Iran - Andrew Burke [249]
Diplomat Hotel ( 522 5557; diplomat.hotel@yahoo.com; Azadegan Blvd; s/tw/tr with breakfast IR150,000/ 200,000/250,000; ) Diplomat has clean, attractive rooms, some of which are big and have views over the town and the sea. Staff are helpful and some speak English. Good value.
Park Hotel (Qeshm Hotel; 522 4689; Azadegan Blvd; s/tw/tr IR150,000/250,000/300,000; ) Only if the Diplomat Hotel is full.
Darya Hotel ( 522 8362; Eskele St; r US$35-75; ste US$90-100; ) Just east of the Eskele Sangi, the Darya is Qeshm’s best option for value, location, comfort and service. Rooms are spacious and come with kitchenettes; front rooms (US$40) have water views.
Golden Beach Resort (Simin Beach Resort; 534 2900; goldenbeach_hotel@yahoo.com; d/tr/q/ste with breakfast US$35/45/60/70; ) A few kilometres southwest of town and alone on a sandy beach, for now this is the only (vaguely) resort-style place on Qeshm. The bungalows feel like beachside accommodation – which is good – but service isn’t fantastic. A dive shop offers equipment and courses and there’s a restaurant.
Qeshm International Hotel ( 255 4905; 22 Bahman Blvd; d/tr/ste with breakfast US$45/60/100; ) This is supposed to be the best hotel on Qeshm, and for facilities it is. But while the rooms are nice enough they’re uninspired and the location at the southern end of town isn’t great.
EATING
The midrange hotels all have restaurants. There are also restaurants in the shopping centres along Valiasr Blvd.
Seafood Restaurant ( 522 4765; meals IR30,000-45,000; 6pm-midnight) On the waterfront opposite the Ghal’e-ye Portoghaliha, this simple indoor/outdoor restaurant serves Arabic seafood (no kabab!) in the cool of evening. There is no printed menu, but English-speaking owner Abdul will have shark, crab and/or shellfish dishes.
Island Nights ( 524 0458; cnr Valiasr Blvd & Felestin St; meals IR50,000-60,000; 11am-4pm & 6-11pm) On the top floor of Pardis Mall, this Turkish-run place serves the usual range of kabab plus well-prepared fish and prawn dishes. Seating is both indoor and outdoor and the atmosphere fairly upbeat. Access is via the outside lift.
Around Qeshm Island
Laft & Harra Sea Forest
The fishing village of Laft, 52km west of Qeshm Town, is the best place in Iran to see the fast-disappearing traditional cultures of the Persian Gulf. Perched on a rocky slope overlooking the Khoran Strait, Laft’s roofscape is a breathtaking and wonderfully photogenic forest of badgirs and minarets. Views are best from the hill near the Portuguese-built Naderi Fort. From here you’ll also see dozens of ancient wells and a white-domed cistern, on which the town relied for water. It’s a small town that’s best seen on foot; there’s no formal accommodation.
A few hundred metres north of Laft is one of Qeshm’s many lenge-building yards. These traditional cargo boats are still used to carry goods back and forth across the Gulf. Other yards are found along the north coast, most notably around Peiposht, Zeinabi and Bandar-e Guran.
From Laft you can see the Harra Sea Forest, at 9000 hectares the Persian Gulf’s largest mangrove forest. From the town of Tabl, south of Laft, it’s possible to venture into the forest by rented motorboat or canoe. During spring more than 200 species of migrating birds can be found here.
Qeshm Geopark
In 2006 most of the western half of Qeshm Island, including the Harra mangroves, was declared Iran’s first Unesco Geopark (according to Unesco, a Geopark is an area of unique geoscientific significance). Whether you’re driving through this area or looking at it on a Google Earth image, the geological significance is easy to see. Nature has carved steep-sided stone canyons, eroded flat-topped hills into sandy dunes and dramatic organ-pipe ridgelines, and dug deep into the island to form caves including Namakdan Cave (Khare Namaki), which at 6km is the longest known salt-cave system on earth.
There are plans to develop tourism facilities but for now there is little infrastructure. Unless you have plenty of time to wait for infrequent transport, you