[amirmansour]

You don't need to learn Farsi to go there. Many people know enough English words to help you around. Most of the youth were taught some English in high school and college, and many of them can speak fluently and even understand you completely.

Plus, the best way to learn Farsi is to be in the environment that speaks it. You'll be surprised how fast it is to pick up.

European and Asian tourists are abundant and common place. If they can do it, so can you :)

[owenversteeg]

Hmm. I'm an American/European that just visited Iran and I partly disagree. Traveling around, the vast majority of people I met knew practically no English. I could count the number of other Westerners I saw on one hand. Two of them I saw at Tehran Khomeini as I was arriving; they had just been denied a visa. A lot of younger people understood me decently well, but almost anyone over 25 needed translation. Nobody was near fluent, although their English was very impressive given that they never had a chance to practice it.

I encourage everyone I know to visit - it's seriously one of the most beautiful places on Earth, the people are very friendly and the food is amazing - but language will always be a problem, and you will be the only Westerner most places you go. One example of how rare Europeans are is that I had several people come up to me and ask to take a picture with me, or called me "beautiful", and when I was out walking there were several people who semi-discreetly took photos of me. I don't mind, but it all goes to show that Iran is definitely not full of Europeans. The other tourists I saw were Asian, or had Iranian family.

And yep, being in Iran is great for learning Farsi. I don't intend to become fluent but I do know maybe 100 words after staying with an Iranian family for a few days.

tl;dr Visit Iran, it's amazing, but don't think it's full of Europeans, and plan before you go.

[amirmansour]

I'm glad you enjoyed your time there. Did you visit Isfahan by any chance?