Travel and Holidays

Talking about Travel in Persian

In this chapter you focus on speaking about travel and holidays in natural, intermediate Persian. You already know basic tenses and simple daily vocabulary. Now you will learn how Persian speakers actually talk about trips, plans, experiences, and holidays, and you will see some typical phrases and structures that appear again and again.

Remember that Persian usually follows the Subject Object Verb order, so keep the verb at the end when you build your own examples.

Talking about trips and journeys

In Persian there are several common words related to travel, and each one has a slightly different use in everyday speech.

The general word for travel is “safar”. You can say that you like traveling in general, you are going on a trip, or you were on a trip.

Examples:

man safar ro doost dâram.
“I like traveling.”

mâ emruz shab be Esfahân safar mikonim.
“We are traveling to Isfahan tonight.”

dirooz az safar bargashtam.
“Yesterday I came back from a trip.”

There is also “mosâferat” which is a bit more formal or written. In everyday conversation most people use “safar”.

The noun “mosâfer” means “traveler” or “passenger”, for example on a bus, train, or plane.

man mosâfer-e in otobus hastam.
“I am a passenger on this bus.”

For going somewhere special, many speakers say “raftan be safar” literally “to go to travel”.

mikhâm mâh-e badi be safar beram.
“I want to go on a trip next month.”

Destinations and types of travel

To say where you are going, you already know that Persian uses the preposition “be” before a destination.

mâ be shahr-e Shirâz raftim.
“We went to the city of Shiraz.”

Do not repeat basic preposition rules here, pay attention to typical travel destinations and types of trip instead.

Some common destination words are:

shahr “city”
keshvar “country”
rustâ “village”
jazire “island”
sahel “coast, beach”
kûh “mountain”

So you can say:

mâ har tâbestân be sahel safar mikonim.
“Every summer we travel to the coast.”

man dust dâram be kûh beram.
“I like to go to the mountains.”

To describe the kind of travel, Persian uses nouns like these:

safar-e gardeshgari “touristic trip”
safar-e kari “business trip”
safar-e khânevâdegi “family trip”
safar-e dânešgâhi “university trip, study trip”

The structure is simple: put “safar-e” and then the descriptive noun.

mâ yek safar-e gardeshgari be Tabriz dâshtim.
“We had a touristic trip to Tabriz.”

u barâye safar-e kari be Dubay raft.
“He / she went to Dubai on a business trip.”

Talking about holidays and vacation

English uses several words, like holiday, vacation, day off. In Persian you need to choose between time off from work or school, and special religious or national days.

The general word for vacation from work or school is “taatilât”. You can also say “morakhasi” for “official leave, time off” for a person.

man do hafte taatilât dâram.
“I have two weeks of vacation.”

u morakhasi gereft.
“He / she took leave.”

For individual public holidays, Persian uses “rooz-e taatil” or mostly just “taatil”. For example for New Year holidays in Iran:

taatilât-e Nowruz
“Nowruz holidays”

mâ dar taatilât-e Nowruz be safar raftim.
“We went on a trip during the Nowruz holidays.”

The word “eid” is important for religious or festive holidays, like Nowruz or Eid al-Fitr.

eid-e Nowruz
eid-e Fetr
eid-e Ghorbân

You can say:

barâye eid-e Nowruz bar migardim khâne.
“We come back home for the Nowruz holiday.”

Making and describing travel plans

At B1 level you can connect times, places, and reasons when you talk about travel. You already know basic future expressions and present continuous so here we focus on the special vocabulary that belongs to travel plans.

Some common verbs:

bar-nâme rizi kardan “to plan”
reserve kardan “to reserve, book”
tanzim kardan “to arrange, organize”
laghv kardan “to cancel”
ta’khir dâshtan “to be delayed”

You combine them with objects like flight, hotel, ticket:

bilit “ticket”
otâgh-e hotel “hotel room”
safar “trip”
parvâz “flight”
tour “tour” (loanword)

Examples:

dârim barâye tâbestân safar bar-nâme rizi mikonim.
“We are planning a trip for the summer.”

man otâgh-e hotel ro reserve kardam.
“I booked the hotel room.”

parvâz-e mâ ta’khir dâsht.
“Our flight was delayed.”

