"On approaching Herat, the road from Persia keeps close under the mountains till it meets the road from Kushk, when it turns downhill towards the town. We arrived on a dark but starlit night. This kind of night is always mysterious; in an unknown country, after a sight of the wild frontier guards, it produced an excitement such as I had seldom felt."
- Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana

Until the Soviet invasion of 1979, arriving overland from Iran was a popular way to travel to Afghanistan; since Alexander the Great, the route has been the main artery from the west to the Indian Subcontinent. Iran has been a major player in Afghan history and politics for centuries, and has frequently coveted the city of Herat. Tehran maintained close relations with the (now-ousted) 'Amir' of Herat, Ismael Khan and there is much cross-border traffic. Travellers arriving in Herat from Iran may note how Iranian the city feels.

The road between Herat and the Iranian city of Mashad is open to travellers, and in the main a quick and easy way of entering Afghanistan.

Ariana Afghan Airlines fly between Kabul and Tehran every Friday.

Paperwork
Afghan visas can be readily obtained in Tehran and at the consulate in Mashad, for US$30. Iranian visas are traditionally more involved to get. Two main types exist, tourist and transit. The latter should be easier and quicker to obtain, although American and British passport holders maybe encounter more delays or difficulties. Visas are available at the Iranian embassy in Kabul and the consulate in Herat (and potentially Mazar-e Sharif). For relevant embassy details see Visas.

Borders
A direct bus runs between Mashad and Herat. Taking around ten hours, it is the quickest and most convenient way to cross the border.

From Mashad it is about 225km and three hours by regular bus to the town of Taybad. The border point, at Dogharun, lies just beyond the town. The Afghan border post is at Islam Qala ('Fortress of Islam'). At the end of 2004, Hamid Karzai and the Iranian president, Mohammed Khatami, officially opened the newly-reconstructed road to Herat. From the border to Herat now takes around ninety minutes.

Other information
As a jumping off point for Afghanistan, Mashad is of most interest to travellers because of the Mosque of Gohar Shad in the Emam Reza shrine complex, built in 1418. The mosque is one of the glories of Timurid - and Islamic - architecture, and provides a tantalising idea of now the destroyed musalla complex in Herat might have looked. The mosque follows the classical 4 eiwan (hall) pattern, with huge minarets flanking the qibla eiwan, which is supplanted by a swollen green dome. The whole mosque is covered with mosaic tiles and Koranic inscriptions, an impossible balance of colour and light. Seeing the mosque for the first time, Robert Byron exclaimed 'it was as if someone had switched on another sun.'