Why visit Iran?

Background - Why visit Iran?

If travel is most rewarding when it surprises, then Iran might just be the most rewarding destination on Earth - Lonely Planet, 2012

Why do people visit Iran? On the one hand, the list of inconveniences associated with visiting Iran is lengthy and well-known:

• You need to get a visa, and to get the visa you need a letter of invitation (i.e. visa reference). All of this costs money.
• It's an authoritarian, repressive government that generally does not care much for human rights, and in which people are routinely detained and arrested arbitrarily.
• The country is isolated from the global banking system, so you can't use ATMs and can't send/receive transfers (at least from Western banks). So you have to carry all of your cash with you at all times.
• The strict Islamic dressing code is annoying for men (can't wear shorts) and frankly inconvenient for women (hejab -cover everything except the face and the hands, and disguise your body shape!).
• The tourist infrastructure is very limited, and some operators of services might try to overcharge you (especially cab drivers).
• Road and air safety are definitely below Western standards. Whether as a car passenger or as a pedestrian, streets can be quite scary in Iran.
• In the public realm you will not find: alcohol, parties, interaction between men and women who are not relatives, dancing, non-Islamic music, etc. So unless you know Iranians, and they invite you to their homes, Iran can be quite dull in the evening.

On the other hand, the list of positive things that Iran has to offer to the curious traveler is also long, but less well-known:

• It's a wonderfully complex country with thousands of years of coexisting/conflicting empires, religions,  civilizations and cultures.
• The people are kind, hospitable, generous and curious. They will make you will like a distinguished visitor. You will be overwhelmed by their friendliness. You won't ever be alone for too long because people will talk to you in any context.
• The country is full of natural and man-made treasures that haven't been over-commercialized because most of the world is unaware that they exist.
• You will leave behind the simplistic depictions of Iran that you find in films such as Argo or Persepolis. Iranian society is diverse, well-educated, critical of their government and opinionated. There are nationalists and chauvinists, but also humanists and cosmopolitans. Some people believe in the Islamic Revolution and the regime that was born of it, but many others are displeased by it. 
• You will also be fascinated by the way in which Iranians react to the attempts of the government to control every aspect of their lives. People are aware that the totalitarian laws of the country cannot be fully implemented -some laws are observed only in the public realm but disregarded in private homes and cars, other laws are observed in the letter only but not in the spirit in which they were thought out (for instance, a huge percentage of Iranian women wear a headscarf so lightly that much of their hair is actually visible,  and they do not get in trouble because of that). 
• The country is affordable, the infrastructure is good, and most people really want you to have a good time in their country. 
• Flying into Iran is not necessarily expensive. I found a very reasonably priced Berlin-Tehran-Berlin flight (EUR 175) for dates in which I was free to travel. 

For me, the pros easily outweigh the cons. But I only found out about the pros as I visited the country. Before my visit, my interest in Iran was rather based on stuff I had read, or stuff people had told me. For instance, in 2011 I started reading "Understanding Iran", a book by William R. Polk (a former Harvard professor and State Department advisor - I amply recommend this book to anyone seeking an introduction to modern Iran). But even though the book does a good job of explaining how Iran came to the point where it is, it does not seek to describe the way in which Iranians live, think and play nowadays. For that, you really need to visit.