Useful Information for Tourist to Iran   ACCOMMODATION   All types of accommodations to match different tastes and pockets can be found in Iran. Luxury hotels are mainly available in large towns and provincial capitals. Nonetheless, cheap and lively lodgings are also found in nearly all towns throughout Iran. All hotels are classified on the basis of a star system: five stars for luxury hotels with attached bathrooms in every room, and one star for a place offering only simple accommodation, with some bathroom or shower facility and usually a few rooms with attached bathrooms. Accommodation prices are fixed locally by the tourist office or Islamic Guidance Department, and are consistent within each province but not throughout Iran. Hotel taxes are fixed locally. Facilities such as air-conditioning, fax, postal, telex and telephone services are available in almost all hotels. More and more hotel rooms are now being equipped with attached bathrooms, small refrigerators and television sets. The ground floor of all five star hotels has a shopping center, gift shop and foreign exchange facility.     Foreigners are charged in foreign currency in most of the high-star hotels. Due to insufficient accommodations, especially during certain times of the year, it is advisable to book the hotels well in advance. Good quality, reasonable price government sponsored tourist inns or guesthouses called mehmansaras are also available often outside towns. With clean and pleasant surroundings, they provide such services as restaurant, teahouse, and bathroom, heating and cooling system and parking. A good number of these mehmansaras are rated as three-star. Advance reservations, especially during holiday seasons, can be arranged through the Iranian Tourist Office, hotels or a travel agent. Esteghlal (ex-Hilton), Homa (ex-Sheraton), Laleh (ex-Intercontinental) and Azadi (ex-Hyatt) are a few of the well-known international class hotels of Tehran. In Esfahan, the Abbasi Mehmansara (a 5-star hotel) built in the style of a 17th century caravansary, is world-famous and the standard-bearer of Iranian hotels because of its exceptional setting and it sumptuous decorations. When Iranian couples ask for a double room, they are required to provide proof of their marriage. All guests have to show identity cards on checking in and hence there is no possibility of booking in anonymously. The rules may be relaxed for non-Muslim Westerners, but in general unmarried couples do not travel together and do not share rooms. LAUNDRY & DRY-CLEANING Hotels, particularly large ones, process laundry and dry-cleaning quickly and efficiently. Laundry is usually returned within 24 hours, but dry-cleaning may take one or two extra days in all but the largest hotels. There are plenty of reliable laundries in most Iranian cities. Laundry can be personally taken to a nearby dry-cleaning shop and a receipt obtained. Delivery date by the shop as well as the price will be stated in the receipt. Charges are low as compared to Western standards. CITY TRANSPORT Most large cities have a public transport system. Fares are quite low for such public buses. Bus tickets can be obtained at major bus stops. Buses are divided into to separate sections, gents occupying the front section and ladies the rear who enter and leave the buses through their respective doors. A large fleet of orange colored (or white with an orange strap) taxis play the streets of Tehran and other Iranian towns. These are shared taxis which are shared by up to five passengers traveling in the same route. The minimum fare in Tehran is Rls. 500. Such taxis normally operate on main roads and prefer to move on straight routes. On several routes with large number of passengers, shuttle taxis, charging a fixed rate, also operate. Apart from buses and taxis, there are a number of privately owned passenger carrying cars which act as part-time taxis, mainly in Tehran and provincial capitals. In Tehran, the construction of underground railway, know as the "metro", is also underway. A section of the subway from Imam Khomeini Square to Sadeghieh Square has also commenced operation.