Nowruz 2027: Dates, Where to Celebrate and Travel Tips

Nowruz 2027 begins with the March equinox at 20:24 UTC on Saturday 20 March 2027, and in Iran the first day of the new year, 1 Farvardin 1406, is Sunday 21 March 2027 ^{1 2}. The rule is simple: if the equinox falls before noon in Tehran, that day is Nowruz; if it falls after noon, Nowruz is the following day ^{1 2}. The 2027 equinox comes in the evening in Tehran, so the holiday moves to 21 March ¹.

The date shifts slightly every year because the Iranian calendar follows the sun, not a fixed Gregorian day. The equinox in 2025 fell at 09:01 UTC on 20 March, and in 2026 it fell at 14:45 UTC on 20 March ¹. For readers searching for Nowruz 2026: the Iranian year 1405 began on 21 March 2026 ².

Each country frames the holiday differently:

• Iran: four public holidays from 1 to 4 Farvardin, which is 21 to 24 March 2027, inside 13 days of celebration ^{1 2}

• Iran, bonfire night: Chaharshanbe Suri on 16 March 2027 ⁹

• Iran, last day: Sizdah Bedar on 2 April 2027 ¹⁰

• Azerbaijan: Novruz expected on Sunday 21 March 2027 with days off to 24 March ⁸

• Kazakhstan: Nauryz Meiramy on 21 to 23 March every year, by law ¹⁴

• Uzbekistan: Navruz on 21 March every year ¹²

Azerbaijan's government fixes the exact days off each year, and the Labour Code grants five days for Novruz, so the 2027 schedule may grow once the decree is issued ⁸. Kurds in Turkey hold Newroz gatherings between 18 and 21 March ¹.

Tip: If you want both the bonfires and the new year in one trip to Baku, arrive before Tuesday 16 March 2027 and stay until at least 22 March 2027 ^{8 9}.

As of 27 October 2026, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all travel to Iran, and that advice shapes any plan to spend Nowruz 2027 in Tehran, Isfahan or Shiraz ³. The United States and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February 2026, and regional tensions remain the reason for the latest update ^{5 3}. Check your own government's advice again in February 2027 before booking anything.

The specific risks listed by the FCDO matter at a festival built on crowds:

• Detention: British nationals and British-Iranian dual nationals face a very high risk of arrest, detention and questioning ³
• No consular help: no face-to-face consular assistance is possible in an emergency ³
• Borders: air, sea and land routes can close at short notice ³
• Protests: bystanders near a protest risk arrest, and mass arrests happen often ⁴
• Photography: cameras near military or government sites can lead to arrest ⁴

Chaharshanbe Suri carries its own tension. Iran's government discourages the bonfire night as a pre-Islamic relic, restricts gatherings, arrests participants and issues warnings each year, and some gatherings turn into anti-government protests ⁹. A foreign visitor filming a street bonfire in Tehran is standing exactly where the authorities are watching.

Rules for daily life still apply to anyone who does enter Iran. Women must cover their heads in public with a headscarf, may be asked to wear a chador at religious sites, and the dress code is strictly enforced ⁴.

Note: Nowruz is not only Iranian. Baku, Samarkand, Tashkent and Almaty all celebrate it in public, with the same bonfires, sprouted wheat and sweet pastries, and none of them carries the same advice level ^{1 13 12 14}.

The rest of this guide covers the Iranian customs you will see wherever Nowruz is kept, and the practical side of Baku and Samarkand, where most travellers can actually go in March 2027.

Nowruz itself costs nothing: the bonfires, street fairs and family visits are free, and the only tickets you buy are for heritage sites around the celebrations. In Samarkand, the Registan cost foreign visitors 100,000 som in February 2026, at roughly 12,000 som to the US dollar ¹⁶. Locals pay between two and ten times less, according to the same February 2026 price list ¹⁶.

Other Samarkand sites charged foreigners these prices in February 2026 ¹⁶:

• Registan: 100,000 som ¹⁶

• Shah-i-Zinda: 80,000 som ¹⁶

• Gur-e-Amir: 75,000 som ¹⁶

• Bibi-Khanym: 65,000 som ¹⁶

Gur-e-Amir, the mausoleum of Tamerlane, stayed open until midnight according to a visitor in April 2026, and it was nearly empty after 22:00 ¹⁶. That late visit is the easiest way to see a Samarkand monument during the Navruz days, when the Registan fills with families and the sumalak stalls around it are busy ¹².

In Baku, the festivities in Icherisheher and along Baku Boulevard are free to walk into ¹³. The paid sight is the Maiden Tower, the 28-metre tower on the coastal edge of the Old City, which charges 15 manat for foreign tourists and 2 manat for locals ¹⁵. It opens Tuesday to Sunday from 09:00 to 18:00, so check whether one of the Novruz days off falls on a Monday before you plan it ¹⁵. In 2027, the expected days off run from Sunday 21 to Wednesday 24 March, so Monday 22 March is one of them ⁸.

