Coloured rocks
In the valleys.
Hamidhassas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Qeshmnil — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Qeshmnil — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ninara — CC BY 2.0 · Ninara — CC BY 2.0
Hormuz Island is a small Iranian island in the Gulf, famous for the colours of its earth and rocks. Valleys of red, yellow, white and purple rock, beaches of red soil and glittering salt hills look out over the blue sea. It covers 42 square kilometres and lies 8 km off the Iranian coast, with its town in the north. Geologists see it as a salt dome, made of ancient sea-salt deposits that rose to the surface over thousands of years. Islanders call the red ochre golak and use it in art and cooking, and the environment department protects the beaches from overuse. The island also has a small mangrove forest. Visitors tour the island in small vehicles to the Rainbow Valley, the red beach and the salt hills, spending a day or more. It is about 24 km in a straight line southeast of Bandar Abbas, reached by boat. Do not take soil or rocks away. The UK Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to Iran and warns that British nationals risk detention, so check official guidance before making any plans. We could not confirm the current state of this site.
In the valleys.
Of golak soil.
That glitter.
Strait of Hormuz, near Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan province
By boat from Bandar Abbas.
In winter; summer is very hot.