Tehran has a secret it keeps badly. Drive an hour out of the traffic and you can be standing on powder at 3,000 metres, with a cheap lift pass in your pocket and a glass of hot tea waiting at the bottom. The Alborz mountains wrap around the north of the city and five ski resorts sit within a morning’s drive of it. We have skied all of them over the years and fallen over at most of them. Here they are, ranked with love and a little bias.
The season usually runs from December to April. This winter’s ticket prices had not been announced when we wrote this, so the figures below are last season’s and should be treated as a rough guide.
1. Dizin: the big one. Dizin is Iran’s largest resort and the place people mean when they say they are going skiing. The slopes run from about 2,500 metres to above 3,400, with roughly 18 km of pistes and 16 lifts. That is plenty for a long weekend. The snow is dry and dependable, and the season tends to last from late December to early April.
The catch is the drive. Dizin sits on the far side of the mountains, reached through Karaj and up the Chalus road. In winter that takes two to three hours and you will want snow chains in the boot. Last season a day pass cost around 400,000 to 500,000 tomans.
Where to stay: the Dizin Hotel sits right by the slopes and is the obvious choice if you want the first lift of the morning. The Gajereh Hotel, about 5 km down the road, is a three-star option that is often easier to get into. Staying over turns a punishing day trip into a proper holiday.
2. Shemshak: for the show-offs. Shemshak is Dizin’s steeper, rowdier cousin. It opened in the late 1950s and has been drawing Tehran’s better skiers ever since. Expect about 15 km of pistes between roughly 2,500 and 3,000 metres, with steep runs and moguls that will tell you quickly how good you really are. It is about an hour from north Tehran, which makes it the easiest serious skiing near the city. The après-ski is the liveliest in the country, by Iranian standards at least.
Last season a day pass at Shemshak cost between 300,000 and 400,000 tomans. Where to stay: the Shemshak Tourist Hotel has been there since 1966 and was renovated in 2009. For something more photogenic, the Barin Ski Resort Hotel is the curvy white building about a kilometre from the slopes. It looks like an igloo drawn by an architect with a sense of humour and it appears on Instagram more often than most of the skiers.
3. Darbandsar: the family favourite. A short hop up the valley from Shemshak, Darbandsar is privately run and noticeably tidier. It is about 60 km from Tehran. The pistes run from about 2,650 to over 3,500 metres, with around 11 km of easy and intermediate slopes served by six lifts. It is the only resort in the area with snowmaking, which helps explain why its season can stretch into May. Families love it. So do nervous beginners.
Darbandsar is the priciest of the five, with a day pass costing around 700,000 tomans last season. Where to stay: there is no hotel at the resort, so most people sleep in Shemshak and drive the few minutes up in the morning.
4. Tochal: skiing from the city. Tochal is the only resort on this list you can reach without a car. The telecabin leaves from Velenjak in north Tehran and climbs 7.5 km up the mountain to Station 7 at about 3,680 metres. The slope sits at around 3,730 metres, which makes it one of the closest ski slopes to any capital city in the world. The runs are gentle and the sledging is excellent. Lifts usually run from the morning until early afternoon, so go early.
There is a ski school with both male and female instructors, and equipment hire at the top. When we reported on its reopening earlier this month, the resort had about 30 cm of snow and needed around 60 cm before it could open. Last season a ticket cost around 480,000 to 540,000 tomans. Where to stay: the Tochal Hotel sits at about 3,545 metres, near the top of the cable car. Waking up above the clouds is worth the price of a night on its own.
5. Abali: the old-timer. Abali is the oldest ski resort in Iran and it wears its age well. It is 60 to 70 km east of Tehran on the Haraz road towards the Caspian. There are only about 4 km of pistes, between roughly 2,400 and 2,700 metres, served by a gondola and a handful of other lifts. It is small and quiet. That is rather the point. The season is shorter here, usually from mid-December to late March.
Where to stay: Abali has a hotel on site, so you can ski until your legs give up and be in bed ten minutes later.
If you want to see what you are letting yourself in for, this short film of Dizin gives a fair idea of the snow and the views.
Before you go. Avoid Fridays if you can, because half of Tehran has the same idea. Equipment hire is cheap at every resort, though keen skiers tend to bring their own boots. Carry chains for the mountain roads and dress in layers. The sun at 3,000 metres is fierce even in January, so pack sun cream as well. Our list of what to bring to Dizin and Shemshak covers the kit.
Booking is the fiddly part for visitors. Iranian sites such as Snapptrip list most of these hotels but need an Iranian bank card, so it is usually easier to contact the hotel directly or go through a local agency. Our guide to the ways to book hotels in Iran explains the options. If you are spending a night in the city first, our Tehran hotels guide and our review of the Firouzeh Heritage Hostel cover both ends of the budget.
Driving yourself? Read our guide to getting around Tehran first. For sledging spots and more background on each resort, see our Tehran ski, sledge and snowboard guide. Check Snow-Forecast before you set off and our Iran prices page for the latest exchange rates. Dizin’s lifts usually close for the season in early April.
