South Khorasan

South Khorasan province is located on the far eastern border of Iran map. It is one of the three neighboring provinces in the eastern part of the country. Khorasan-e-markazi (central), north Khorasan and south Khorasan are the three provinces which are located in the eastern part of Iran. The capital of south Khorasan is birjand, the other prominent cities of south Khorasan Iran are Tabas and Qaen. Qaen is famous because of the production of saffron. It is named as the capital of saffron production in south Khorasan even in Iran.

History of South Khorasan
 

The history of this province goes back to thousands of years ago in the Persian history. It is important to know that in south Khorasan province , like the other two are neighbors of Afghanistan ,through history there have been hundreds of stories about conflicts between Arab forces and partian loyalists of Iran through Arab conquest. They saved Iran and they are known as brave heroes . Birjand is a very beautiful historical city and a target for the tourism industry. Tabas is another target .  Qaen also is a very beautiful city and famous because of saffron production. If you have the chance you can see saffron harvest in Qaen in august and September. In vast farms of Qaen and Torbat heidarieh city , tones of saffron are harvested each year and supplied to hungry market of local and international consumers. South Khorasan is rich because of saffron production, carpet and rugs , even grains and fruit production and at last because of the tourism industry. 

Tourism in South Khorasan

Before splitting Khorasan province to three different provinces, most of the people visiting Khorasan had one target and that was mashhad city in Khorasan. Mashhad is famous because of the Imam Reza shrine , a huge burial monument in Khorasan. He is the eight imam from 12 Imam in the shia muslim community in the world. Every shia wishes to visit that shrine as much as they wish to visit Mecca in Saudi arabia. Imam Reza shrine is unique in the world because of the beauty of this man's personality and importance of Imam Reza. It is open to other religions and even christians and Zoroastrians can visit this site freely . Because of the wealth distributed to this province, billion of dollars invested to whole Khorasan province and tourism is very active in this location. Each year millions of tourists rush to these three provinces and bring billions of dollars in it and spend lots of money in Khorasan, even south Khorasan province. Many of these tourists add Birjand to their program and before or after visiting Mashhad they visit Birjand , Tabas and Qaen. Birjand as capital of south Khorasan has a local airport and there is a good road ending to this city. there are many different roads from Birjand to other cities and you can reach Birjand, Tabas, and Qaen from other parts of the country. Birjand has many historical and monumental buildings such as “jami” mosque and house of “moghadam”,a very beautiful mansion of an old rich family located in Birjand,  it is worth visiting to witness the beauty of Iranian architecture. In the center of Birjand you can find a very beautiful castle which is around 1000 years and because of these beauties thousands of tourists visit this castle every year . There are many other known architectural monuments in south khorasan Iran province and you can find many others on your own. Qaen is very attractive because of saffron production and each year many tourists visit that city in the harvesting season to buy or learn about the harvesting process. south khorasan province can be one of your targets to visit Iran. Please do not miss this province if you have enough time and money to invest while you're visiting Iran.

Culture and customs of South Khorasan

Birjand is a very historical place and its history goes back to more than 2000 years ago . Birjand and the whole south Khorasan is a cultural center. People of south Khorasan and Birjand have their own customs and follow their own rules in life. You can find many detailed customs in funerals, weddings, and other events and if you have the chance to coincide your program with those events you can touch something very different from other experiences you had in other countries. So it is not bad if you arrange your program by a professional genuine local guide who knows all the events and arrange your program according to those time and dates. Because we have two kinds of calendars in Iran, one is Gregorian as official date and time and the other is lunar calendar which used as official religious calendar. Because the lunar calendar changes through time you do not have exact day coincidence by Gregorian calendar. To solve this problem, you should rely on local people to find out the exact time to comply with your own program. One of the most important dates in the Iranian lunar calendar is Ashoora and Tasooa in muharram which are ninth and tenth day of muharram month of lunar Arabian calendar. In this date our third Imam was assassinated by his enemies and people have mourning days in black to remind themselves of the martyrdom of the third Imam in shia colander. This black ceremony is as big as the whole country and it is very interesting to visit for local and international tourists. the customs of these two days are unique in the whole world and because south Khorasan is a very religious place, people of south Khorasan including Birjand , Tabas and Qaen are very keen to follow the old fashion customs and are very strict to the religious laws. In this occasion we recommend you to consult tour and travel professionals to arrange all the key points of your program. You may miss the whole ceremony if you cannot arrange your flight and transfer and accommodation. Finding a proper accommodation and service even for local tourists is hard enough to miss the whole ceremony if they do not arrange everything  months before the event.

How to arrange your itinerary?

The best way to arrange an itinerary for local and international tourists is consulting travel agents at least a month before starting. Our agents in sanapersian tour and travel agency are ready to arrange your program from ticketing to hotel reservations and booking procedures and they have experience to fulfill all you need before and during your travel to Iran. They are very friendly and you can call them each time you think you need a service. It is highly recommended you never choose the dates by yourself as our religious and local calendar are very different and because lunar calendar is changing each year, finding the best time of your travel Is crucial and tricky. So finding the best time is hard even for us and we should check any details to prevent future loss. You can find  sanseir tour and travel service provider group in sanapersian.travel or you can find us on social media if it is more convenient for you. 

Best time to travel to South Khorasan

south Khorasan is located in a land with a very harsh climate . Most of the cities like Tabas and Qaen and Birjand are located literally in the desert. It is cold at night and hot at noon. In winter the whole land is freezing and in midsummer it is like a hot furnace. The best time to visit Iran is in spring and fall. In spring, the country is blooming and the greenery and natural beauties of Iran are hundreds of times more because of the climate changing. But you should also know in winter and summer you can find more reasonable fees for flight and accommodation. You can take advantage of the low season and for young people it is like a paradise to absorb the local culture because of low prices. Local people are caring and support tourists in the best way. You can taste the local culture more in low and dead seasons. So if you have enough energy, money and time, it is a good idea  if you spend more time in south Khorasan province.

Conclusion

Visiting south Khorasan, Birjand, Tabas and Qaen is worthy but you should consult professionals to prevent your travel change into a real nightmare. It is better you consult professionals and best to call our professional service providers on sanapersian tour and travel agency. We are ready to give you our best support and to answer you in short time. We will support you in every step and help you to fulfill your needs to have a memorable visit from old historical south Khorasan province.. We are waiting to see you soon in south Khorasan , Birjand , Tabas and Qaen cities next season. 

(Sana Persian tour and travel service provider group)