World CUP INFORMATION Thread IRAN Group

ferdosi

Bench Warmer
Apr 21, 2004
2,190
0
#1
Can we make a thread for all kind of information that is regarding Iran's Games in World Cup for people who plan to attend
I have never been to world cup and I have never been to Brazil, I would like to go this time I need to know the following information

1) when is the next chance to buy tickets?
2) Cities, recommended hotels Simply place to stay
3)Transportation (I heard there is quite a distance between the cities that Iran have games)
4) Now there is supposedly a big group of us, What would you roughly say the budget needed to see all 3 games, included hotel, Transportation, tickets, food Every thing per person.
5) None of us have tickets as of now, Those of you who have been to world cup, what is your recommendation? should we book the flight and hotels already, since it probably will just go higher and higher in price, Can we be sure that there will be tickets available on the black market on the day of the game? if YES roughly how much?
 
Jun 9, 2004
13,753
1
Canada
#2
1) when is the next chance to buy tickets? The 2nd random draw sales phase has just opened - it will run until January 30th. You can apply here

2) Cities, recommended hotels Simply place to stay: The cities in order are: Curitiba, Belo Hoizonte and Salvador. At the moment, the hotel situation in all those cities is pretty bad. I suspect that it will get better in Curitiba and Salvador (since Iran-Nigeria and Iran-Bosnia are not considered high demand games) and worse in Belo Horizonte because of all the Argentinian fans. Trivago.com is a good site for booking hotels. If you have not bought your tickets yet, you may want to look for rooms that allow cancellations just in case. You may also want to add Sau Paulo and Rio to your itinerary since those 2 cities in Brazil are the most visited.

3)Transportation (I heard there is quite a distance between the cities that Iran have games): The best mode of transport in Brazil is flying from city to city. The domestic flights should cost you around $600 (total for all flights) if your inbound flight already includes Curitiba and $750 if it doesn't. Flight times between all the cities including Sao Paulo and Rio are around an hour (the only exception is Salvador which is 2 .5 hours away from Rio/Sao Paulo or Belo Horizonte. Having said that, trains are also a good option for all the short distances (not a good option to/from Salvador) and you save roughly $50 per trip. The good thing about trains is that you don't have the transfer to/from the airports to worry about - the station are in city centres, so you hop on and hop off very close to your hotel. It's also more scenic and I think at least one train ride would be nice to see the countryside. The bad thing of course is that it takes roughly 6 hours to do any of those short trips, so it takes a little away from your experience in those cities.

4) Now there is supposedly a big group of us, What would you roughly say the budget needed to see all 3 games, included hotel, Transportation, tickets, food Every thing per person. If you don't have to stay in 5* hotels or do fine dining every night or stay at hostels and starve yourself, you should budget around $4,000 for the entire trip (provided you make all your booking within the next month). That would include your flight in and out, domestic flights in Brazil, your tickets for the 3 group games (if you buy them from FIFA at face value), 2 to 4 star hotels (based on availability in each city) and $50 per day for food.

5) None of us have tickets as of now, Those of you who have been to world cup, what is your recommendation? should we book the flight and hotels already, since it probably will just go higher and higher in price, Can we be sure that there will be tickets available on the black market on the day of the game? if YES roughly how much?That's really a tough call to make Ferdosi jaan. It all depends on your personality and how much of a risk taker you are. Having said that, I don't recommend showing up to the stadium to buy tickets there. Scalping is a serious offence in Brazil and I don't remember seeing a single scalper selling tickets in Germany. You will likely not have any issues getting tickets for the Iran-Nigeria and Iran-Bosnia games ahead of time from the FIFA site I provided. The Argentina game's going to be a very difficult one. There are still a few sales phases left, so make sure you participate in each one and if you can register under two different accounts with different addresses and credit cards to increase your odds - at least for the Argentina game. FIFA will also provide a ticket transfer mechanism in the next few months where you will most likely be able to score tickets for the low demand games. In 2006 there were ticket agents that were selling tickets for all games (also some on eBay), but I'm not sure how it's going to be this time (it was/is illegal to sell or transfer tickets without FIFA's consent) and you can usually expect to pay an arm and leg for high demand games. For example, I paid $575 (vs. $150 face value) for the Portugal game last time and $1000 for the Mexico game for Category 1 tickets - that was all in the 2 months leading to the game. With all that said, I would highly recommend that you book your rooms ASAP looking for ones that can be cancelled and then keep an eye out between now and June to see if better deals become available. Like I said, it's a tough call to make for flights because you can't cancel them. One way around that is to get trip cancellation and travel insurance on your credit card for around $100 per year (which is well worth it and I don't recommend anyone going to Brazil without it). That will give you the option of getting sick ;) and getting your money back on flights and non-refundable hotels if things don't work out.
 
