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Historic Budapest-Tehran Luxury Rail Tour Wins Praise

By Owen C. Hardy

IsfahanThe company which pioneered the rebirth of overnight luxury train travel with its Moscow-Vladivostok Trans-Siberian Express has scored perhaps its greatest coup: opening Iran to luxury rail.

By all accounts, Golden Eagle Luxury Trains’ inaugural running of the 4,100-mile Budapest-Istanbul-Tehran “Jewels of Persia” tour was a smashing success.

“The much-heralded arrival of this luxury period-style service,” proclaimed The Telegraph, “the first private European train permitted to enter the country, is being seen as headline evidence of the thaw in relations between the West and the Islamic Republic…”

The tour visits five countries and offers its guests a smorgasbord of experiences of Western and Eastern culture dating from the present to the beginnings of recorded history.

DE_In_Mountains“Iran is home to some of the world’s most magnificent historical and archaeological sites,” wrote Saeed Kamali Dehghan in The Guardian, which also covered the event. He said the tour’s itinerary includes relics of a proud civilization:

“Persepolis, the capital of the largest empire that the world has ever seen; the city of Isfahan; and Shiraz, the city of love and poetry.”

MilitaryBandThe Financial Times‘ Sophie Ibbotson was moved by Persepolis, founded by Darius the Great in 516 BC: “I sat transfixed by a single depiction of a Bactrian camel, lifelike and unscarred by man or time. The forces of Alexander the Great sacked Persepolis but, somehow, this image survived.”

IRT Society Member Marnie Schulz, interviewed by NBC News, said she was impressed by the hospitality and friendliness of Iran’s people. A seasoned world traveler, Ms. Schulz said she’s visited seven continents, but Iran was high on her list of must-see countries.

For the tour’s itinerary, prices and dates, please click here. To download a brochure, click here.

For more information or to book space on the Jewels of Persia tour, call The Society of International Railway Travelers at (800)  478-4881 (U.S. & Canada) or (502) 897-1725 (elsewhere).

Or use the contact form below to request more information.