Qeshm Island Geopark

Qeshm is the largest island in the Persian Gulf, lying along the coast of Hormozgan in the Strait of Hormuz, south-west of Bandar Abbas. It is a land of bare, eroded hills, salt domes, fishing villages and mangrove forest, and in 2017 it became a UNESCO Global Geopark, recognised for its geology and the ways people have lived with it.

Its best-known sites are natural. In the Stars Valley, wind and water have carved soft rock into fantastic spires and gullies; local legend says a star fell there. The Namakdan Salt Cave, at the island's western end, runs for about six and a half kilometres through a salt dome, one of the longest salt caves known, its walls glittering with salt crystals. Elsewhere, canyons such as Chahkooh have been cut deep into the rock, with ancient wells dug into their floors.

Between Qeshm and the mainland lie the Hara mangrove forests, a protected area of grey mangrove trees growing in the salt water of the tidal channels. Boats take visitors through the channels at high tide, and the forests are a breeding ground for herons, egrets and many other birds.

Qeshm is also a lived-in island, whose people speak the Bandari dialects of the Gulf coast, and is known for its traditional lenj wooden boats, its handicrafts and the windcatcher houses of villages like Laft. Much of the island is a free trade zone, and visitors can reach it by ferry from Bandar Abbas or by air. The best time to visit is between November and March, when the heat and humidity of the Gulf summer have eased.