Last edited:
Sep 26, 2003
77
8
#4
Hi Bi-honar jan, This is great info, thank you for sharing. I've been awarded tickets to all Iran games and have started planning the trip. Do you think it would be better to get the international (From/To Brazil from LAX) flight separate from domestic flights, or should I buy all flights (international and domestic - 5 cities as you have listed) at the same time? If you have done the research, do you recommend a hotel in each one of the cities? Also, do you know of a tour that can help with everything? I went to 2006 world cup via tour and they provided game tickets, flight tickets (to and from Frankfort) and hotel. It was expensive, but I thought was worth it.

Thanks for all your help...
 
Jun 9, 2004
13,753
1
Canada
#5
Hi Bi-honar jan, This is great info, thank you for sharing. I've been awarded tickets to all Iran games and have started planning the trip. Do you think it would be better to get the international (From/To Brazil from LAX) flight separate from domestic flights, or should I buy all flights (international and domestic - 5 cities as you have listed) at the same time? If you have done the research, do you recommend a hotel in each one of the cities? Also, do you know of a tour that can help with everything? I went to 2006 world cup via tour and they provided game tickets, flight tickets (to and from Frankfort) and hotel. It was expensive, but I thought was worth it.

Thanks for all your help...
Congrats on the tickets :)

Tour operators are extremely expensive - I've seen rates for around $8000 for just 8 days without even the game tickets, so unless you're a really cautious or brand new traveller, you're not going to get your money's worth. I've never used them TBH and always like to make my own itinerary - as we say vasfol eish, nesfol eish! ;)

As far as flights, I'd recommend buying the international and domestic separately - with the exception of the inbound flight to Curitiba from LAX (f it saves you money - for example it's $300 less expensive for me to travel to Curitiba from Toronto (through Sao Paolo) than it is to fly just to Sao Paolo! The only problem with that is that you have to fly out of Curitiba on your way back home and to get there from Salvador, your flight will have 1 stop in Sao Paolo, and on the way back from Curitiba (to fly home) you'll stop again in Sao Paolo! It's a bit annoying, but if you're trying to stick with a budget, some compromise/sacrifices need to be made! lol

As far as hotels, start with Trivago.com. The situation is awful at the moment - there are no decent hotels left at a decent price in any of those 3 cities. Some 2* properties are going for $700 a night! But as I said in my previous post, I suspect the situation will get better in Curitiba and Salvador - possibly worse in Belo Horizonte. So, that's the only city I recommend booking ASAP. They're a few IBIS hotels in the $160-200 range there and if you book through their site (which you can access through Trivago) you have the option of going with the flexible rates that allow you to cancel the room. It's always good to have that option just in case something better at the same price or less expensive for the same amenities becomes available between now and June. IBIS is just a budget chain like Motel 6, but with really small rooms!!! The only thing they usually have going for them is the location (which is what allows them to charge so much) and perhaps in this case the fact that a couple of those hotels are brand new and will be very clean. Your next option at this point is a couple of the Mercure's (from the same hotel chain, but considered mid-range vs. budget) in the $300-$350 range. If you don't like any of those, the Caesars business looks pretty decent but at $370, way overpriced and there's a Sol (low end of the Melia chain) which is just ridiculously priced at $600.

So, my recommendation for now is to just book your hotel at Belo Hoizonte for June 20th-22nd - something in or around Savassi (which is considered the best area of the city) and just keep an eye out on the other 2 cities within the next week or two to see how prices are adjusting (going up or down). If you're getting a good deal on your international flight ($1300-$1500 to Curitiba), you should also go-ahead and book it, because that will likely get worse.
 
Sep 26, 2003
77
8
#6
This is great info, thank you Bi-Honar jan. WOW tours are very expensive! Can you send me the name of one tour, I would like to compare prices.

Thanks again!
 
Jun 9, 2004
13,753
1
Canada
#7
This is great info, thank you Bi-Honar jan. WOW tours are very expensive! Can you send me the name of one tour, I would like to compare prices.

Thanks again!
I haven't really looked into tours at all, but I remember coming across one a couple of weeks ago. Google would be your best friend in this case. ;)
 

mashdi

Football Legend
Sep 29, 2005
39,274
1
#8
So, my recommendation for now is to just book your hotel at Belo Hoizonte for June 20th-22nd - something in or around Savassi (which is considered the best area of the city) and just keep an eye out on the other 2 cities within the next week or two to see how prices are adjusting (going up or down). If you're getting a good deal on your international flight ($1300-$1500 to Curitiba), you should also go-ahead and book it, because that will likely get worse.
Well . it would be great to check into hotels with Argentina , Bosnia & Nigeria fans in it. they all write off Iran as the weakest team in the group. so let them get busy with fighting over who are the top 2 teams to advance and steal their women in the process. :)