Living in Tehran is a challenge. The moment you step outside your apartment, you are launched into a huge volume of noise, motions, traffic, and pollution. The rush can make you exhausted and overwhelmed and even despise the city. It is the daily story of many people who live in Tehran, like many other capitals in the world the residents of the city look for an escape option.
In Tehran you can have many options regarding your budget, time and interest, you can enjoy a nice and cozy restaurant, a modern coffee shop with outstanding decoration, visit art galleries, see a theater, go to the cinema or a concert, walking around in parks and feed the cats.
But one of the most common and less expensive ones is hiking and trekking in the northern mountains. If you take look at the location of Tehran, this city is built upon the foothills of Alborz Mountains and the northern side of the city is stretched on their slopes. One of the rare advantages of living in Tehran is that within 30 minutes you can escape the city and find yourself in the silence and freshness of nature. This is the plan of many Tehranian for their weekend to gather up friends, prepare a simple breakfast and head toward the mountain. These trekking routes can range from a simple and light walking in the mountain to a one-day Ski tour where you can hire a coach and even a professional and geared mountain climbing which can take a few days. However, if you look for finding the stress free and fun part of the life of the residents of Tehran, try to be in one of the eight major trekking routes of north Tehran to see Iranian families and greet by panting people who encourage you to continue and share your simple breakfast in the mountain shelters with a group of welcoming strangers who might become close friends.