When the cheapest flight from Bangkok to Tehran included a 24- hour layover in Muscat I figured sure, Oman wasn’t too high on my travel list, so this was probably the perfect way to visit. It also ended up being a perfect pre-Iran stop because the Muscat airport has free wifi, which turned out to be crucial in my being allowed into Iran. But I’ll get to that later. First, Muscat!
I somehow got seated next to the only other white person on the plane, though we stubbornly refused to speak to each other until we had landed in Muscat. Just because we’re both European doesn’t mean we’re going to be friends, Oman Air!
Except then we ran into each other again after going through immigration and Mojmir said that he was renting a car for the day and invited me to join him to tour around Muscat. Perfect! (And fine, thank you, Oman Air).
Muscat is certainly beautiful, but Mojmir and I spent most of the day talking about how strange it was. I guess it’s a bit like the Emirates – lots of impressive buildings and beautiful beaches populated by obviously wealthy people, with countless foreign laborers silently working in the background.
Then again I only spent a few hours in the city, so I’m sure there’s a lot more to it than that. I mean, the Pakistani worker whom I chatted with while Mojmir picked up his car did tell me that Oman is “a very nice country” and the airport “a very good place to work” and that he is very happy and lucky to live in Oman. Maybe he meant it.
(I didn’t take my camera out until it got dark, oops.)
After a quick trip to the beach we headed to Muttrah, which used to be a small fishing village once upon a time, but has now been adopted as part of the city proper. The highlight of Muttrah for me was wandering through the Muttrah Souq, which is a maze-like covered marketplace dating back over two hundred years that houses stalls selling Omani handicrafts, spices, nuts, t-shirts, and pretty much anything else someone might need to buy.
When he saw my camera, this kid insisted on having his photo taken. And now he’s on my blog! (Ha, that’s what you get, kiddo!)
After getting a little lost in the Souq, Mojmir and I went to grab some dinner at one of the many falafel and juice restaurants on the seafront. I do love Southeast Asian food, but ahh it felt so good to arrive in the land of pitas and hummus.
One of approximately 10,000 ladies tailor shops in Muscat.
On the morning I left Bangkok I had woken up to an email from the manager of Firouzeh Hotel, where I had booked a room for my first night in Tehran, saying that he had to cancel my reservation because I was applying for a visa on arrival, and the immigration officers might call the hotel to confirm my staying there, which he wasn’t authorized to do. He explained that getting a visa on arrival could be very difficult in Iran, especially as a woman traveling alone, and that there was a high risk of deportation.
Fast forward to 2 am in the Muscat airport, some ten hours before my flight to Tehran, and I still had no hotel reservation and oh right, in order to be allowed to check in with my one way ticket to Iran, Oman Air had asked me to sign a form of indemnity to assume all responsibility should “any irregularity occur.” No problem?
In the end the manager of Firouzeh Hotel found another hotel for me to stay at and even organized an airport pickup for me. When I got to the visa desk in Tehran I was a little worried, as the immigration officers were giving quite a hard time to the Indian and Pakistani travelers ahead of me in line, but when my turn came they simply smiled and asked me a few casual questions.
“What do you want to see in Tehran? How long will you stay? Can I have your email address?”
I could almost hear the collective eye-roll from the people waiting behind me. And once again I thanked whatever luck let me score a Norwegian passport in the global citizenship lottery.
Stamp, stamp, stamp, “Welcome to Iran!”
A visa on arrival for Iran is available to a great number of nationalities, with Americans, British, and Canadians being notable exceptions. It’s possible to pay a tour agency for a pre-approval code for the visa on arrival, but it’s not necessary (at least, I didn’t have one and was never asked for it). I also didn’t have a flight out of Iran, as I’m planning on taking a bus to Armenia, but it wasn’t an issue.
When I got to the visa desk at the airport I simply had to fill out a short form, including my hotel name and phone number, answer a few basic questions, and pay a 60 euro fee. The visa is valid for 15 days.
For my first night in Tehran I stayed at the Golestan Hotel, where I paid $34 for a double room with a shower and wifi.
