3 weeks of travel in Iran in August

Thank you! Been reading your travelogue and it looks great and certainly doable. Just have to make sure I bring enough books to read during the hottest hours. I am fit enough I reckon but not that much of a climber/hiker. So I don't know if it would be worth the effort, expenses and lost days. Do you believe it to be something to add to a must-do list of Iran for even non-hikers like myself? Thanks in advance again!

If you are not good at hiking, forget about it - Mt Damavand is 5700m high. It's a technically easy climb because there is no snow in August, but requires a good condition.

You are welcome Michiel!
In fact, the days are about 14 hours long in August. So, for hours is not really waste of time. In fact, you can spend more time in the nights, seeing milky way in Varzaneh desert. This how basically people enjoy their time! I mean the locals! Just be like a local! :) You can sleep less in the night, and take like 2 hours sleep during the afternoon!

Well, for non-hikers, you may go to Qom, a kinda religious town, or you may go to Chak-chal village! Nice atmosphere there! :)

Michiel, you might consider visiting the Kurdish part of Iran, around Sanandaj/Kermanshah and then Palangan, a small village in the mountains that is a lot less touristic than Masouleh/Abyaneh. I know (Dutch) people who travelled through Iran in July/August as well and the heat is bearable because it is a dry heat. Just the afternoons are too hot, but start off early in the morning and rest during the afternoon, or travel by airconditioned bus. I do think you should narrow your itinerary down and make a choice which area you want to visit. I find that Iranians themselves always tend to advise tourists to go to the North because it is "green and cool", however, being Dutch you might prefer something else for a change and visit the desert. Kashan and Yazd will be very hot, visiting sights there (f.i. the Towers of Silence in Yazd) should be done as early as possible in the morning. Nooshabad underground city near Kashan will be interesting and cool...At least you won't have too many other tourists around, which can be really nice considering the influx of foreigners this year in spring. Yasuj I found interesting and cool because it is in the mountains, a day's drive from Shiraz. Use an umbrella to create some shade. This is cooler than a hat. Short pants are not allowed however..... Kerman I always find cooler than Yazd/Kashan, but is further off, so will take time to get there. Decide on where you want to go and how long you want to spend there, you won't be able to visit every place of interest, no matter what, unless you have two months to spend.

By the way, it's a very dry heat. The degrees may sound a lot, but in reality they are quite bearable. Just drink enough water and spend the hottest hours of the day in some cool place.

Thank you for all your advice Margot! A lot of useful tips and indeed I need to make some cuts in my itinerary. I'll just have to handle the heat, it's not like i haven't been to hot places before. Maybe not this hot, but I'll cope!

And as Alfred said maybe dry heat is better. Thanks for the advice Alfred!

the weather is warm and hot in central cities like yazd, shiraz.
as the friends said going north and north west is good weather

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