Tehran runs cheap if you know where to look: shrines, parks and sculpture gardens charge nothing, the metro crosses 40 km for the price of a bread loaf, and a falafel sandwich on Si-Tir Street costs less than a coffee back home. Three days, mostly free.
Iran's largest pedestrian bridge (270 m, three decks, opened 2014) arches over Modarres Expressway between Taleghani and Ab-o-Atash parks. No ticket, open around the clock; the middle deck has benches facing the Alborz wall.
A walled block behind Iranshahr Street with open-air bronze sculpture, chess tables where retirees play till dusk, and the Artists' Forum galleries — free entry, roughly 10:00–20:00, shows rotating every two weeks.
A 65,000 m² complex on Haqqani Expressway billed as the world's largest bookstore. Walking the 400-metre covered bookstreet, the rooftop gardens and the atrium costs nothing; open daily until about 22:00.
The mirror-mosaic shrine on Tajrish Square is free and open day and night. Courtyards are open to visitors, chadors are lent at the women's gate, and on religious dates volunteers hand out nazri — free stew and rice — to anyone standing in line.
Northern Tehran's covered market, far smaller and calmer than the southern one: saffron sold by the mesghal, sour cherry lavashak sheets, barberries, and juice stalls pressing pomegranate to order under the tiled arcade.
A pedestrianised food strip running past the Glassware Museum and the Armenian church. Fixed falafel and dizi shops open from noon; the cart brigade — ash-e reshteh, beetroot, grilled corn, shawarma — rolls in after 18:00 in warm months.
South Tehran's working wholesale market: plastic housewares, bolts of fabric, spice sacks and Afghan bread ovens. No tour groups, no carpet touts, and prices locals actually pay — this is where the Grand Bazaar shopkeepers restock.
Opened in 1927 by Armenian émigré Khachik Madikians and once the haunt of Sadegh Hedayat's literary circle. Marble tables, ceiling fans and a garden courtyard; tea and a Naderi pastry runs well under a dollar equivalent.
The golden-domed Shi'ite shrine at the southern terminus of Metro Line 1, in the ancient city of Rey. Entry is free, the courtyards are vast, and the surrounding bazaar sells breakfast halim and nan-e barbari to pilgrims from dawn.
A 20-metre Seljuk brick tomb tower from 1139, its 24 fluted buttresses still standing in a quiet garden fifteen minutes' walk from the shrine. Almost no visitors, minimal ticket, and one of the oldest structures in greater Tehran.
A Qajar garden estate off Valiasr Street with cypress avenues, a stepped water channel and the white mansion housing the Cinema Museum. The grounds are free to wander and shaded well into the afternoon; ride Line 1 north from Rey.
The paved 'Roof of Tehran' trail climbs from the Velenjak trailhead at roughly 1,700 m to viewpoints over the entire basin. Walking costs nothing; teahouses along the path sell chai, and the city lights switch on as you descend.