How to go to Tochal from Tehran City Centre

How to get to Tochal from Tehran City Centre (and vice versa)

Tochal: Tochal is a great day-trip from Tehran. It’s located at the Alborz mountain range and offers a great view of the city. From one of the scariest roller coaster that I’ve ridden to the best skiing paradise in Middle East, this attraction complex has it all. Station 7 is the main reason why people come to Tochal complex. It is also frequented by ski connoisseurs for the fluffy snow. Ski season is normally from early November to April or sometimes June.

From the city centre of Tehran, there are three steps you need to do before reaching Station 7, which is the highest peak of Tochal mountain.

Step one:

City Centre – Base of Tochal mountain

The easiest way to get to the base of Tochal mountain is to use Snapp (Uber-equivalent in Tehran) to grab a ride straight to Tochal. Snapp is affordable and trustworthy. Here’s how you can activate the app.
To be more frugal, you can grab a metro to Tajrish station. From Tajrish station, walk to Tajrish square and grab a Snapp to the base of Tochal mountain.

Step two:

Base of Tochal mountain – Place to ride the cabin car

Once you are at the base of Tochal mountain, walk through the parking area and there will be a small shuttle bus which takes you to the cabin car (it’s called telecabin there). A one-way ticket costs 10,000 rials per person.
You can also choose to walk. Depending on your fitness level, it will take around 30 minutes to 1 hour for you to reach the place to ride the cabin car. You can take a lot of beautiful photos of the city from high when you are walking.

Step three:

Place to ride the cabin car – Station 7

Bear in mind that you need to buy a ticket before lining up! The ticket booth is an isolated small hut that is found next to the queuing area. Be sure to get a ticket before you queue again.
Take a telecabin and tell the operator that you are going to Station 7. As it’s the highest point of Tochal mountain, it is really really snowy. If you love the snow, this will be a winter wonderland for you. A return ticket to Station 7 costs 380,000 rials per person.
As the temperature can drop to -10 to -20 degree Celsius, opt out Station 7 if you don’t have enough winter gear. You can stop at Station 2 or 5, although they don’t offer as beautiful view as what Station 7 does. Return tickets are cheaper if you are going to Station 2 (150,000 rials) or Station 5 (270,000 rials).

Go to Tochal as early as possible. Generally, the opening hours are from 8am to 3pm (Tue – Sun). However, this highly depends on the time of the year and also the weather. They had an official website before but it’s not working anymore. If you absolutely have to know the opening hours of the telecabin, call + 9821-24875000 when you are in Iran.

Avoid going on weekends (which is Friday and Saturday in Iran) to avoid hordes of tourists. Most of the tourists are Iranians themselves.