3 weeks of travel in Iran in August

Good day fellow travel enthusiasts and hopefully Iranian experts!

I have a few questions concerning traveling around Iran in August that you can perhaps help me answer. I know it is going to be terribly hot around that time of year in and around many cities. However, there is no other time available that I can go and I would love to see Iran and meet its people. What can I expect? Will I be able to go out during the day to make the most of my time there? Is the heat endurable? Will other travellers and/or locals be around to converse with or to travel with?

Perhaps it is easier if I show a rough version of my itinerary so it is better to advise me. I know during that period of the year it might be better to visit other places but I would like some advice on if these are possible?

Tehran - Qazvin - perhaps take Chalus road to Sari (don't know for sure yet) - Kashan - Isfahan - Meybod - Kharanaq - Yazd - Kerman - Shiraz and maybe Izeh?

It is only a rough sketch as I am open to suggestions and might want to stay longer in some places.

Any recommendations on these places? Especially if it is recommendable to travel in August or I should just wait to visit Iran during a better time of the year?

Looking forward to all your replies! And to all Iranians reading this and participating in Ramadan, حلول ماه رمضان مبارک (hope I found the right translation haha)

Kind regards,
Michiel

Check the report of my trip to Iran in August 2011:
http://www.molon.de/travelogues/Iran/2011/

Doable, but in the hottest hours of the day you should take a rest in a cool place.

BTW, if you are fit, you could climb Mt Damavand which will be snow-free in August.

Your plan is actually vary good. don't miss your travel to north and Chalus road. It'll help to relieve from the heat and see some greenery and maybe trekking. But also Kashan - Isfahan - Meybod - Yazd - Kerman - Shiraz is essential part of experiencing Iran (not sure if Izeh is great since the heat )
some of my friend has launched a site to help tourists. (visitouriran.com) use their help. specially to travel north and finding natural sites in there.

Regards
Pi

Around Azerbaijan is nice this time of the year also. I just came back from Babak and Kaleybar which was beautiful. https://www.sfiran.com/travel/iran-destination-guide/kaleybar-babak-castle
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/iran/kaleybar-babak-castle.

Sari and Chalus isn't so great. Maybe Tehrani's love the mountain road, but the beach and activities are nothing special compared to other parts of the world. But if you were thinking Castle of Assasins, Soltanieh, Takht-e Soleiman, Urmia, Kandovan, Ardabil, Sarein, Rasht, Masouleh. Then there's many things to see along the way. The north west is ideal during summer anyway, however I agree with the others you can't miss Shiraz and Yazd. Just find somewhere comfortable to sleep with aircon. The Trip Adviser recommendations are very useful.
Good luck and have a great trip!

Go more to the north. Sabalan region (Sarein), Chalus region so on. But, as you said you will go anyway from Isfahan to Yazd, you would enjoy stopping by in Varzaneh: http://wikitravel.org/en/Varzaneh

If you are fan of mountain villages, go to Kouhrang, Chehelgard! These places are not touched very much!

I don't think I will be heading north too much this trip unfortunately. Unless you say the rest of Iran is not doable due to the weather and temperatures. Varzaneh looks beautiful indeed! I will add it to my list, thank you! Have you been here yourself? Do you maybe have some tips?

Thank you so much in advance!

Thank you for your advice! There are too many must sees in Iran. I don't think I will be heading as far north as Kaleybar during this particular trip. I was mainly looking forward to the mountain road indeed but if there is nothing 'special' to do on the coast it might be best not to waste my time there this time.

Did you mainly use tripadvisor for your accommodations or perhaps some other useful sites? I am looking into couchsurfing in particular at the moment so I can meet people along the way.

Thank you Mahdi! Izeh was a maybe anyway so perhaps better to just skip it this time. The essentials are what I am looking into mostly now indeed, I hope the temperatures will be manageable..

Well, I would say, definitely south-er than Shiraz is not doable, cities such as Qeshm so on is not bearable I believe. As for Varzaneh, as you asked for some tips, Yes, I have lived a big part of my life in Varzaneh. I could suggest including salt lake, Gavkhuni wetland, sand dune desert. There are basically two guests houses there, Yasna and Chapaker guest house.

You always can spend days in that area! Not connected to central deserts of Iran, it is not that hot! Still, I would say as hot as Isfahan city. So, basically you need to take rest, from 12 until 4 p.m.

Thank you very much Sinasina! You've been very helpful!

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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