
Hormuz Island: The Rainbow Island in the South of Iran
Hormuz Island is my favorite place in Iran because of its breathtaking landscape and unique culture. It’s one of the most colorful and magical islands not in the Middle East but in the world, and one of the most intact islands in Iran.
You will love the wide range of colors in nature on this tiny island. When you wander around, you will see different shades and hues of red, yellow, ochre, orange, green, white, brown, beige, gold, grey, and turquoise colors. This is why the island is also called the Rainbow Island of Iran.
Life is simply fascinating on the island. The locals use the red soil of Hormuz island for cooking and they only use tuk-tuks (rickshaws) and motorbikes to get around the island.
Map of Iran’s Hormuz Island with best places to visit
Just like Qeshm Island, Hormuz Island is also located in the Hormozgan Province of Iran. Hormuz Island is around 20 km from Qeshm Island and about 22 km from Bandar Abbas. Similarly to Qeshm Island, Hormuz is also situated in the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.
These places are to be explored wearing proper shoes, not sandals or flip-flops.
#1 Red beach, Hormuz island
Some articles refer to this beach as the blood beach and the sea there, bloody sea. When my friends saw my photos when I was at Red Beach, they asked me why the water was red. It’s simply because of the red soil which has a high concentration of iron oxide. And when the color of the sand is really red in the water, the waves of the sea become colored pink.
This is one of the most unique beaches in the world.

Red sand on Hormuz Island – Rainbow Island Iran
#2 Silver beach, Hormuz Island
The Silver Beach is situated right next to the Red Beach.
This was one of the most interesting beaches I’ve seen in my life. Its sand is shining and glittering so strong and it’s full of colorful stones. I think now you understand why Hormuz Island is also called Rainbow Island.

Chilling on the Silver Beach
#3 Rainbow Mountains aka Rainbow valley, Hormuz Island
You can spend time here hiking a few miles if you have time.

Up on the colorful mountains with a view of the Persian Gulf – Iranian Islands

The colorful mountains with the different shades and hues of yellow, gold and Bordeaux – Hormuz Island

Brown, gold, orange and more beautiful colors – Rainbow Island Iran

Sitting on shell-like rocks – Rainbow Island Iran
#4 Valley Statues, Hormuz Island
If you go to the Valley of Statues, you can experience this wonderful view. What you see down there is called Mofannagh Beach.

When you keep falling in love in Iran again and again – Rainbow Island Iran
#5 Silence Valley, Hormuz Island
It’s probably called Silence Valley because it just takes your breath away. The entire Island feels like another planet but this valley had the strongest out of this world features.

Walk around the red rocks – Rainbow Island Iran

Path leading to the unknown on the Rainbow Island of Iran – Iranian Islands

Come and explore the Rainbow Island and with me!
#6 Rainbow Cave, Hormuz Island
The Rainbow cave was the most beautiful caves I’ve seen in my life. I don’t have a decent picture of the cave. So, I cannot show it to you. It was much more colorful than the caves on Qeshm Island.
#7 Hole in the rock , Hormuz Island
It’s simply a big hole in a big rock on one of the beaches.
#8 Soiled Carpet, Hormuz Island
You can find the world’s largest soil carpet on Hormuz Island which was made using 90 different colors soil of the island. When I was there, it was already quite old and faded. Therefore, it wasn’t that interesting.

The road to one of the beaches of the Rainbow Island of Iran – Iran beaches
#9 Portuguese castle, Hormuz Island
This is a fortress left from the colonial times in the 16th century by the Portuguese. It’s very different from any other fortresses I’ve seen. It’s simply because the stones used for building this fortress got a bit red too.
Entrance fee for the Portuguese Castle: 300,000 IRR
#10 Nadalian museum, Hormuz Island
This is a lovely museum owned by Ahmad Nadalian. He is teaching art to local women and sell their products in order to earn some money.
When backpacking in Iran, you will see that there are a lot of different ways to get around the country. The most unique way of moving around in Iran is definitely on Hormuz Island.
There are no cars on the island, only tuk-tuks (rickshaws) and motorbikes.
The entire island is around 30 km with a couple of roads. Thus, it’s really easy to navigate there. Let’s see how to get around on the magnificient Rainbow Island.

Our driver is taking us to the Red Beach of the Rainbow Island
Discovering Hormuz Island by TukTuk
In my opinion, the best way to get around the island is by tuk-tuk (rickshaw). This vehicle can normally accommodate 6-8 people. You can actually see the entire vehicle on the feature image of this blog post.
The price depends on your negotiation skills. It should be between 200,000 (~1.20 € / ~1.30 USD) and 500,000 IRR (~2.90 € / ~3.20 USD) for an hour. The more you are, the less you pay per person.
If you spend a day or 2 days on the Rainbow Island, I would recommend this solution.
Discovering Hormuz Island by bike
You can rent a bike at the harbor when you arrive. There are other places as well to find bikes to rent. They are close to the port. Just ask around and you will find them. It costs a maximum of 100,000 IRR (~0.60 € / ~0.70 USD) per hour. I would personally only rent a bike if I stayed there at least for 3 days.
Discovering Hormuz Island on foot
As the island is really small, you can just walk around. If you are staying a lot of time there, it’s also a wonderful idea.