If a trip is cancelled you say:

safar laghv shod.
“The trip was cancelled.”

To say when, you use time expressions that you learned in other chapters and combine them with these travel words.

mâ hafte-ye âyande be safar mirim.
“We are going on a trip next week.”

Length and timing of a trip

Travel conversations often mention how long and how often. You know adverbs of time already. Here see some specific phrases for travel.

For duration you can use:

yek ruz “one day”
do ruz “two days”
yek hafte “one week”
yek mâh “one month”

To say “for three days” you can say “se ruz”, or more clearly “se ruz kojâ budid?” “Where were you for three days?”

In travel context people say:

mâ se ruz dar Mashhad budim.
“We were in Mashhad for three days.”

u yek hafte dar safar bud.
“He / she was traveling for one week.”

For frequency in relation to travel:

har sâl “every year”
har tâbestân “every summer”
har chand vaqt yekbâr “from time to time”

mâ har sâl be safar mirim.
“We travel every year.”

har chand vaqt yekbâr be keshvar-hâ-ye digar safar mikonam.
“From time to time I travel to other countries.”

Talking about means of transport

Talking about how you travel is very typical in Persian small talk. The general word for means of transportation is “vasile-ye naqliye”.

The most common transport nouns are:

havâpeymâ “airplane”
ghatâr “train”
otobus “bus”
mâshin “car”
taxi “taxi”
metro “metro, subway”
kashti “ship, boat”

To say “by plane, by car” you use “bâ” or a simple instrumental structure:

bâ havâpeymâ raftim.
“We went by plane.”

mâ bâ otobus safar kardim.
“We traveled by bus.”

Sometimes speakers drop “bâ”, especially in speech, but with “bâ” it is very clear.

You can also ask or answer:

chetor raftid?
“How did you go?”

bâ ghatâr raftim.
“We went by train.”

Staying somewhere: hotels and accommodation

You do not need a full “hotel conversation” here. Focus on the core words that let you describe your stay.

The main word is “hotel” which Persian uses just like English. The verb for staying overnight is “monghâdan” in more formal Persian, but in everyday speech most people simply say “mondan” or “mimunim” “we stay”.

Examples:

mâ dar yek hotel-e se setâre mundim.
“We stayed in a three star hotel.”

mâ gærib-e meydun mimunim.
“We are staying near the square.”

Important nouns:

otâgh “room”
rezerv “reservation”
pansiyon / mahsan “guesthouse” (pansiyon is more common colloquial)
mehmânkhâne “inn, guesthouse” more traditional or formal
kâmp “camp”
châdor “tent”

You can say:

mâ dar châdor mimunim.
“We are staying in a tent.”

rezerv dârim barâye se shab.
“We have a reservation for three nights.”

Activities while traveling

Trips usually involve visiting, seeing, walking around, and relaxing. Here are verbs and phrases that belong to travel stories.

The core verb for visiting a place is “didan” “to see”. For visiting people you often say “sar zadan be” or “didâr kardan bâ”.

For places:

mâ târixkhâneh ro didim.
“We saw the museum.”

raftim bazdid az bâgh-e târixi kardim.
“We went and visited the historical garden.”

There is also “gardesh kardan” which means “to walk around, to hang out, to go for a stroll” and is used a lot in travel talks.

mâ shab-hâ tuye shahr gardesh mikardim.
“At night we used to walk around the city.”

For relaxing:

esterâhat kardan “to rest”
ârâm gereftan “to relax”

tâtilât-ro bishtar esterâhat kardim.
“During the holidays we mostly rested.”

