International Bus Services To & From Iran
There are long-distance buses from Istanbul (around 42 hours), Ankara (around 38 hours) and Erzurum in Turkey to Tehran or Tabriz in Iran. There are also buses from Yerevan in Armenia to Tabriz and on to Tehran.
The bus from Istanbul to Tehran is a VIP bus with capacity of 25 people which leaves daily at 10.30 am. You should be at bus stop 1 hour earlier. The bus stops at various cities on the way including Ezurum, Maku Dogubayazit and Tabriz.
From Pakistan take an overnight bus from Quetta to Taftan on the Pakistan-Iran border. To and from Iraq there are regular bus services from Arbil in Iraq to Urmia in Iran. Buses also run from Sanandaj and Kermanshah in Iran to Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan.
From Tehran, there are also buses to Sulaymaniyah and Arbil. From Afganistan there are buses between Herat and Mashhad. From Turkmenistan there is also a connection between Ashgabat and Mashhad.
Domestic Bus Services
There are many competing private and cooperatively-run bus services within Iran and domestic bus travel is generally comfortable and cheap by Western standards. Bus stations tend to be on the outskirts of most major cities.
City Buses in Iran
There's probably no need for tourists to take buses in Tehran. But for those living and working in the city they are a great help. Private taxis are unaffordable for most and even shared taxis are expensive for many. So the bus - being practically a free ride - is a necessity.
Tickets are bought from manned kiosks at major transport intersections and they cost 200 Tomans (about $0.20) for 10.
One thing that might bother foreign visitors is the sex segregation. Women ride in the back and men in front. Some might find it ironic that in minibuses and shared taxis no such pains are taken to separate men and women.
There are no signs or bus route maps in English. Several electric buses entered service in Tehran in 2025.
