Getting there & away
Most people fly into Kish, but you can get there by boat from Bandar-e Charak or Bandar-e Lengeh; see Boat for details.
Boat
Leaving Kish by boat is ridiculously bureaucratic. On this trip it took us 30 minutes to get questioned at passport control, get the paperwork allowing us to leave, have it photocopied three times in the restaurant, then go outside to the car park to buy a ticket on the speedboat to Bandar-e Charak. And we didn’t even have any goods to declare.
Valfajre-8 shipping links Kish with Bandar-e Lengeh (one way IR120, 000) – when Kish is busy enough to warrant it. As we have discovered, this means there are as many as six packed boats (with families in tents on deck) during No Ruz, but just a few weeks later no services at all. When they run, catamarans make the trip in about two hours, but the bigger Ro Ro ferries take about five hours. Catamarans usually leave about 10am, insh’Allah (if God wills it). Buy tickets at the port or a travel agency.
The alternative, often the only alternative, is the open speedboat to/from Bandar-e Charak (IR40, 000, 45 minutes). From Kish, they leave from sunrise until about 4pm, though most are in the mornings when conditions are usually better.
Air
Several airlines fly to/from Kish. Book ahead and reserve your onward ticket before you arrive.
Kish Airlines (442 3922; Sanaee Sq; 8am-8.30pm Sat-Thu & 9am-12.30pm Fri) flies to Bandar Abbas (IR245, 000; 40 minutes, six times weekly); Tehran (one way IR567, 000, 90 minutes, at least twice daily); Esfahan (IR417, 000, one hour, daily) and Shiraz (IR253, 000, 45 minutes, three weekly) and has occasional flights to Mashhad. It also flies six times daily to Dubai (one way US$80, 30 minutes), plus regular flights to Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
Iran Air (442 2274; Sanaee Sq) has less- frequent flights to Shiraz, Esfahan and Tehran, and Mahan Airlines (www.mahan.aero) flies twice weekly to Kerman.
Kish Island
- Kish Island Overview
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Getting there & around
- History
