The first thing that comes to mind when a tourist thinks of a trip to Iran is most likely hot air, vast deserts, and mosques. Well, not many people are aware of the fact that Iran offers much more than that. In fact, this country is renowned for its untouched salt lakes, vibrantly colored Islamic architecture, and relaxing beaches. That's right, Iran has some nice beaches, and in this article, we will talk about the most beautiful beaches in Iran.

There are many options along the 2,400 km coastline of Iran. Ranging from the popular Marjan beach on the southern island of Kish to the Chamkhaleh Beach in the north of Iran, you have many options to choose from. These beaches in Iran are the perfect option for a few days of fun. The calm and peace of the beaches in Iran will make you get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a while. Stay tuned to get familiar with 10 of the best beaches in Iran you should visit on your trip to the country.

Zeytoun Beach (Qeshm Island)

Zeytoun Beach in Qeshm makes a great beach for water sports enthusiasts featuring a diving school for all skill levels. Meanwhile, Zeytoun Beach is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in Iran. In the surrounding area, you can find many restaurants serving delicious seafood you might not expect to find in Iran, like squid and shrimp made with local spices like turmeric, cloves, and dried rose petals.

Some of these restaurants have live music and an ocean view, giving you the most memorable dining experience while watching the sea. You can find many hotels in its neighborhood. Hotels with various price levels and amenities make it possible for travelers to find good accommodation here.

The distance between Tehran and Qeshm Island is almost 1,400 kilometers, and it is a hell of a road trip if you are into it. The most straight route here will pass you through cities like Qom, Kashan, Naeen, Mehriz, Sirjan and Bandar Abbas. Given that Qeshm is an island, you must take a ferry to make it to Qeshm.

Marjan Beach (Kish Island)

Marjan beach of Kish is considered one of the largest coral beaches in Iran. This beach, in fact, can be regarded as unique in terms of size among the beaches in Iran and even in the world. There are lots of corals on the Marjan beach, and its water's clarity reveals this special beauty. This is why many people believe that Marjan beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in Iran.

Corals emerge from the depths of the sea to the surface and accumulate on the shore like sponges. Many tourists travel to Kish every year to visit this beach, which according to many, is the best beach in the south of Iran and one of the best Persian Gulf beaches. Among the best experiences at Marjan Beach is to swim in the clear waters of this beach and touch the corals up close.

Marjan Kish beach facilities include a park, traditional bazaars, green areas, pavilions and a trail for cycling. There are also many hotels on Kish Island, and with different price levels, you can find good options for all tastes. The route from Tehran to Kish Island is almost the same as Qeshm, but to take the ferry, you must travel to Bandar Lengeh from Bandar Abbas.

Gisoum Beach (Talesh)

The Gisoum beach is located on the road from Rasht to Astara, and to visit it, you need to drive through the beautiful and spectacular Gisoum forest. Among travelers, this beach is regarded as one of the most popular north of Iran beaches, being surrounded by untouched and amazing forests, with nature lovers spending the night in the forest around Gisoum beach.

The Gisoum forest and beach are located south of the city of Talesh and are only about 10 kilometers away from the Asalem to Khalkhal road. There are outstanding tourism facilities in this area of Northern Iran, and everything is green and covered with dense forests with different plants and wild forest fruits. While visiting Gisoum beach, you can spend time seeing the natural attractions around.

There are a number of facilities on this beach, such as paragliders, an inflatable park for children, pleasure boats, jet skis and lodging pavilions. Masal, Rezvanshahr and Asalem towns are located near the Gisoum beach and forest. The route between Tehran and Gisoum is around 400 kilometers, and it will take around five hours to reach there. You will take the Qazvin Rasht highway and pass cities like Rudbar, Fuman and others.

ReyShahr Beach (Boushehr)

ReyShahr Beach in Bushehr represents one of the oldest and most beautiful beaches in Iran, attracting thousands of people every year to get away from the polluted air and the hustle and bustle of big cities. Many foreign tourists travel to this beach, particularly from countries such as Bahrain and Kuwait, while the rocky landscape of the beach makes it an excellent site for rock-climbing.

