Itinerary and timing suggestions - Moscow to Teheran

[MarcoPoloExpedition]

Hello Guys, my name is Marco and I am Italian but currently living in and exploring Australia.
Our carnet is expired so we had to ship back to Italy our beloved Land Rover Defender in Europe and start planning next trip. We are organizing a three months trip in Spring/early summer 2021. We will be in Moscow early may. Then the plan is to be in Teheran mid/late June (which I believe is going to be the best time of the year, but I might be wrong). This will give us approx 1,5 months to travel on the Silk route. Any suggestions? We are a couple and our Land Rover is well equipped and will sleep in a rooftop tent. I would like also to give myself the chance to get quickly in Northern Afghanistan (were I lived about 15 years ago), not sure if this is recommended or too hard to get visas.
Suggestions?

[steven]

Hi!

Timing is good. From Moscow to Tehran in 45 days, I would suggest something like this

Moscow - Mangystau peninsula (some ideas here) - Aral Sea - Nukus - Khiva - Uchquduq - Samarkand - Ferghana Valley - Suusamyr - Song Kol - Kazarman - Osh - Murghab - Langar - Khorog - Termez - possibly Mazar-i-Sharif (get your visa in Khorog) - Bukhara - Merv - Ashgabat - Darwaza - Tehran.

(a rough itinerary, not all roads are on Google maps, like the Song Kul - Kazarman road for instance )

You can adapt this to suit your tastes, of course. It's 10 000 km so you might not want to drive that much. Cities like Osh and Kazarman are not highlights, they are just markers you will need to pass, but it''s better to spend your time in areas around. But just to give you a starting point, I think this really maximizes the use of your car.

Afghanistan: the situation is always changing. Inform yourself with people in the know closer to your arrival.