After a very early start we met Hossein at the entrance to Bazargan about 9:45am and the chaos of the Iran side of the Turkey-Iran border got underway. The first issue to be faced was actually getting into the border post. In typical Iranian fashion the entrance gate was competely blocked by taxis and other vehicles that were applying the standard practice of "park anywhere regardless of the trouble it causes". In addition the officers at the entrance wanted us to use the truck entrance and took a little bit of convincing that we infact were not a truck.

From the entrance gate it was a drive of maybe 2 km to the actual border processing building and when we got there the place was in chaos with people and vehicles everywhere. It seems that Iranians are each allowed to import $40 worth of goods per year. Traders apparently take advantage of this by paying families for the use of the $40 allowance to bring large quantities of goods into Iran. The only hitch is that the passport holder must actually appear at the border and cross into Turkey and back into Iran for the allowance to be used. Hence traders arrive at the border with entire families in tow and shepard them across and back and then shepard huge bundles of goods as well.

Soon after arriving at the building Hossein introduced me to a man from "the company" and I handed him all the paper work associated with the vehicle that we got on entry and the letter we got from customs in Shiraz. They chased around with this for an extended period. It seemed that our situation was "different" and required "one of the bosses" to signoff. So we waited.

Eventually it was time to pay for the extra days the vehicle had been in Iran. We knew right from the start that we would initially get a 7 day permit and then have to pay 10 Euro per day for every extra day. With the delay due to the breakdown that now added up to 370 Euro or about $500.

After some more waiting around a large guy in a brown coat came out to give the vehicle a "customs inspection". That was the excuse, the reality was to collect a bribe for diesel fuel.

Iran in theory allows private vehicles to take only a maximum of 50 liters of diesel fuel from Iran. This is a big issue because in Iran diesel is 44 cents/gal for foreigners and 19 cents/gal for locals whereas in Turkey the same fuel is around US$9/gal. The solution is that motorists pay the customs officials a not so small bribe to overlook the excess fuel. At the time our truck was carrying about 650 liters of fuel. The $300 I paid the customs guy was close to a 50/50 split on the savings I made relaive to the Turkish fuel price.

I was told that commercial trucks pay an official tax on the fuel they carry out of Iran. Seems to me that is the solution they should also adopt for private vehicles.

After the "diesel money" episode there was some more waiting and then an inspection by another female customs officer who verified that the paperwork actually applied to our vehicle. A few more checks of our passport and soon we were waiting at the gate to enter Turkey.

Iran without an International Carnet De Passage

So we have now succeeded in getting our vehicle into and out of Iran without an International Carnet De Passage, so it can be done. What have we learned about the process and would we recommend this process to other travelers?

The alternative to a Carnet that we used is a temporary import of some kind that involved a local company that takes responsibility for the eventual departure of the vehicle. This type of import seems to be intended for short term visits only. Seven days was the length of stay we were originally granted.

While we were told by our arranger that we could stay longer than 7 days and just pay for the extra days at the end this seems to have been the view of our arranger not the view of Iran Customs. The Customs Officer seems to have started asking our arranger where we were and why we were still in Iran not long after the initial 7 days had passed.

We were told after the event by our arranger that with an International Carnet the vehicle would have been given the same length of stay as our personal visas.

So based on our experience - if we were doing this again. Unless we planned on staying only 7 days or less we would get an International Carnet.

The Turkish border was quiet, only a couple of vehicles and no crowds - what a relief.

At passport control the officer flicked through our passports for sometime before it dawned on him that we did not already have visas. So we went off to the nearby bank and paid US$60 each for our visas. In return for the money we each got 3 little stickers for our passports each of which was valued at $20 and proclaimed that we cound enter Turkey multiple times within 90 days of the stamp for our initial entry.

Back at passport control the officers (now two of them) took a little while to figure out the why and how of the 3 stickers each. But quickly had placed them in our passports, entered us in their computer system and stamped us in.

A nearby booth took the details of our truck. There was some confusion over what type the vehicle was - I think I convinced them it was a caravan. We got no paper work for the vehicle the officer simply entered a file number by hand in my passport next to the new Turkish visa and stamp.

A quick customs search followed and then we were done (we thought).

Just outside the gate I saw a sign on an office window saying sigorta which I correctly guessed was for 3rd party (liability) insurance. So with a quick visit there and for $120 we had 90 days insurance.

As I was getting back into the truck with the new insurance papers a guy pulled up in a little white van and asked me in limited English to follow him. I noticed he was wearing a vest with a bunch of official looking insignias so I agreed. He started leading us back into the commercial truck processing part of the border post so I stopped and called him back. After some further "discussions" we had an understanding. I would follow him provided when we were done he would escort me back.

The up shot of all of this was another physical search of the truck, a thorough search by sniffer dogs, and a scan by a large x-ray machine. Talking to one of the other officers I discovered that they see very few tourists (with large trucks) coming from Iran via this border crossing. This particular officer had only seen a handful in 2 years. Hence we and our vehicle triggered their "out of the ordinary" sensor. But eventually we got done and were on the road in Turkey.

As we drove out of the border post towards the nearby town of Dogubayazit, Mount Ararat was standing proudly to our right.


We parked in the street in Dogubayazit and took a walk around just to see what things were available. We got some money - yeh - ATMs work. There seems to be a lot of internet cafes and will try one tomorrow. Found a baker selling something we recognize as bread.

After shopping we headed approximately south along the main street towards Ishak Pacha (Isaac's Palace) and found a spot at a local camping ground called Lalezar Camping