Hotels & Motels
Many accommodations are located around the Holy Shrine so out-of-town pilgrims can conveniently go directly from the terminal to their hotel. But, note that since Mashhad is a pilgrimage city, with over 20 million visiting annually, booking a hotel can be very difficult during peak seasons. The best bet is to have a ticket agency in your country that offers full service in Iran to book a hotel for you or have a friend in Iran do it for you; note they will have to leave a deposit. A cultural point (ta'arouf): make sure to reimburse the person who made a cash deposit for you, as Iranians will never ask for the money back.
There are a variety of hotels to select from. From the low priced hostels (mehmonsarah or mosofer’khaneh), apartment hotels/suites (for extended stay) to luxurious 5-star hotels. Compared to other Iranian cities, Mashhad has the most hotels.
When checking in, all hotel guests must leave their foreign passport, national card (Melli card), or Iranian birth certificate at the front desk for the duration of their stay. There is a difference in price between foreign and Iranian guests; however, during the low season most hotels will forgo this and charge you the lowest price possible. It is impossible to negotiate prices in high season, but in low season, you can get a good deal without the required deposit to reserve a room.
Peak season: the Persian New Year holiday (March 20 and lasting for 2 weeks), the first 10 days of the Arabic month of Muharram and then the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Reza (pbuh) that is 8 days after Arbaeen, and summer from about June 22 to September 23.
Low season: begins at the start of the academic school year, which is September 23 or the 1st of Mehr on the Persian calendar and extends to about 2 weeks before the Persian New Year.
You get what you pay for!
In Iran the saying You pay for what you get really holds true. Hostels (meh’mon’sarah or mo’safer’khaneh), and 1- to 2-star hotels are economical. They are usually large rooms with no furniture, just some basic bedding; usually toilets and showers are shared. If you decide to stay in one of these, it is not a bad idea to bring your own sheets or sleeping bag. Two-star hotels will most likely have single beds, heat and a/c, a shared Iranian toilet and shower with no toilet paper, towels, or soap. You will have to make local phone calls at the desk and most likely there will not be any English speaking staff.
Hotels in the 3-star range may have one or two rooms with a western toilet, 4- to 5-star hotels will definitely have more rooms with western toilets. All bathrooms and showers are private, with towels, soap, tissues, toilet paper, private phone, taxi service, shops, and other amenities usually found in western hotels and the staff of 4- and 5-star hotels will most likely speak English.
