Things to do in The Persian Gulf
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Bazaar
Bandar isn’t blessed with a lot of must-see sights – actually, none – but it’s not totally devoid of flavour. The lively bazaar rambles its way across two blocks just back from the seafront, and is probably the most colourful part of town. A seafront promenade leads east and has an evening flea market. At its end, the busy fish market is full of charismatic old salts happy to pose for pictures with their catch. Work on the huge mosque a few metres east of the bazaar seems to have restarted despite local concerns that the engineering is not good enough for a major earthquake zone.
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Farid Coffee Shop
You can usually find simple, cheap food along the Bushehr waterfront, particularly near the seafront building housing the Farid Coffee Shop, where the view is better than the coffee. This is a great area for people-watching, especially on Thursday or Friday evenings when the whole of Bushehr seems to be promenading along the esplanade with the cool sea breezes.
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Ghavam Restaurant
Ghavam is the best restaurants on the Persian Gulf coast. The underground location offers relief from the heat, and the vaulted ceilings, antique photographs and live traditional music (dinner only) create a warm, convivial, enjoyable atmosphere. The menu includes a range of local specialities, including boiled rice with broadbeans and fish.
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Kish Diving Center
Kish Diving Center, found on the beach outside Shayan International Hotel, charges about IR350,000 for a one-hour dive with equipment. A four-day PADI open-water course costs IR3,500,000 – and would make you one of a very small group who could say: ‘Where did I learn to dive? Iran!’
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Kish Diving School
Kish Diving School, found on the beach outside Shayan International Hotel, charges about IR350,000 for a one-hour dive with equipment. A four-day PADI open-water course costs IR3,500,000 – and would make you one of a very small group who could say: ‘Where did I learn to dive? Iran!’
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Chelokabab Iran
Conveniently located, this unadorned little place serves standard Iranian fare, plus a decent chelo mahi (fried fish on rice). Toothless owner Haji Hossain is a nice guy, speaks English and will probably try to tell you about his son the microscopic robot maker – or something.
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Payab Restaurant
Above the underground water reservoir, the Payab is cool and romantic in the evenings and the food is delicious. It offers fresh bread, big serves or fish, kabab or dizi (soup-stew). Extras (like chay ) are expensive.
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Ladies’ Beach
Kish is one of the very few places in Iran where swimming is actively encouraged. There are sandy, uncrowded beaches around most of the coast, but women must use the Ladies’ Beach.
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Sahel Restaurant
The Gulf-side location makes Sahel a good place to interrupt your Old City wanderings. And the kababs, fish and ghorme sabzi (stewed beans, greens and mince, served with rice) are pretty tasty.
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Amirieh Edifice
The densely packed wooden struts that overhang some of the narrow lanes are unique to Bushehr. Of particular interest are the door-knockers shaped like human hands in the northwestern quarter of town.
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Salon Ghaza Khoreid Faghid
There isn’t an English sign and there’s nothing fancy about this little place near the bazaar, but the local speciality ghalye mahi (a richly flavoured fish stew) is delicious.
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Payab
Between November and March the best way to see Kish’s sights is by bicycle. The most interesting is the restored and mercifully cool underground water reservoir called the Payab.
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Fish Market
Self-caterers should head for this fish market for fresh Gulf fish, filleted if you ask. Even if you don’t plan to cook, this is a fun place to wander round with a camera.
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Labkhand Coffee Shop
The stylish, second-floor Labkhand was going off like the proverbial frog in a sock. Good fun. It also serves some of the best coffee we drank in Iran.
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Sea Restaurant
This is the Hormoz Hotel’s most interesting restaurant, with a menu loaded with seafood. The patio location is ideal in the cool of evening.
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Pizza Negin
This trendy place, inside a concrete boat ‘sailing’ along the seaside esplanade, is super popular and the pizzas are relatively good.
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Famus Darya Pizza
Famus serves pizzas and burgers that you eat on the sea wall; it’s the one that looks like a giant concrete fire hydrant wearing a hat.
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Shake Shop
For the best banana shake (IR4500) on the coast head for the unnamed shake shop, opposite and slightly west of Hotel Ghods.
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British Consulate
The crumbling seaside ruins of the British consulate are worth a look for a hint of Bushehr’s former grandeur.
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Roodaki Restaurant
Between the cheap apartment hotels and the beach, the Roodaki serves cheap, pre-prepared curries and Philippine cuisine.
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Tanuri Pizza
This pizza place is one of many along this strip that are reliably good.
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