Speedboat rentals are also extremely popular among travelers here. Similar to other southern beaches in Iran, you may want to visit ReyShahr Beach in the winter time if you want to avoid the humidity and the burning sun of the south. The water temperature in this area reaches 22 degrees Celsius in early January, and you can go for a swim in it.

ReyShahr beach is only 10 kilometers away from Boushehr city, and being the capital of Boushehr province, you can easily find lots of hotels and accommodation options here. To travel from Tehran to Boushehr, the best route is almost 1,050 kilometers, and you will pass cities such as Qom, Isfahan, Yasuj and Borazjan before arriving in Boushehr.

Chamkhaleh Beach (Langroud)

There is no doubt that Chamkhaleh beach is one of the best Caspian Sea beaches in the north of Iran. Being a traveler and a sea lover, one should visit the northern coasts of Iran, and Chamkhaleh is one of the best among them. Today, Chamkhaleh beach is considered one of the tourist areas of Gilan and is highly popular on the list of beaches in Iran.

Having a number of pavilions, restaurants, cafes, hotels, and traditional markets surrounding the beach enhances the pleasure of attending this beach and spending time there. Around the beach, there are some top hotels so you can spend a few days there.

Good weather, a family-friendly environment, decent facilities, and the bright and clean sea are significant features of Chamkhaleh beach, making it one of the most beautiful Iranian beaches in the north of the country. Same as Gisoum beach, you will have to take the Qazvin Rasht highway to arrive at Chamkhaleh beach from Tehran. However, you will have to go east after passing Saravan to reach Langroud.

Darak Beach (Chabahar)

Darak beach is one of the most stunning beaches in the south of Iran, located on the shore of the Makran Sea, with views that cannot be found on other beaches in the country. The Darak village is a desert area, and Darak beach provides a very special and spectacular sight where the desert and the sea meet. Indeed, this beach is the only desert beach in Iran which attracts desert and sea lovers all year round.

There are sand dunes on Darak beach overlooking the sea, and palm trees can be found on the shore. The night sky at this beach is pretty spectacular. The Darak beach is also considered one of the cleanest beaches in Iran, with no trace of air pollution on this beautiful beach. Because of the untouched environment of this village, Darak beach does not have any special facilities, and people traveling to this beach arrive to relax and enjoy the pristine natural environment.

If you want to visit Darak beach, you first need to go to Chabahar. From Tehran, you will probably have one of the longest road trips of your life to arrive in Chabahar. The best route is around 1,800 kilometers, and you will need to drive past cities such as Qom, Kashan, Naeen, Meybod, Yazd, Rafsanjan, Bazman and Nikshahr. After arriving in Chabahar, you should then drive to Zarabad village, which is 135 km west of this city.

Red Beach (Hormoz Island)

Having traveled to the south of Iran and Hormoz Island, you have certainly visited one of the best beaches in Iran, the "Red Beach". Being one of the most beautiful beaches of the Persian Gulf, Red Beach each year draws many domestic and foreign tourists. With the red color of the sand on the beach and the never-ending blue of the sea, the view is breathtaking on this Hormoz beach.

During the study of the Red Beach's sand, they found that mineral compounds such as iron are causing their red colour. The sand of this beach is extremely valuable and widely used in the pharmaceutical industry, cosmetics and cooking (for baking local bread, southern spices and local dishes of the island). Many tourists visit this colorful beach in Iran these days and take a piece of the beach's sand as a souvenir. It should be noted that this has caused great damage to the beach, and so it has been banned by law.

Some people fill the beach sand in small jars and sell it for a high price. Doing this is going to damage the beach, as it will require many years to restore the sand that has been removed. The sea cave and the sculpture valley are additional attractions on the Red Beach of Hormuz Island. Observing the beautiful sunset on the island is also something that every tourist must try when traveling to the best beach in the south of Iran.