Some nationalities (including the US and UK at the time of writing) can only visit as part of a tour. And of course I know some people prefer to travel on organized tours anyway.
My top tour recommendation for Iran would be the Discover Persia 14-day G Adventures tour, which I’ve heard nothing but good things about (the itinerary looks amazing!). Check here for the latest Discover Persia tour prices and itinerary.
jennifer says
I am glad everything went okay for you getting your visa AND a place to stay in Iran! You know you are a true traveler when you can write out your experience as just matter of fact, without any freaking out or turning back.
Silvia says
Haha thanks, Jennifer! Weirdly I think I would have been more stressed about the situation if I had been traveling with other people, but alone I just felt like whatever happened would happen, even if that meant being sent out of Iran to some other country and totally changing up my travel plans. Getting a hotel was a pain though because I already had a couchsurfing host lined up, and just needed the hotel for the visa.
jennifer says
I am the same way with being solo vs traveling with others. When you are with people, you talk about “Oh no, what if??” and you feed each other’s fears. When I am solo and experience glitches, I just block it out and move forward in autopilot mode. Whatever happens is going to happen!
Silvia says
Exactly! Nice to hear it’s not just me being antisocial or something, haha.
J in Beijing says
Ha- I love the photo of the boy who insisted on having his photo taken. Little did he know..! I don’t know why Asian air lines/train companies always do that with the seating arrangements based on skin colour- it’s happened to me a few times.”Oh, those two kinda look the same, they must want to sit next to each other..” It worked out well for you though! Looking forward to hearing more about Iran!
Silvia says
Right? Usually I get annoyed by the color matching, but in this case it really did work out perfectly.
FRanca says
I absolutely love falafel, hummus and pita and I’d love to have them freshly made in their country of origin, lucky you! Glad to hear everything went well for your Iranian visa on arrival, you’ll never know until you are actually at the immigration. Enjoy!
Silvia says
Thanks, Franca! And so true, immigration is always a bit of a question mark. The waiting beforehand almost made me wish I had gotten an Iranian visa beforehand, until I realized how easy the visa on arrival was, and then I was really happy I hadn’t.
Moniza Reham says
It’s being a wildlife in Oman, if you have ever traveled in those areas than please send us a positive or negative both feedback.
Vanessa @ The Travelling Colognian says
Great post and gorgeous photos! Seems as if you had a fantastic time in Muscat. I especially love the story about the boy who wanted his picture taken, I really like those people. On my second visit on the Great Wall in October, I met a chinese local vendour who wanted to take a picture of me and asked me to take a photo of her. Of course she wanted to sell me drinks or postcards, but she was neither annoying nor intrusive, so it was just a nice encounter.
I am looking forward to read more about your adventures in Iran, have an amazing time there.
Silvia says
I agree, Vanessa! After spending so much time asking people for photos or trying (and usually failing) to take them on the sly, it’s fun when someone comes up to me and requests one.
Katie says
Glad it all worked out for you! I always find those passport / visa moments slightly scary. I remember once when I was landing in New Zealand, the guy at passport control forgot to give me back my landing card, and then the guy who needed to collect my landing card a bit further down the line simply wouldn’t believe that the passport control guy had kept it. He insisted that I hadn’t filled one in, and that I’d compromised airport security. He gave me a really long telling off, until I finally managed to get a word in edge-ways, and ask what I should do about it. In the end he was just like, ‘oh, fill in another one.’ Such a simple solution! And no reason at all for him to get antsy. Harumph.
Having said that, all the other kiwis I met were lovely. They confiscated my walking boots because I’d been hiking in the Australian rain forest in them – turned out they washed them for me, smiled and wished me a good trip. Result? Bright shiny new-looking boots! 🙂
Silvia says
Haha wow – one frustrating experience matched with an amazing one! I can imagine immigration in most places just confiscating the boots, not cleaning them! Makes me want to go to New Zealand even more!
Victoria says
Hi there, I found your blog through “Adventuous Kate.” What a great story and so glad that it all ended fine and well. When I went to India, I flew with Turkish Airlines and also had a 24 hour stop-over which was great as I hadn’t been to Turkey before.
