Iran - Andrew Burke [246]
Famus Darya Pizza (Taleqani Blvd; pizzas IR20,000; 11am-10pm) Famus serves pizzas and burgers that you eat on the sea wall; it’s the one that looks like a giant concrete fire hydrant wearing a hat.
Tanuri Pizza ( 224 1988; Sayyadan St; pizzas IR20,000; 9am-2pm & 5pm-midnight) This pizza place is one of many along this strip that are reliably good.
Chelokabab Iran ( 222 3833; Imam Khomeini St, off 17 Shahrivar Sq; meals IR50,000; 11.30am-3.30pm & 7-10.30pm; ) Conveniently located, this unadorned little place serves standard Iranian fare, plus a decent chelo mahi (fried fish on rice). Toothless owner Haji Hossain is a nice guy, speaks English and will probably try to tell you about his son the microscopic robot maker – or something.
Sea Restaurant ( 334 2205; Hormoz Hotel, Enqelab Sq; meals IR60,000-100,000; 5.30-11pm) This is the Hormoz Hotel’s most interesting restaurant, with a menu loaded with seafood. The patio location is ideal in the cool of evening.
Fish market (cnr Taleqani Blvd & Sayyadan St; 6.30am-10pm) Self-caterers should head for this fish market for fresh Gulf fish, filleted if you ask. Even if you don’t plan to cook, this is a fun place to wander round with a camera.
Come to the waterfront at sunset for chay, qalyan (water pipe) and conversation with the locals.
Labkhand Coffee Shop (Imam Khomeini St, off Abuzar Sq; 5-11pm; ) On the night we visited the stylish, second-floor Labkhand was going off like the proverbial frog in a sock. Good fun. It also serves some of the best coffee we drank in Iran.
For the best banana shake (IR4500) on the coast head for the unnamed shake shop (Imam Khomeini St), opposite and slightly west of Hotel Ghods.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Iran Air ( 333 7170; Beheshti St; www.iranair.com) is inconveniently located east of the centre; use Bala Parvaz Travel Agency instead. Iran Aseman (www.iaa.ir) and Mahan Airlines (www.mahan.aero) service international routes.
Domestic Flights
Bandar is, mercifully, fairly well connected by domestic air services. Several smaller airlines fly to Tehran for the same price – ask at the agency.
International Flights
For the short hop to Dubai, you can choose from Iran Aseman (one way IR620,000, 30 minutes, daily) or Iran Air (IR620,000, twice weekly). Mahan Airlines flies to Colombo in Sri Lanka twice weekly, and to Delhi once weekly.
BOAT
Domestic Services
Boats from Bandar to the nearby islands of Hormoz and Qeshm leave from the eskele (main pier), near the bazaar.
For Qeshm (for more details see also opposite), you can make the 23km trip in an open fibre-glass speedboat (one way, IR14,000, 40 minutes) or a slightly larger, covered speedboat with padded seats (IR20,000, 25 minutes). If the seas are too rough for small boats try the ferry (IR25,000, 50 minutes, daily), which leaves from the chaotic Shahid Bahonar docks, 5km west of the town centre. You can buy tickets from travel agencies or from the office of Valfajre-8 ( 555 5590; Eskeleh Shahid Bahonnar Blvd, near Jahangardi Crossroads), about 1km east of the docks.
Speedboats to Hormoz Island (one way, IR10,000, 30 minutes) leave every 15 to 20 minutes in the morning, and less often as the day wears on. Click here.
International Services
Valfajre-8 runs boats from Bandar Abbas to Sharjah (one way IR320,000, eight to 11 hours, 233km), usually on Saturdays and Mondays though schedules are notoriously changeable.
BUS
Buses leave Bandar for almost every city in Iran. However, heavy truck traffic, poor facilities along the roads and punishing temperatures can make it an arduous journey. The bus terminal east of town is chock-full of locals who wish they could afford to fly. To join them you’ll need to take two shared taxis; one to the corner of Ghadiri Blvd and another to the terminal itself. A taxi dar baste costs about IR12,000. There’s a handy bus office