consequences of dominant representations are very real. Non-Western societies disproportionately bear these consequences, facing sanctions, isolation, and, in extreme cases, military intervention.

Underlying such analyses is a familiar thesis: left to themselves, the natives will descend into a Hobbesian state of nature, a perpetual war of all against all. By implication, the civilizing presence of the West is necessary, a modern reincarnation of the white man’s burden. It reinstates a binary of modern versus primitive, rational versus irrational, guardian versus ward. This discursive move places Iran in what cultural critic Anne McClintock called “anachronistic time,” a backward realm of atavistic conflict, contrasted against the forward-moving panoptic time of the modern West.

Yet to view this primarily as a story about Iran misses the point. Such narratives reveal more about the West’s unresolved anxieties and its nostalgic attachment to a logic of guardianship. The white man cannot rest, for his imagined charge is eternal. Looking away would, in this imaginary, invite disorder. The narrative functions disciplinarily, justifying not necessarily immediate invasion, though it primes the ground for one, but a regime of constant monitoring, political isolation, and economic pressure. It legitimizes perpetual interventionism as a reluctant duty rather than a strategic choice.

A sober analysis must reject this impoverished narrative. Iran is not a site of political nullity, but of deep political complexity. It is a nation with a sophisticated political culture; a history of robust intellectual and theological debate; and a populace continuously engaged in nuanced negotiation with the state. 

Reducing this tapestry to a spectacle of eternal conflict constitutes epistemic violence. It dismisses the agency of millions of Iranians navigating and shaping their reality. It obscures Iran’s strategic calculus as a regional actor with historical traumas and security concerns. It also renders invisible the ongoing, consequential internal dialogue about Iran’s future, a discourse that deserves careful analysis as a political project, not as chaotic spectacle.

The persistence of the colonial toolbox in analyses of Iran underscores a failure of Western political imagination. It represents a retreat to familiar archetypes rather than engagement with a nation on its own terms. A constructive approach would abandon the narrative of inherent chaos. It would seek to understand Iran’s internal discourse, recognize the agency of its people and institutions, and engage with the country as a historical subject rather than an object of management. The path forward lies not in resurrecting a colonial logic, but in fostering a knowledge that respects sovereignty, and interacts with the multifaceted political life of a nation that defies caricature.

The unfinished project is not the remaking of Iran into a polity modelled on the West. Iran pursues its own path, guided by its own dialectic and frameworks. The real challenge lies with the West, which must move decisively beyond the colonial gaze. Confronting the present requires abandoning convenient tropes, engaging with reality on its own terms, and recognizing that the objects, practices, and epistemologies of the past continue to shape how nations perceive and act in the world. Only by doing so can dialogue, negotiation, and mutual understanding unfold on a plane that is genuinely equal and historically grounded.

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• Iran
 
• West
 
• colonialism

INOTEX 2026 slated for May

TEHRAN – The 15th International Innovation and Technology Exhibition (INOTEX 2026) is planned to be held in Tehran from May 20 to 23.

Held annually by Pardis Technology Park, INOTEX, the largest innovation hub in West Asia, offers international companies a realistic, practical gateway to explore opportunities in Iran and the region.

Themed ‘Innovation Ecosystem, Under One Roof’, the event's main objectives include strengthening ties among key players in the innovation ecosystem, attracting investment, showcasing new investment opportunities for start-ups and knowledge-based companies, creating extensive networking opportunities, and presenting specialized educational content.

The exhibition will feature the achievements and services of firms and start-ups, as well as specialized and B2B meetings, educational workshops, and start-up competitions. Participants from all over the country can attend the event online, as well, ISNA reported.

Focusing on science, technology, and innovation ecosystems, the exhibition convenes businesspersons, technologists, industrialists, and researchers. The event aims to facilitate partnerships and provide various insights on the latest global competitive prices, quality standards, developments, scientific findings, and economic-technological ideas.

To this end, INOTEX has been organized since 2012 to serve the following objectives:

1. Investment: Connecting investors to the participants.

2. Partnership: Facilitating collaboration between technology companies and startups.

3. Networking: Facilitating communication and interaction between different components of the start-up ecosystem.

Iran ranks 72 in technology and innovation

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Technology and Innovation Report 2025, Iran is ranked among upper middle-income countries, ranking 72nd among 166 countries.

