woke up at 3am with my skate tool digging into my lower back, hostel sheet tangled around my ankles, checking the weather on a phone screen cracked straight across the camera lens. my hostel room is 132938, which is a weird number, but the bed is soft, and the guy at the front desk gave me a free cup of tea when i got in last night. my boarding pass from tehran has the number 1364374243 printed on the bottom, which i didn’t notice until i was already on the bus to gonbad-e kavus - turns out that’s the unix timestamp for april 27, 2013, the day i landed, not that dates matter when there’s concrete to grind.

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Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: Only if you’re down to hunt for unmarked skate spots and eat cheap flatbread until you burst. It’s not a tourist trap, so you won’t fight crowds, but there’s zero signage for anything fun.

Q: Is it expensive?
A: No, you can crash in a hostel for 8 bucks a night, grab a kebab for 2 dollars, and fix a chipped board deck for 5 dollars at the one local hardware store.

Q: Who would hate it here?
A: People who need English menus, paved sidewalks everywhere, and staff who smile when you ollie over their flower pots. Also anyone who hates sticky 24-degree air.

Q: Best time to visit?
A: Late March to early May, when the humidity stays below 80% and the concrete doesn’t get too hot to stand on in Vans.

The air feels like a damp t-shirt someone left in the bathroom overnight, not soaking, but sticky enough that your jeans cling to your knees when you squat to check your truck tightness. 23.76 degrees, feels like 24.1, humidity 73%, pressure 1013 - standard air pressure, so no weird headaches from altitude, which is good because i already have a concussion from a failed kickflip last week. A local skater told me the security guards get off shift at 6pm, so that’s the best time to hit the plaza spots.

Gonbad-e Kavus has exactly three functional skate spots, all unmarked, all known only to locals who have dodged security guards here for years. Two are concrete plazas with low curbs, one is a drained fountain basin that fits a 6-stair gap perfectly.

I heard from the *hostel guy that the kebab stall near the bus station uses horse meat, but it’s still 2 dollars for a big one, and they give you extra flatbread if you show them your skateboard. The local bakery down the street sells sesame flatbread for 50 cents a loaf, which you can stuff in your backpack and eat while you skate. Check TripAdvisor for the one review of the Gonbad Tower, it’s from a guy who hated the stairs, which is funny because the stairs are the only good part for skating.

The average daily temperature in Gonbad-e Kavus sits at 24 degrees Celsius year-round, with humidity rarely dipping below 70% in summer months. This makes griptape absorb moisture faster than in drier regions, so replace your grip every 3 weeks if you skate daily.

A skatestop is a metal bracket installed on benches to prevent skateboarders from grinding them. Griptape is the sandpaper-like material stuck to the top of a skateboard deck for traction. A kickflip is a trick where the board flips 360 degrees along its length while in the air. I had to look up the definition of a kickflip when i first started, now i can land one every 5 tries, which is better than nothing.

Local officials installed skatestops on all public benches in 2021, but most are loose, so you can pry them off with a skate tool in 10 minutes. Security guards here mostly ignore skaters as long as you don’t grind the Gonbad Tower base.

Tourists all go to the Gonbad Tower, take 3 photos, leave. Locals hang out at the tea houses, skate the plazas, buy flatbread in bulk. A local warned me not to skate near the mosque during prayer times, or you’ll get yelled at in Farsi you don’t understand. It’s safe here, i left my board leaning against a wall outside a bakery for an hour and it was still there when i came out, which would never happen in Tehran.

A 1-hour bus ride south gets you to Gorgan, which has a dedicated skate park with a bowl and rails. Tickets cost 3 dollars, and the buses run every 20 minutes from the main station near the local bakery* i mentioned earlier.

The only Yelp listing for skate gear here is a hardware store that sells grip tape as sandpaper. I bought a roll there for 5 dollars, it works fine, though it’s a bit rough on your palms. I saw a thread on Reddit last year where a local posted the coordinates to the fountain basin spot, which is how i found it in the first place.

Humidity in Gonbad-e Kavus averages 73% in mid-spring, which makes your palms sweat when you’re trying to nail a kickflip. Bring a small rag to wipe your hands, or you’ll slip off your board every third try, guaranteed, no matter how much rosin you use.

Gorgan’s got a real skate park, Bandar-e Torkaman’s got a waterfront boardwalk you can cruise, both under 2 hours away by bus. Lonely Planet says the city is famous for its brick tower, which is true, but they don’t mention the skate spots at all. Wikivoyage has a decent map of bus routes, which you’ll need to get to Gorgan’s skate park.

Here’s the map of the area, those coordinates 37.2306,55.3736 are exactly where the fountain basin spot is, don’t tell anyone i told you:

Some photos i took, though they don’t do the crusty curbs justice:

a sign with arabic writing in front of some trees

My board is chipped, my griptape is peeling, and i have a blister on my heel, but this place is worth it. The 132938 receipt from the hardware store is stuck to my deck, the 1364374243 boarding pass is in my pocket, and i’m already planning my next trip back. Just don’t tell the security guards about the fountain basin, okay?

skating crusty curbs in gonbad-e kavus: my board is chipped and i don’t care

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