[custom_adv] Kish resort island in Bandar Lengeh County, Hormozgān Province, off the southern coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf. Owing to its free trade zone status, the island is touted as a consumer's paradise, with numerous malls, shopping centres, tourist attractions, and resort hotels. [custom_adv] It has an estimated population of almost 40,000 residents and about 1 million visitors annually.Kish Island is one of the most-visited vacation destinations in the Middle East, after Dubai and Sharm el-Sheikh. [custom_adv] Tourists from many countries for which Iran typically requires a visa, who wish to enter Kish Free Zone, are exempt from having to obtain a visa. For those travelers, travel permits are issued on arrival by Kish officials and are valid for 14 days. [custom_adv] Kish Island has been mentioned in history variously as Kamtina, Arakia (Ancient Greek: Αρακία), Arakata, and Ghiss. Kish Island's strategic geographic location served as a way-station and link for the ancient Assyrian and Elamite civilizations when their sailboats navigated from Susa through the Karun River into the Persian Gulf along the southern coastline, passing Kish, Qeshm, and Hormoz islands. [custom_adv] When these civilizations vanished, Kish Island's advantageous position was lost and for a period it was subjected to turmoil and the tyranny of local potentates and other vendors. [custom_adv] With the establishment of the Achaemenid dynasty, the Persian Gulf was profoundly affected. Kish was, in particular, economically and politically linked with the civilization of the Medes, Persians when they were at the height of their power. [custom_adv] In the shadow of the empire, the islands in the Gulf became prosperous, navigation in the Persian Gulf was expanded, and better vessels were used to carry passengers and goods. Navigational aids, including lighthouses, were set up to facilitate navigation in the Persian Gulf. [custom_adv] In 325 BC, Alexander the Great commissioned Nearchus to set off on an expeditionary voyage to the Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf. Nearchus's writings on Arakata contain the first-known mention of Kish Island in antiquity. [custom_adv] When Marco Polo visited the Imperial court in China, he commented on the Emperor's wife's pearls; he was told that they were from Kish.In the 1970s, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, turned the island into a luxury resort for the international elite and a tourism hotspot, complete with a Grand Casino . [custom_adv] Kish Airport was designed to handle the Concorde. After the Islamic Revolution, Kish Island became a duty-free shopping center.Kish Island is the last known location of Robert Levinson, a "former F.B.I. agent turned private investigator" who disappeared there on 9 March 2007. [custom_adv] Kish is located in the Persian Gulf, 19 km (12 mi) from mainland Iran, and has an area of approximately 91 km2 (35 sq mi) with an outer boundary of 40 km (25 mi) and a nearly elliptical shape. Along Kish's coast are coral reefs and many other small islands. shores near Shayan hotel. [custom_adv] Kish is located in the Persian Gulf, 19 km (12 mi) from mainland Iran, and has an area of approximately 91 km2 (35 sq mi) with an outer boundary of 40 km (25 mi) and a nearly elliptical shape. Along Kish's coast are coral reefs and many other small islands. shores near Shayan hotel. [custom_adv] The island is positioned along the 1,359 km (844 mi) long Iranian coastline north of the Persian Gulf, at the first quarter from the Hormuz entrance to the Persian Gulf. The island is 15.45 km (9.60 mi) wide from its west coast to its east coast (the distance between Mariam Complex and Hoor field). [custom_adv] Its maximum width extending from the southern shorelines to the northern shorelines is 7.5 km (4.7 mi) (the distance between Gomrok Port and the lighthouse). The island's surface is flat, lacking mountains or even high hills. Kish International Airport is built in the center on an elevated area 35–40 m (115–131 ft) above sea level. [custom_adv] Kish, like the other Persian Gulf Islands, especially the islands in the Strait of Hormuz, is located on a narrow strip of tropical vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere, with the Persian plateau to the north and the Arabian Peninsula to the south. [custom_adv] In addition to its special geographic and climatic attributes, Kish, like other nearby islands, such as Forur, Hendurabi, Shatuar, and Lavan, and even Qeshm, is under the sway of the semi-equatorial climate dominating this band of vegetation. [custom_adv] Welcome to Iran's Sunshine Coast, or Iran's Costa del Sol. However you label it, say hello to this attractive island that, since the 1970s, has become a beach resort where visitors can swim, shop and sample a laid-back and relatively liberated local lifestyle. [custom_adv] Iran's most hedonistic spot, Kish is booming. Hotels, apartment blocks and retail complexes (it enjoys free-trade-zone status) dominate the once-empty desert landscape and domestic tourist numbers are on the rise, especially in winter, when it's freezing cold on the mainland. [custom_adv] Kish is largely ignored by foreign tourists, though. That's a shame, because a visit here is a great way to experience Iran from an altogether different perspective. Leave the sight-laden cities of the mainland and come here to enjoy sea, sand and sun in a relaxed atmosphere. [custom_adv] Foreign nationals do not need a visa at the authorized arrival and departure points in Kish Island. At Kish International Airport, the officials will take your photograph and fingerprints, and stamp your passport, allowing you to stay up to 14 days on the island. If you are western, you may be sternly questioned as to the purpose of your visit. Make sure you bring all verification paperwork including hotel reservations with phone numbers, etc.