The country’s ranking has improved by one position compared to 2022. UNCTAD has categorized 17 types of technologies as frontier technologies, including artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data, 5G, 3D printing, robotics, drone technology, solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, biofuels, biogas and biomass, wind energy, green hydrogen, electric vehicles, nanotechnology, and gene editing.

The Technology and Innovation Report 2025: Inclusive Artificial Intelligence for Development surveys the complex artificial intelligence landscape, aiming to help decision-makers design science, technology, and innovation policies that foster inclusive technological progress.

The Report 2025 calls for AI that puts people first and is shaped through global cooperation in which all countries have a say. The Report identifies three key leverage points – infrastructure, data, and skills – offering a broad socioeconomic perspective on AI while analyzing requirements and policies to promote sustainable industrialization and innovation.

The sub-indices of readiness for frontier technologies in 2025 show that Iran’s best ranking is in the research and development sub-index (35th in the world).

In the finance sub-index, the country’s ranking has improved from 62 in 2022 to 56 in 2025. In other sub-indexes like skills and the establishment of information and communication technology, its ranking has lowered from 74 and 78 in 2022 to 82 and 94 in 2025, respectively.

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• Iran
 
• INOTEX
 
• innovation and technology

Trump: Between (Epstein) Rock and a Hardened Place (Iran)

World War III would solve all his problems and then some. Jim Fetzer regrets voting for him. 

Kevin Barrett 

Rumble link Bitchute link FFWN link

President Donald J. Trump is a cornered political animal. In recent days he has come under attack from several directions. The president has been issuing fumbling non-apologies-just-excuses for tweeting an AI video depicting the Obamas as apes . His aides have denied that he defecated in his pants while signing an executive order. They likewise deny that Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico “expressed concerns about Trump’s psychological state” which seemed “dangerous” when they met in Florida January 17.

The volley of negative news threatens to accelerate Trump’s dip in popularity following the collapse of his ICE war on the Twin Cities. Potentially even worse news for Trump is the January 30 Epstein files dump. My forthcoming American Free Press article (to get first access to the full article, subscribe) ends:

For many Americans, the most disturbing revelations in Epstein files involve President Donald J. Trump. Prior to the files’ release, we already knew that Trump flew on Epstein’s jet at least eight times, was referred to by Epstein as his “best friend,” sent a birthday drawing to Epstein depicting a barely pubescent naked girl alluding to their “secret,” and has been accused of raping 13-year-old “Katie Johnson” in 1994 at an Epstein party and then threatening to kill the girl and her family. The first Epstein dump also contained FBI witness reports that Trump was present when a baby was drowned in Lake Michigan, and was implicated in the rape and murder of a certain Dusty Rhea Duke in 2000.

The new Epstein files release includes FBI witness reports that Trump was involved in murdering three girls who were buried at Mar-a-Lago and threatening the witness with a similar fate. Witnesses also told the FBI that Trump auctioned underage girls from his swimsuit contests, measuring their vulvas and rating them for tightness. Trump is also accused of forcing oral sex and other abuses against 13 and 14 year old girls.

Meanwhile the mainstream media chant in unison: “President Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing.” Obviously they will change their tune, and suddenly discover the FBI files, if and when Trump stops following Israel’s orders.

And Israel wants Trump to attack Iran.

That puts Trump between a proverbial rock and a hard place. Attacking Iran would invite disaster: Dead American servicemen, Israel riddled with rocket strikes, US escalation leading to even more dead servicemen and rocket strikes, ad infinitum. Such a war would be a strategic fiasco for the US empire and a political fiasco for Trump.

But if Trump refuses to attack Iran, he’ll get Epsteined. The media will magically discover that Trump actually has been accused of serious wrongdoing, and at least some of the accusations (including whatever comes out in the next Epstein dump) are credible.

No wonder Trump is sh*tting in his presidential pants.

But presidents, unlike the rest of us, have a magical solution that can solve all their problems and then some: They can push the button and watch the planet, and all their troubles, go up in billowing fireballs. For a 79-year-old megalomaniac with both verbal and anal incontinence problems, that “solution” might sound tempting. No wonder Fico is worried.

How did we get into this mess?

To start with, we let the world’s craziest Jews, the Likudnik neocons, blow up the World Trade Center and blame their enemies. That repeated the mistake made in 1963, another spectacular coup by the same crowd.

Letting the unhinged, blatantly narcissistic Kosher Nostra frontman carnival barker Trump anywhere near the Oval Office was almost as monumental a mistake. Hua Bin is right that a “democracy” that produces leaders like Trump (and most of the rest of them) would be better off canceling elections and finding a better way to identify and insert virtuous leaders into office.