Tip: Carry cash for Navruz fairs in Samarkand and for small purchases in Icherisheher. Heritage sites post their own prices at the gate, and the figures above can change after a single decree ¹⁶.

Heydar Aliyev International Airport sits about 20 km northeast of central Baku, and the Aeroexpress bus to 28 May Metro Station is the simplest way into the city for Novruz ¹⁷. The trip takes about 30 minutes on average ¹⁷.

Your options from the airport:

• Aeroexpress bus: Terminals 1 and 2 to 28 May Metro Station, every 20 minutes from 06:00 to 23:15, then every 45 minutes overnight ¹⁷

• BakuBus H1: a 24-hour service between the airport and the city centre ¹⁷

• Baku Taxi: the red state-operated cabs at stands outside Terminal 1, the only taxi service working at the airport ¹⁷

• Private transfer: about 20 minutes to central Baku ¹⁷

From 28 May Metro Station, the metro runs on towards Icheri Sheher station at the edge of the walled city. The Old City is a pedestrian maze of stone lanes, so the last stretch to your room inside the walls is on foot. Pack a bag you can carry over cobbles.

For Samarkand, the high-speed Afrosiyob train from Tashkent is the standard route. It takes about 2 hours 8 minutes, and the same line continues to Bukhara, which is 3 hours 20 minutes from Tashkent ²⁰. The route has run daily since 13 February 2012 ²⁰. Book the Afrosiyob as soon as sales open, because Navruz on 21 March is a national holiday and the train is the fastest link between Uzbekistan's two biggest Navruz cities ¹².

Almaty, where Kazakhstan's Nauryz Meiramy runs from 21 to 23 March, works as a separate trip rather than an add-on to Baku ¹⁴. Kazakhs mark the first morning by cooking nauryz kozhe, a traditional drink ¹.

Tip: Save the 28 May Metro Station pin and your Old City guesthouse as offline map points before you land, because most lanes inside the walls of Icherisheher are too narrow for cars.

Nowruz is a sequence, not a single day, and in Iran it runs from the bonfire night before the equinox to the picnic day 13 days after it ^{9 10}. The calendar begins weeks earlier with khaneh tekani, a full spring cleaning of the house ¹.

The Iranian sequence, in order:

1. Chaharshanbe Suri: on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year, people light bonfires in streets, yards and rooftops and jump over them at sunset, saying sorkhi-ye to az man, zardi-ye man az to, or “your redness for my paleness” ⁹.

2. Spoon banging: the same night, people in disguise knock spoons on bowls at their neighbours' doors and are given packets of snacks, much like trick-or-treating ⁹.

3. Ajil: a mix of pistachios, almonds, chickpeas and raisins eaten that night is believed to grant wishes ⁹.

4. The equinox: families sit around the haft-sin for the exact minute of the new year ¹.

5. Visits: the first days are spent visiting relatives, and most offices close ¹.

6. Sizdah Bedar: on 13 Farvardin, the sprouted greens are tossed into running water at the end of a picnic, and single people knot the stems with a wish for a partner ¹⁰.

In Azerbaijan, the build-up lasts a month. Each of the four Tuesdays before Novruz is tied to an element, water, fire, earth and wind, with a khoncha tray filled for each, and on the last Tuesday everyone jumps the fire ⁸. Children leave caps or baskets at neighbours' doors and wait nearby for sweets ¹. Some believe the weather of the first four days of Novruz foretells the four seasons ¹.

In Uzbekistan, holiday concerts run across the country on 21 March, especially in Tashkent, and book fairs, games and concerts fill the rest of March ¹².

Tip: The bonfire night is the photogenic part, and it is also the most crowded. Keep a distance from the flames and from fireworks, and stay out of any gathering that turns political.

A haft-sin is a table of seven items whose Persian names begin with the letter sin, set up in Iranian homes before the equinox ¹. Each item carries a wish for the year ahead. You will see haft-sin tables in hotel lobbies, Persian restaurants and shop windows wherever Iranians live.

The seven traditional items:

• Sabzi: wheat or lentil sprouts grown in a dish ¹

• Samanu: a sweet pudding from germinated wheat ¹

• Senjed: the dried fruit of the oleaster, or Persian olive ¹

• Serkeh: vinegar ¹

• Sib: apples ¹

• Sir: garlic ¹

• Somaq: sumac ¹

Samanu, called sumalak in Central Asia, is the same dish that draws crowds in Samarkand and Tashkent. It is made only from germinated wheat and water, and the final cooking runs from evening until daylight in a large pot ¹¹. Women traditionally sit in a circle around the pot, take turns stirring, sing, and throw in whole walnuts with a wish near the end ¹¹. In the morning the warm paste is shared with neighbours and friends ¹¹. UNESCO inscribed the culture of sumalak cooking in 2025, with Tajikistan as the nominating country ¹¹.

On the night of the new year, Iranian families eat sabzi polo, herbed rice with fish, followed by sweets such as nan-e nokhodchi, a chickpea-flour cookie ¹. In Azerbaijan, sweet pastries rule: shekerbura, pakhlava, qoghal and badambura, each traditionally baked on a different Tuesday ¹³. A dish of sprouted wheat called semeni sits at the centre of the table, and a strong semeni is said to promise a productive year ^{13 8}.

