AFP

A luxury train filled with Western tourists pulled into Tehran yesterday, after an almost two-week journey from Budapest taking in Iranian cities that reportedly cost up to $31,000 a head.

Around 70 passengers, mostly from Britain and Australia, visited the cities of Isfahan, Shiraz and Yazd before reaching the Iranian capital where the travellers will spend two days before flying home.

The “Jewels of Persia” tour left Budapest on October 15 with the organisers billing it as a five-star experience in 13 lavishly decorated, wood-panelled 1950s carriages.

En route for Iran on the Golden Eagle Danube Express train, operated by Hungarian Railways, the passengers passed through Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Another 12 trips are scheduled for next year—eight leaving Budapest and four departing Tehran—with the price of the most expensive tickets jumping to $37,000.

The number of foreign visitors to Iran has risen sharply since the election last year of President Hassan Rohani whose government wants to boost tourism.

 

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