For many years the news coverage of Iran was overwhelmingly negative, and so was the image of the country. No one talked about its ancient history or rich culture, its food and traditions.

In recent months, traveling Iran became astonishing popular among European tourists. But how can the sudden interest in Iranian culture and heritage be explained?

A BA spokeswoman said: “The Iranians have been extremely helpful in setting up this important new route and have been as keen as we are for the service to start. Tehran is an important destination for British Airways and we wanted to ensure that the service we offered met the highest standards our customers rightly expect of us from day one.”

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a destination rarely found near the top of travellers’ bucket lists.

British Airways is set to resume direct flights to Iran, running six round trip flights per week with more flights scheduled to be added later this year. Some sanctions against Iran were lifted earlier this year as part of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. The first direct flight to Tehran in nearly four years is scheduled to leave London’s Heathrow Airport at 9.10pm on Thursday (1 September) with arrival the following morning.

The Holy Defense Museum may not be the first place travelers would seek out when visiting Iran.
Nevertheless, and despite its less-than-glamorous name, the Holy Defense Museum in Tehran does offer something different: It’s like a war memorial for the digital age.

Cox & Kings has urged agents to consider Iran as an alternative to struggling North African destinations such as Egypt and Tunisia.

A period of relative stability has put the Iranian capital No1 on the list of world cities that have achieved biggest improvements in liveability over the past five years, as calculated by the Economist Intelligence Unit

The country is generally safe to visit and is also relatively inexpensive, however a lack of four- and five-star hotels as well as knowledge about Iran’s tourism sector are keeping an influx of visitors away.

Iran is considered to be generally safe to visit, and another major advantage for the nation’s tourism industry is that the World Economic Forum found the country to be the world’s cheapest tourism destination in 2015.

Surfing isn’t exactly big in Iran, but in the village of Ramin, in the country’s south-east Sistan and Baluchestan Province, a surfing school with a growing reputation is set on changing all that.

A top Iranian cultural official has said that some municipalities across the country will conserve a total of 200 historic houses in need of restoration by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.

US government authorizes non-US airlines to fly US origin aircraft into Iran for stays of up to 72 hours, activity which was previously prohibited under the ITSR without a specific OFAC license

Despite its evil image, Iran is probably the safest place to visit in the Middle East.

Pioneering American travel company that created the Cold War era tour to the Soviet Union has offered a tour to Iran for the first time.

Tehran had always been an optimal location on the air routes linking Europe, the Middle East and Asia.