Gorgan lies where northern Iran stops being desert-minded and turns green, on the plain between the Caspian shore and the Alborz range. It is a part of Iran that surprises people who expect only dust and domes.
The forests here belong to the Hyrcanian belt, a strip of ancient broadleaf woodland along the southern Caspian that survived the ice ages and earned UNESCO status in 2019. Oak, hornbeam, beech and the famous Persian ironwood grow thickly, and in autumn the hillsides go orange and copper while the air turns damp and mushroomy. Rain comes off the Caspian, and mist hangs in the valleys, so the light is soft and the smell is of wet leaves rather than the dry spice most people imagine for Iran.
Gorgan itself is a big city of over two hundred thousand, so fuel, food, banks and a bed are no problem, and the bazaar area has the usual kebabs, rice with fish from the sea and sour pomegranate sauces from the north. Qarnabad, the next small place, is a village with a few shops. If you are planning to ride beyond the main roads, fill the tank in Gorgan first, and carry a map or offline navigation since signs may be only in Persian.
The roads climbing from the plain are narrow and twisty, shaded by trees and often damp, with moss on the edges and leaves on the tarmac, and local drivers tend to treat the middle of the road as their own. Lorries rumble down from the hills with timber, and motorbikes of the small Iranian kind buzz along every lane. Take care in rain, when the surface can be slick, and be ready for sudden mist.
History is close at hand. The Sasanian-era Gorgan Wall, one of the longest ancient defensive barriers in the world, once ran across the plain here, and the Turkmen steppe to the north has a very different culture of horses and carpets. The nearby Golestan National Park is among the oldest in the country, and spring and early summer are the kindest seasons to be here.