Inspiration for routes possible in 2022

[knightofni]

Hi!
I am from Switzerland and am planning a 4-month trip by car this time next year. At this point I'm sort of brain storming all the different options for routes I could take and was hoping someone here might have a few inspiring ideas! Also I'm trying to figure out which routes are geopolitically feasible at the moment.

My criteria:
- Doable in 4 months
- by car, on a budget
- preferably as little car shipping as possible (so I would be driving back home)

So far I've considered the following routes:

1. Through Turkey and Iran to Central Asia (BUT I hear Turkmenistan is unlikely to be open)?
2. Same but I take the ferry to the UAE and then to Oman. My question here is: Does anyone know how administratively tedious it is to ship the car to UAE (and back)? Also how much would it cost? I have found numbers quoting around 1000 USD one way, is this still correct?

Also does anyone know if it is possible to get a Saudi tourist visa that works at land borders?

At the moment the other alternatives seem less feasible... I don't want to drive through Pakistan (twice...) so it seems Iran is a bit of a dead end.
Are there any other options? I have thought about heading down to Morocco, but I don't know that region very well and have no Idea if its possible to continue south from there?

Thanks for any Ideas or suggestions!!

[Bakhtiyark]

1. You might try your luck at getting a transit TM visa after getting you Iranian visa, about one third gets it. Once you're in, pretty much no one cares.
2. Used car salesman frequently ship their cars from UAE, price is in the range of €800-2000. It depends on the size of the car. Normally they group up and lease one large container/truck for shipping to an exact locations and split the costs. It used to arrive within a week.

[TornadoTim]

2. Instead of shipping back to Iran you could go through Saudi Arabia -> Kuwait -> Iraq -> Turkey to get back to Europe. So you wouldn't need another Iran Visa. For Saudi Arabia you can get the e-Visa online and it works on the land borders too.

For Morocco it is possible to go south to Mauritania and further, but as Mali is closed and you can't enter Algeria from Mauritania either, you would need to take the same way back.

[knightofni]

2. Instead of shipping back to Iran you could go through Saudi Arabia -> Kuwait -> Iraq -> Turkey to get back to Europe. So you wouldn't need another Iran Visa. For Saudi Arabia you can get the e-Visa online and it works on the land borders too.

For Morocco it is possible to go south to Mauritania and further, but as Mali is closed and you can't enter Algeria from Mauritania either, you would need to take the same way back.

The e-visa works for land border? Great! How did you find out? Is it possible/ advisable to travel in Iraq nowadays? Last I heard Iraqi Kurdistan has always been safe, but the south has been a different story (although I have heard reports that people have gone to the south recently...)

1. You might try your luck at getting a transit TM visa after getting you Iranian visa, about one third gets it. Once you're in, pretty much no one cares.

I was under the impression that Turkmenistan is still closed right?

[Bakhtiyark]

1. You might try your luck at getting a transit TM visa after getting you Iranian visa, about one third gets it. Once you're in, pretty much no one cares.

I was under the impression that Turkmenistan is still closed right?

TM is very erratic when it comes to letting people in or out, but holders of transit visas are usually allowed to enter as they are single entry and date restricted unlike other visas

[TornadoTim]

The e-visa works for land border? Great! How did you find out? Is it possible/ advisable to travel in Iraq nowadays? Last I heard Iraqi Kurdistan has always been safe, but the south has been a different story (although I have heard reports that people have gone to the south recently...)

I read it on this blog. If you understand German you can take a look. He travelled with his Campervan from Iran to UAE and entered Saudi Arabia with his e-Visa. He also drove from Jordan through southern Iraq to Iraqi Kurdistan. Safety-wise I can't say if anything changed, but I also read some other reports of people driving through southern Iraq.

I was under the impression that Turkmenistan is still closed right?

Yes, Turkmenistan is still closed due to Covid border-closings.

[knightofni]

I've been checking out the blog but I can't seem to find the entry you're referring to (I did however see he managed to ship his camper for only about 500 USD incl. flights to the UAE from Iran which seems really cheap).

Does anyone know what the security situation in the Morocco/ Mauritania border looks like? Seems to be the bottle neck for that particular route...