A woman who went on holiday to Iran just weeks before the country descended into war says it is nothing like she expected.

Chiara Herlemann, 28, who is originally from Germany, travelled across Middle Eastern country for ten days from May 22 to May 31.

The tourist, who now lives in Notting Hill, West London, stayed in Kashan, Isfahan, which is located in the centre of the country.

Before getting on the plane, Chiara says that she was quite nervous about whether the trip would be unsafe after reading about Iran online.

But, she says that she was incredibly surprised when she arrived to find the country a welcoming and friendly holiday destination.

She said: "I was very nervous to go and a lot of my friends were warning me that it was really dangerous. "

"When I got there, I was so surprised. Every time I saw something about Iran in the news it was just some blurry pictures that looked like North Korea. "

"Everything was so different from what I expected. The people were so friendly. The men were helping me with my bags and making sure I was okay."

"People seem quite content there. They are getting on with normal life, picnicking, children were playing in ponds. There was no haggling or catcalling. It was just normal."

Chiara works remotely for an investment company which she says means a lot of time to travel the world.

Her favourite places to visit are those considered "unusual for tourism" so that she can "see what they are really like behind the headlines."

On Iran, the frequent traveller says that there are a lot of misconceptions, especially surrounding their attitudes towards women and their support for the government.

Visiting for the first time, she said she was shocked to see that not many of the women covered their hair.

She added: "There are definitely misconceptions. Mostly about women's rights and people being supportive of the government. They are not extremists. The population is separate from the government."

"I was also surprised that most of the women are without head scarfs. That was always in the news that women aren't allowed to show their hair, but it was very different from what I thought."

"It is known as an Islamic country, but it doesn't really feel like it, it was very westernised."

"As a woman you have an instinct when something isn't right, and there wasn't a single moment where I felt like that."

Chiara says her favourite parts of the trip were the "kind people" and the food, with her favourite sight being the Blue Mosque."

She also mentioned that she was surprised to see how much the country had been impacted by international sanctions placed upon them.

Iran was previously the most sanctioned country in the world until it was surpassed by Russia in February 2022.

Upon arrival, Chiara says that she had to switch sim cards as hers wouldn't work in Iran due to these sanctions.

But, she said that everyone was still very kind towards her and that the measures have made the country "completely independent."

The tourist was back home by the time the war between Israel and Iran kicked off on June 13, but she says that rumours in the country indicated it might happen.

She said: "The news was reporting that Israel might act, so that was always in the back of my mind. But it happened shortly after I left. "

"I hadn't expected it to actually happen."

The frequent social media user posted her experience to TikTok in a video with over 400,000 views captioned "POV: you landed in a country with a level 4 travel warning."

Commenters on the post appear divided on the topic, but many wrote that they would now also like to visit the country because of how beautiful it looked.

Chiara says that she would love to come back one day, with hopes to visit the south where "people can drink and women can wear bikinis."

She added: "Iran is so big. I wish I had more time there."