I live in Germany so no one told me that as a British person, I needed a visa. On getting to the airport it was possible to get a visa on arrival: €25 however, I couldn’t pay by credit card because “the machine” wasn’t available and the ATM machine didn’t have any cash, so I had to go into Istanbul, get some money, and then back into the airport to pay for the visa LOL!
Silvia says
Thanks for stopping by, Victoria! Love love that the airport in Turkey let you go into Istanbul without having paid for your visa. Wish they were that relaxed and trusting everywhere!
Satu VW / Destination Unknown says
I love your images and stories from the part of the world I don’t know at all!! I had little hassle last week flying to Australia, as there was confusion over my visa, something had gone bit wrong with the combination of Finnish passport but me living in Norway. But all was OK in the end, I can’t imagine how nerve-wrecking that would be while traveling to Iran… 🙂
Silvia says
Thanks so much, Satu! I’ve definitely been feeling the same way about your adventures in New Zealand . Glad everything worked out getting into Australia – they might not seem as scary as immigration in Iran, but they’re probably actually way stricter!
GiselleandCody says
We envy you so much. We were suppose to be flying into Tehran tomorrow but with no regulations for Canadian citizens we had to cancel. So we decided to head to Georgia and Armenia instead. We will make it to Iran one day….It looks so beautiful!!
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Helen says
Really great post. I visited Muscat a couple of years ago as my boyfriend was teaching English out there, nice to see some other people have visited too (even only briefly!) as it is a really beautiful country to explore.
Also jealous of you visiting Iran – not sure if I will ever be able to with my UK passport! Thanks for sharing!
Silvia says
It does seem like a fascinating place!
Kye says
Hello Silvia, I hope this question isn’t too invasive, but I am asking because your answer may be helpful for me in the future. I too am an EU/US citizen and plan to travel to Iran using the visa on arrival program. Although Irish people are generally liked abroad, I’m concerned that since I was born in New York that they’ll immediately deny my visa application, due to the strict limitation placed on American citizens. Now for the question; were you born in America and did that cause any issues? Was is printed in your passport or did you luck out with Norway and now have to worry about the USA label branded onto you?
Thank you.
Silvia says
I was born in the US – I think my passport only says my birth city though, Worcester – could that be? At any rate, it didn’t cause any issues. Once they did notice that it was issued in the US and asked about that, but I said I had been traveling there. All of the border guards I met didn’t seem to even really know how to read my passport, or care enough to ask questions. Maybe I was lucky though? It’s a tough call. Wish I could be more helpful!
Kye says
Don’t worry, that’s all I need to hear. My passport says “New York” anyways, and not USA, so hopefully that’ll work out. Thank you so much; I love your blog.
Jude says
Kye did you ever get to Iran? I’m currently applying for a visa with an EU passport, also born in NY.
Lani Arda says
hi, i am filipina and planning to visit iran very soon, so visa on arrival is okay even without an invitation?
Bernat says
Hi there!!
This is great and super helpful 😉
I would like to ask you how does it work with the travel insurance..
Is it mandatory? Can you purchase it on arrival?
Going to Iran in 7 days… yeyyyyy
Silvia says
I would purchase travel insurance in advance. I think I used World Nomads – you can read about it here: http://www.heartmybackpack.com/shop/
Akina says
I’m going to Iran on my German passport, but in my German passport it says that I was born in USA and that my passport was issued in Chicago. Do you think this will be an issue? I know it will be very obvious that I have both passports.
Thanks!
Silvia says
My Norwegian passport was issued in New York and they did ask me why, and I just said I was traveling there. Only my birth city is listed so they didn’t know it was in the US. I think really it would depend on the officers looking at your passport, so it’s hard to say for sure. Sorry, wish I could be more helpful!
Huma says
Myself Huma and I’ve been living in Muscat. I know some peoples who visited the Oman from Duabi and USA passport. In fact, they were able to get visa on arrive.
Musan says
One of the best post I’ve ever written about Oman and Iran.Thanks GOD, unlinke other middle eastern nations, Oman and Iran has good friendly relation.