Hua Bin notes that many columnists at the Unz Review, where we both publish, fell for Trump’s all-too-obvious BS:

In the 2024 election, many former Trump critics – both writers and readers on Unz Review – turned into Trump supporters with glowing endorsement of his policy promises and real enthusiasm for the changes they expect him to bring. Compared with Biden and Harris, Trump was not just considered the lesser of the two evils…His campaign promised domestic focus to address immigration issues and wokism. He promised reindustrializing the country and bring jobs back…Trump vowed to end foreign wars and stop military interventions/regime changes…These Unz writers and readers voted for Trump and couldn’t wait to let the world know how Trump was going to be great for the good old USA. They congratulated themselves as smart voters.

I have never been a Trump supporter, never voted for him, and have been calling him a sociopathic narcissist and likely Kosher Nostra asset since 2016. Though I admittedly have occasionally found him amusing and even refreshing in his lack of hypocrisy and willingness to say transgressive things, a few of which are actually worth saying—I have no use for the anti-Trump establishment either—I’ve never been anywhere near the MAGA bandwagon, which in a few years will be the equivalent of saying “I was never a gullible idiot.”

Repentant Ex-Trump Supporter Jim Fetzer Admits I Was Right

But as Hua Bin writes, many Trump supporters aren’t exactly idiots, IQ-wise. Take Jim Fetzer. Though he has been accused of lapses in judgment, Jim is an accomplished philosophy professor with a mind capable of holding and parsing unusually large bodies of information. Jim’s uninhibited brilliance and his quick-witted volubility and responsiveness as a public speaker made him a good commentator on my False Flag Weekly News show…until Trump came along.

In December 2015, I basically fired Jim Fetzer from False Flag Weekly News. He had annoyed me by letting his enthusiasm for then-candidate Donald Trump run haywire on a live broadcast of FFWN. Here is what happened: I was in Paris to crash an academic Islamophobia conference that disinvited me at the last minute due to fears of looking “radical/antisemitic/conspiratorial” in the wake of the 11/13/2015 Bataclan false flag. Then on December 7, Trump proposed a “complete ban on Muslims entering the US.” I assumed that all 9/11 truthers understood that all of the well known “Islamic terror attacks” were false flags designed to incite Islamophobia, and would revile Trump as a tool of the 9/11-perp neocons. But Jim, and many others, surprised me.

Jim and I had agreed that if I found good internet access in Paris we would do the show normally, with both of us, whereas if I didn’t, Jim was prepared to go it alone. I found a place to do the show. But when Jim and I met up in cyberspace to broadcast, he tried to persuade me to disconnect and let him deliver an hour-long monologue. Of course I declined, having gone to considerable effort to set up the broadcast. Jim’s insistence on doing the show alone, rather than together as we always did, disconcerted me. Then once we started, I grew even more annoyed when he wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise. Jim delivered a full-throated pro-Trump rant, including positive remarks about the “Muslim ban.” I cursed him out on the air, and that was the end of Jim’s stint as my regular partner on FFWN. (The producer, the late Allan Rees, encouraged Jim’s departure from the show because Allan was afraid Jim wasn’t careful enough about potentially libelous utterances…which proved prophetic a few years later when Sandy Hooker Lenny Pozner sued Jim and won.)

I subsequently apologized to Jim for cursing him out, and we remained friends, despite various differences of opinion, over the years. From 2006 through 2023 we lived in Wisconsin within an hour’s drive of each other, and did innumerable 9/11 events together, including quite a few road trips. Even after the 2015 FFWN fiasco, we would occasionally get together at an event or a meal and always enjoyed each others’ company. (Jim is one of several people I know whose internet presence one could easily find “irritating if not insane” if one disagrees with them, but who turn out to be enjoyable company once one meets them in person.)

Since the lawsuit-shy Allan Rees passed away in December 2020, I have been occasionally inviting Jim Fetzer to join me on False Flag Weekly News—most recently for yesterday’s show. Though 85 years old now, Jim is (in my humble opinion) sharper than ever…or at least sharper than he’s been since 2015, because, lo and behold, he’s finally seen through Trump! Watch the new FFWN to hear Jim’s frank and forthright admission that I was right all along about the senile Kosher Nostra narcissist who may or may not blow up the world in hopes of making the Epstein files go away. Bonus: You’ll also hear me admitting that Jim was right about something…watch and find out what that was.