While there are some 3-star hotels on the Hormoz Island, we recommend staying in the ecotourism lodgings. The advantage of staying in an ecotourism accommodation on Hormuz Island is that you will experience interacting with the locals, eating the delicious local cuisine of the island of the best quality and generally paying a lower price than staying in a hotel. Indeed, it will also help make the trip to Hormuz Island even more memorable.

Like the previous two southern island examples of Qeshm and Kish, you must drive to Bandar Abbas from Tehran first. In fact, after driving for around 1,280 kilometers you will make it to the point where you will have to take the Bandar Abbas – Hormoz Island ferry.

Hengam Island Beach

If you have ever been to the island of Hama, then you will have seen its glittering beach. Especially at night, this beach is extremely spectacular and is a wonderful sight to see. The planktons in the sea cause the water of the shoreline to glow. If you enjoy photography, the nights on Hengam Island might be quite special for you.

The brilliant blue color of this beach at night attracts many photographers, and you shouldn't miss it. As mentioned, the reason behind the glittering water is the phytoplanktons, which reflect their own light, causing the water near the shore to glitter.

The majority of tourists take a day trip to visit some of the best beaches in Iran on Hengam Island. Arriving on the island in the morning, they head back to Qeshm in the evening. Meanwhile, there are tourists who stay overnight on Hengam Island to see this island's starry sky and the beach full of phytoplankton at night.

If you are planning to stay overnight, be aware that there are no hotels, guesthouses or ecotourism lodges on the island, with the only accommodation options on the island staying in local houses or camping. You should bring with you camping and cooking equipment to camp. Obviously, the island has stores where you can go shopping and places to eat local dishes. After arriving in Bandar Abbas from Tehran, you can take the ferry to Qeshm and from there are ferries to Hengam Island.

Turtle Beach (Qeshm Island)

Let's present to you another one of the best beaches in Iran: a very lovely beach on Qeshm Island, which is filled with turtles that come to the beach in the spring to lay their eggs! Turtle Beach, which undoubtedly is regarded as one of the most stunning beaches in Iran, offers an unparalleled sight of many turtles before the onset of spring in June, which you probably have only seen in movies!

This is where each hawksbill turtle, which unfortunately is among the endangered species, hides a total of 300 eggs on the beach in 20 days and in three different stages, out of which the baby turtles hatch two months later. This gorgeous beach, which is surely one of the best Gulf Beaches, is located 30 kilometers south of Qeshm. Being another Qeshm beach, you will have lots of accommodation options here.

Suppose you are looking forward to car rental in cities of Iran to visit any of these beaches. In that case, you can use our car rental in Iran services on both the Navaran website and the application.

Beris Beach (Chabahar)

"Beris Beach" is among the rocky beaches in Iran, which is located in Chabahar, Sistan and Baluchistan Province. In fact, this beach is an important symbol of Chabahar city. This beach is interesting because it is formed by high rocks approximately 10 meters above sea level. Many tourists go to the edge of the rocks to take photos or to watch the most beautiful Iranian sea.

Beris beach has many fans among national and foreign tourists, and one should consider it one of the best beaches in Iran. When you watch the azure waters of Beris Beach on the rocks, there are small and large boats of different colors that provide an eye-catching sight.

Don't forget to visit the Moj Feshan phenomenon at Beris beach. A Moj Feshan is a high spray of water that is thrown out of a hole in the rocks and into the sky. Beris beach is around 60 kilometers away from Chabahar, and you won't have any problems with accommodation when visiting this beach.

Conclusion: 10 Best Beaches in Iran

We introduced some 10 of the top-rated beaches in Iran that you can visit on your trip to Iran. If you want to explore any of these best Iran Beach resorts with a car, you can consider renting a car from our company. At Navaran, you will have access to a range of the best cars to enjoy your next road trip to any of these best beaches in Iran. Without the need for checks and only by paying a deposit, you can easily rent a car in Iran from Navaran.