Bandar Abbas is primarily a transit city — most people are passing through on the way to Qeshm or Hormuz island — but it has its own character and a few sights worth exploring. The waterfront corniche is the social centre of the city, particularly in the evenings when the heat eases and families come out to stroll. The old bazaar near the harbour carries goods from across the Persian Gulf, and the fish market at the western end of the corniche is a spectacle at any hour.
The Vishnu Temple is a genuinely surprising sight — a Hindu temple in an Iranian city, maintained by the small community descended from Indian traders who settled here during the Gulf trade era. The Portuguese fortress ruins are a reminder that this coastline was fiercely contested in the 16th and 17th centuries.