In Uzbekistan, Navruz snacks include kok samsa, pastries filled with spring greens, alongside the sumalak ¹².

Tip: If you are invited into a home during the visiting days, do not move or eat from the haft-sin itself. It is a display, and the food for guests is served separately.

Baku in March is cool and windy rather than cold: the average daily high is 10.9 °C and the average low is 4.6 °C ¹⁸. Rain is light, at 18.4 mm over about 5 wet days in the month ¹⁸. The bigger factor is the khazri, the cold northern wind that blows in every season and can reach 144 km/h ¹⁸. On Baku Boulevard, along the Caspian shore, the wind makes a mild afternoon feel much colder.

Samarkand is warmer by day and wetter. The average March high is 15.2 °C, the low is 4.6 °C, and March brings 73.2 mm of rain ¹⁹. A Navruz morning at a sumalak stall that has been cooking all night starts in near-freezing air.

What to pack for both cities:

• A windproof jacket for Baku Boulevard and the Old City walls ¹⁸

• A warm layer for the bonfire evenings and the dawn sumalak sharing ¹¹

• A compact umbrella or rain shell for Samarkand ¹⁹

• Comfortable shoes for cobbled lanes in Icherisheher ¹⁵

• A scarf for women entering mosques or shrines

Crowds peak on the evenings of the fire Tuesday and on 21 March itself, when the Old City squares and the Registan fill with families ^{13 12}. Arrive at Icherisheher in the late afternoon to find a spot near the bonfire before dark, and leave before the last metro if you are staying outside the walls.

Tip: Check the khazri forecast before booking a sea-view terrace dinner on Baku Boulevard. A strong northern wind can close outdoor seating for the evening ¹⁸.

The best base for Novruz in Baku is inside or just outside the walls of Icherisheher, the Old City, because the bonfires, mini-festivals and pastry stalls cluster there and along Baku Boulevard ¹³. Staying close lets you walk to every evening event and back without a taxi.

The three practical choices:

• Inside Icherisheher: small guesthouses in stone houses, steps from the Maiden Tower and the bonfire squares ^{15 13}. Cars cannot reach most doors, so arrive with light luggage.

• Along Baku Boulevard: larger hotels on the seafront, with the exhibitions and mini-festivals of the Novruz period outside the door ¹³. This side takes the full force of the khazri wind ¹⁸.

• Around 28 May Metro Station: the end stop of the Aeroexpress bus from the airport, convenient for an early flight out ¹⁷.

Book early. Azerbaijan's Labour Code gives workers five days off for Novruz, and the holiday can stretch further depending on the weekday it starts, so domestic travel peaks at the same time as your trip ⁸. In 2027 the expected days off run from 21 to 24 March ⁸. Guesthouses inside the walls are small and few, and they are the first rooms to go.

In Samarkand, the area around the Registan puts you closest to the Navruz fairs and to the sumalak pots ^{12 16}. Navruz on 21 March is a public holiday across Uzbekistan, so book the room and the Afrosiyob seat from Tashkent together ^{12 20}.

Tip: If Icherisheher is full, pick a room near Icheri Sheher metro station or the Boulevard rather than a cheaper area across the city. The evening walk home after the bonfires is the part of the day you will not want to plan around a taxi.

Yes, if you enter Iran: the country restricts the internet heavily and has cut it off for months at a time, while Baku, Samarkand and Almaty have normal mobile networks. In 2026, Iran imposed a near-total shutdown after the US and Israeli strikes of 28 February, and by 5 April 2026 NetBlocks called it the longest nation-scale internet shutdown on record, at 864 hours ⁵. In May 2026 NetBlocks said the public had been cut off from the global internet for 70 per cent of the year to date ⁶.

Access was restored on 26 May 2026, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, but YouTube and X stayed blocked and many users still needed VPNs ⁷. During the shutdown, only a domestic intranet of state-approved Iranian sites kept working, and Iranians suspected of VPN use received text messages warning of arrest ⁵. The FCDO tells travellers not to rely on mobile data, non-Iranian apps or international calls for their personal safety in Iran ⁴.

What this means for a Nowruz trip:

• Outside Iran: set up maps, translation and ride apps for Baku or Samarkand before you fly, and share live location with your group.

• Calling Iran: expect video calls to friends in Iran to fail at the equinox minute; agree a fallback time and channel in advance ⁷.

• Inside Iran: keep a paper map, printed bookings and a written list of addresses, as the FCDO advises an alternative means of navigation ⁴.

• Data plans: check whether a plan actually lists Iran before relying on it.

For travellers based in Baku or Samarkand, global data plans cover most Nowruz destinations outside Iran; install one before departure and confirm Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan on its coverage list.

Tip: Download offline maps of Icherisheher and central Samarkand, and the Azerbaijani and Uzbek language packs, while you still have home Wi-Fi.