Other typical activities:

bâzâr raftan “to go to the bazaar, market”
khærid kardan “to shop”
aks gereftan “to take photos”
shena kardan “to swim”
piknik raftan “to go for a picnic”

mâ har ruz aks migereftim.
“We took photos every day.”

raftim sahel shena kardim.
“We went to the beach and swam.”

Describing a trip you already had

At this level you can already use the simple past and connect sentences. Travel is a very common topic to practice past narration. Focus here on useful adjectives and typical phrases for positive or negative experiences.

Useful adjectives:

ghashang “beautiful (informal)”
ziâd “a lot, many”
khub “good”
bad “bad”
jaleb “interesting”
khastæ konande “tiring”
ârâm “calm”
por-enerji “full of energy”
por-jam’iyat “crowded”
gerun “expensive”
arzun “cheap, inexpensive”

Common patterns:

safar khub-i bud.
“It was a good trip.”

shahr kheili ghashang bud.
“The city was very beautiful.”

otobus kheili khastæ konande bud.
“The bus was very tiring.”

hotel gerun bud, ammâ khub bud.
“The hotel was expensive, but it was good.”

To talk about special experiences you may say:

yek tajrobe-ye biâd-mandani bud.
“It was an unforgettable experience.”

havâ kheili âli bud.
“The weather was really great.”

If something was not good:

safar kamiyan-i ham dâsht.
“The trip also had some disadvantages.”

ta traffic ziâd bud.
“There was a lot of traffic.”

Asking and giving travel recommendations

Persian speakers often ask about good places to visit, and they like giving advice about their own city. You already know how to give opinions and suggestions. Here you see useful travel specific expressions.

To ask for recommendations:

be nazar-e to kojâ beram?
“In your opinion, where should I go?”

che shahr-i ro pishnehâd mikoni?
“Which city do you recommend?”

kodum jâ-hâ-ye didani hast?
“What are the interesting places to see?”

The phrase “jâ-ye didani” literally “a place to see” is very common for tourist attractions.

Answers:

pishnehâd mikonam hatman be Shirâz berid.
“I recommend that you definitely go to Shiraz.”

tehrân jâ-hâ-ye didani-ye ziâdi dâre.
“Tehran has many interesting places to see.”

If you want to be more specific:

in resturân ro pishnehâd mikonam.
“I recommend this restaurant.”

hatman bazâr-ro bebîn.
“Definitely see the bazaar.”

Cultural notes about holidays

Without going deep into cultural history, you need some key words to recognize important Persian holidays when people mention them in travel conversations.

The most central is “Nowruz” the Persian New Year holiday around the beginning of spring. Many families travel to visit relatives or to tourist cities.

Nowruz often brings heavy traffic on roads and crowded attractions. People might say:

dar Nowruz safar kardan sakht-e, chon jam’iyat ziâd-e.
“Traveling at Nowruz is difficult, because there are many people.”

Other important holidays that you may hear in travel context, especially when someone explains why they have time off:

eid-e Fetr
eid-e Ghorbân
taatilât-e tâbestâni “summer holidays”
taatilât-e zæmistâni “winter holidays” (for schools etc.)

Knowing these words helps you understand when someone says they cannot travel because of work, or they only travel in certain holidays.

Typical small talk questions about travel

Persian small talk very often touches on trips and holidays. Here are some typical questions, so you can recognize and answer them.

kojâ be safar rafti?
“Where did you go on a trip?”

ke rafti be safar?
“When did you go on a trip?”

cheghadr mundi?
“How long did you stay?”

tanhâ rafti ya bâ khânevâde?
“Did you go alone or with family?”

safar-et chetor bud?
“How was your trip?”

dusti safar rafti?
“Did you enjoy your trip?” (literally “Did you like your trip?”)

You can answer using the vocabulary from this chapter and connect it with tenses and conjunctions that you already know.

Vocabulary list for this chapter

Below is a table of the main Persian vocabulary used in this chapter. Transcription is approximate and follows common learner style, not strict phonetic rules.