Two weeks in Iran: the classic hostel route

This is the route almost every first-time visitor takes, and for good reason: it strings together Iran's greatest hits with easy bus and train connections and plenty of hostels.

Days 1–2: Tehran

Golestan Palace, the Grand Bazaar, the National Museum and the National Jewels Museum; in the evening walk across Tabiat Bridge. Fly into Imam Khomeini Airport, buy a SIM card and change money in the city.

Days 3–4: Kashan

3 hours by bus or train. Stay in a traditional house around a courtyard. See the merchant houses (Tabatabaei, Borujerdi), Fin Garden, the bazaar and the Agha Bozorg Mosque. Day trip to the mud-brick village of Abyaneh.

Days 5–7: Isfahan

2.5 hours by bus. Naqsh-e Jahan Square with the Shah and Sheikh Lotfollah mosques and Ali Qapu Palace, the Friday Mosque, the Armenian quarter of Jolfa and the old bridges over the Zayandeh River at sunset.

Days 8–9: Desert night in Khur or Garmeh

From Isfahan or Yazd, sleep in an ecolodge at the edge of the Dasht-e Kavir desert: dunes, a salt lake and a sky full of stars.

Days 10–11: Yazd

A mud-brick old town of windcatchers and alleys. Visit the Friday Mosque, Amir Chakhmaq complex, the Zoroastrian fire temple and the Towers of Silence; watch the sunset from a rooftop café.

Days 12–14: Shiraz

5–6 hours by bus via Abarkuh's 4,000-year-old cypress. The pink Nasir al-Molk Mosque in the morning light, Eram Garden, the tombs of Hafez and Saadi, Vakil Bazaar — and a day trip to Persepolis, Naqsh-e Rostam and Pasargadae. Fly home from Shiraz or back to Tehran.

With more time

• +3 days: Kerman and the Kaluts in the Lut Desert.
• +4 days (winter): fly to Qeshm and Hormuz for rainbow-coloured islands.
• +4 days (summer): Tabriz, Kandovan and the green north around Masouleh.