Iran - Andrew Burke [243]
Getting There & Away
For air and boat tickets and local information in English, see Morvarid Gasht Travel Agency ( 224 0026; Enqelab St).
AIR
Looking at the size of the huge office of Iran Air ( 222 2799; Imam Khomeini Blvd; 7.30am-1.30pm & 5.30-8.30pm Sat-Thu, 8am-noon Fri) you’d think you were in Tehran or Esfahan, but a total of four flights a week to Tehran (IR522,000, 2½ hours) via Shiraz (IR256,000, 30 minutes) puts paid to that idea.
BOAT
Catamaran and ferry services run to Kish (IR120,000, catamaran/Ro Ro ferries two/five hours) in season, though departure times are elastic and services often cancelled due to lack of interest or rough seas. Tickets can be bought at the ticket office of Valfajre-8 ( 222 0252; Imam Khomeini Blvd; 7am-2pm & 3-6pm Sat-Thu, 7.30am-1.30pm Fri, when boats are running).
Assuming the seas aren’t too rough, it’s quicker to take an open speedboat (IR40,000, 45 minutes) from Bandar-e Charak (89km west of Lengeh). To do this, take a savari (IR25,000, one hour) from Lengeh to Charak, where it will drop you at the beach from which the boats leave when full (10 passengers). Most people travel this route between about 6am and 10am.
If you want to get an early start on the trip to Kish (perhaps make a day-trip of it), head to Charak (see Bus & Savari, below) the night before and stay at the Hotel Khorshid Jonub (Southern Sun; 0764-422 2369; r IR85,000; ), a simple but clean family-run place about a 10-minute walk east of where the speedboats leave. Do check the sea conditions before heading to Charak, lest you get there and find the boats are not running.
Valfajre-8 also runs a passenger-only catamaran to Dubai (IR450,000 one way, three to four hours) most Saturdays and Wednesdays.
BUS & SAVARI
Lengeh’s bus terminal, about 2km east of town on the right (south) just before a large square, is not our favourite place. In four visits over the years, we’ve been misled each time about when the bus would leave, how long it would take and where it would stop. Savaris are a better option. If you must use the bus, they leave regularly to Bandar Abbas (IR20,000, three to four hours, 255km) and much less often to Bushehr (IR70,000, eight to 10 hours, 656km), usually at about 10am and 4.30pm. There are a couple of buses a day to Shiraz (IR33,000/70,000 mahmooly/Volvo).
Savaris (IR40,000, three hours) to Bandar Abbas leave regularly between 6am and 8pm from outside the bus terminal. Savaris to Charak leave from outside the NIOPC petrol station, about 1.5km east of the port.
Buses from Bushehr often arrive in the middle of the night. If you’re staying in the Hotel Amir ask to be dropped at the port entrance (other locals will get out here), or near Bandar Lengeh Inn if you’re staying there.
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BANDAR ABBAS
0761 / pop 365,000
For a city founded by one of Persia’s greatest kings, Shah Abbas I, and named in his honour, the bustling ‘Port of Abbas’ is less charismatic than you might expect. Strategically positioned overlooking the Strait of Hormoz and the entrance to the Persian Gulf, the city, known to most Iranians simply as ‘Bandar’, is home to Iran’s busiest port. Smuggling is big business – everything from cars to carpets circumnavigates the customs inspectors in these parts. Needless to say, if you’re walking along the seafront at night and notice boxes being hurriedly unloaded from a dark-coloured speedboat, resist the temptation to offer to help with the haulage.
Bandar’s fast-growing population is a mix of Persians, Bandaris, Arabs and Africans, with a large Sunni minority and a long-established Hindu community. Depending on your perspective, Bandar Abbas is either delightfully seedy with the audible whisper of smugglers, or an uninspiring and overpriced stepping-off point for the more languid nearby islands.
History
The rise, fall and rise again of Bandar Abbas over the last five centuries has been directly linked to the role of meddling