Sistan and Baluchestan - province of Iran
Sistan and Baluchestan is the southeasternmost province of Iran, along the country's border with Pakistan.
Cities
Other destinations
- Bahookalat Protected Area — Nature reserve home to several endangered species.
- Dasht-e Lut — Large salt desert partly located in Sistan and Baluchestan, one of the world's driest and hottest places
Understand
Talk
The native language of the region, Baluchi, related to ancient Persian (Avestan), is spoken in western, southern, and eastern parts of the region. As in the rest of Iran, Persian is also useful.
Get in
By air
There are three airports within the region, most flights are domestic with a very limited number of international flights from major hubs such as Dubai.
- Chabahar Konarak Airport (IATA: ZBR)
- Iranshahr Airport (IATA: IHR)
- Zahedan Airport (IATA: ZAH)
By rail
The railway network is quite limited within the province. Zahedan in the northern part of the region was for a long time the only city connected to the rail network. Work is however under way to extend the railway southwards, the first extension to Khash was opened in 2022. The rest of the extension towards Chabahar at the Persian Gulf won't be finished until the mid or late 2020s.
There are direct overnight trains from Tehran to both Zahedan and Khash several times per week, with journey times of about 24 hours. Zahedan is also the terminus for international trains from Quetta, in Pakistan. These international trains are supposed to run twice per month, but cancellations are very common due to hostile weather and general insecurity of the border area. When the train do run it's a 40 hour journey with very basic accommodation, so make sure you are well prepared.
Get around
See
- Shahr-I Sokhta — the ruins of a city abandoned around 1800 BC, this archaeological site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014.
- Guel Afshan — a well that spews mud to the air
- Lut Desert — partially located in Sistan and Baluchestan, the rest in Kerman is a salt desert that is listed as a World Heritage Site.
Do
Buy
Baluchis are famous for carpets, especially prayer rugs.