Hormuz Island

Hormuz was one of the most important trading ports in the medieval world, connecting the Persian Gulf to India and East Africa. The Portuguese captured the island in 1507 under Afonso de Albuquerque, building a fortress that controlled all Gulf trade for over a century until the Safavid Shah Abbas I, aided by the English East India Company, expelled them in 1622. The island later declined as trade routes shifted, leaving behind only ruins and a small fishing community — until a recent wave of artists rediscovered its extraordinary geology.

The Portuguese fortress, built in 1515, still dominates the island's harbour — its red-stone walls the same iron-rich colour as the beach below. Scattered across the island are traditional Bandari homes painted in vivid colours by local and visiting artists as part of a community art project that has turned Hormuz into one of the most photographed islands in the Persian Gulf. The village of Gavbandi preserves traditional fishing architecture including wooden lenj boat workshops still in active use.

Hormuz's Bandari food culture draws on centuries of Indian Ocean trade: spiced fish curries, Majboos saffron-rice, and fresh Gulf shrimp pulled from the surrounding waters are staples. The island is also famous for Gandom-e Hormuz — a local bread made with the island's mineral-rich red soil, eaten as a traditional remedy for stomach ailments and now offered to curious visitors as one of the world's most unusual edible souvenirs. The small local market sells multicoloured salt and mineral powders used as natural dyes, spices and cosmetics by Bandari women; the distinctive yellow "hormuz salt" is widely regarded as the finest finishing salt produced anywhere in Iran. Traditional music performed on the ney-anban (a local bagpipe-like instrument of Indian Ocean origin) remains alive at community gatherings on the island.

Qeshm Island, the largest island in the Persian Gulf and a UNESCO Global Geopark, is a short ferry ride away and easily combined with Hormuz in a two- or three-night southern island itinerary. The mainland port of Bandar Abbas, 30 minutes by ferry, serves as the transit hub for both islands and has its own colourful bazaar specialising in Gulf spices and traditional Bandari textiles. Larak Island, rarely visited and reachable by arrangement with local fishermen, offers pristine coral reefs and underwater visibility that rivals anywhere in the Persian Gulf. The Strait of Hormuz viewpoint from Bandar Abbas on a clear day shows the silhouette of Oman's Musandam Peninsula across the water — one of the world's most strategically significant sea lanes, through which roughly 20% of all globally traded oil passes daily.

Tiny Hormuz is a geological and artistic marvel. The famous Rainbow Valley and the Red Beach owe their surreal colours to mineral-rich soils — the edible red ochre (gelak) even flavours local bread and pickles. The Silence Valley and Statues Valley reveal wind-carved rock formations, while the Salt Goddess Cave glitters with crystalline salt. The Portuguese-era Hormuz Castle recalls the island's strategic past guarding the Strait of Hormuz. Hormuz has also become an open-air canvas for contemporary Iranian art, most famously the community carpet woven from coloured sand. Circling the small island by tuk-tuk in a day is the classic way to see it all.