Bandar Lengeh - Dubai ferry: Q&A and reports

[steven]

Please leave your questions and reports on the Bandar Lengeh - Dubai ferry below.

We summarize all knowledge in the Persian Gulf ferries article.

We have a separate forum Q&A for all other Persian Gulf ferries.

[Manolo]

Bandar Lengeh - Dubai ferry

After what we read about the ferry from Bandar Lengeh to Dubai we expected it to be more difficult but in fact it was the easiest thing in the world.

We bought the ticket for saturday on thursday evening (friday offices are closed) in Bandar Lengeh in a travel agency (we were told you can buy it in any travel agency office) and paid 5'200'000 IRR . Maybe you get it cheaper directly at the port but we didn't want to take a risk. The ferry should leave saturday at 10am, we were told to be there at 7.30am which was way too early.

Many people waiting with huge boxes for getting everything checked, we were asked to sit and wait. 9.30am we were called, checked in our backpacks, went through immigration and waited another 20min.
At 10am we entered the ferry, someone showed us our seats and 15min later we left.
Journey was bumby, they served meals and tea, we watched two movies and arrived in Dubai after 5hours.
In Dubai we had to wait 1hour on the ferry for the bus that brings us to the immigration.
Immigration took some time, different lines for different people, we didn't really get it but officers shouting and showing you your place to stand in line.

After all it was easy, took just much longer than expected including the waiting.

Important: once you get out of the port there are only expensive taxis that ask for 50dollars to take you to the center of dubai. If you walk 5min out in the streets are taxis with taximeter but you need some uae-cash. We walked 1hour to the next exchange office. Better exchange some dirhams in iran beforehand.

[Corni]

Hello!

We crossed the Persian Gulf on Thursday, the 24th of January 2019 with the ferry from Dubai to Bandar Lengeh.

We bought the tickets directly in the port of Dubai (Port Rashid) inside the passenger terminal with the company in charge: Good Luck Shipping (which is actually the Iranian Velfajre shipping company but registered in Dubai under another name). The price seems fix : 310 dirham for one way + 40 dirham to pay for exiting the port. You have to pay by cash. It is almost the same price for the ferry from Sharjah to Bandar Abbas which costs 300 dirham but takes 12 hours (it leaves in the evening but you have to come at 4 pm. It arrives in the morning of the next day).

You can get to Port Rashid by public transport: take the metro and get out at Al Ghubaiba Station. From there, go to the nearby big open-air bus station. You can take bus number 9 or 12 and go out at the first station called Port and Customs. When you go out of the bus, head direction the sea to reach the next parallel street; somewhere on the left there will be a sign for the Passenger Terminal or the Driving Institute which is nearby. There is also a small supermarket nearby.

The passenger ferry departs at 11am on Thursdays, but you have to check in at 8 am (you can still come at 8.30, there is no stress if you don t check in your luggage). The ferry took 4 hours, lunch included (rice, chicken, yoghurt, free water available on board), everything was very smooth and pleasant.

It takes then around 1 hour to leave afterwards the port of Bandar Lengeh.

From there you can go to the bus terminal by taxi (just 2 km ahead) and take a night bus the same day to Shiraz (departing betw. 5 and 6.30 pm) or a bus to Bandar Abbas (3.5hours, arriving at 10pm). You can change money at the nearby Bazar in the city center.

[s0meguy]

Here is a trip report in case it is useful to anyone.

Yesterday I took the ferry from Bandar Lengeh to Dubai. I asked the receptionist at my accommodation in Shiraz to find a travel agency where I can buy the ticket for this ferry. They called the local branch of the shipping company that runs the ferry (Valfajr) after googling it in Persian and they told me "Iran Travel Explorer" above a place called "BB Pharmacy" (GPS 29.6203269, 52.5215022) So I found this place on google maps and bought the ticket there, they have some English speaking employees so it was easy. The cost was 625000 Toman. Make sure all your details on the ticket are accurate.

The time on the ticket was saturday july 6, 9 AM and she said you should be there 4 hours in advance, but in reality I knew that 2-3 hours in advance would be ok. Anyway I knew that I had to be in Lengeh the day before so on thursday night I took a night bus to Bandar Abbas and then on friday a bus to Bandar Lengeh.

I didn't understand where I should go in Bandar Lengeh the next morning so I walked around a bit at the coast and found a place with big letters "Passenger terminal". Found someone English speaking to confirm that this is the right place for the ferry the next day. (GPS 26.5535249, 54.8880728) on the map its not marked as the passenger terminal so it was a bit difficult to find, without physically seeing it.

By then I was soaked in sweat because it was like 40C with 100% humidity. I was desperate for airconditioning. So I had to find a hotel. If it was not summer, you could probably camp in one of the public parks in the town. I wanted one close to the passenger terminal so that I could walk there early in the morning. The closest one was "Amir Motel". One room is 80k toman. The rooms are cleanish, but everything was old, have good AC but a bit noisy. You don't have that many good options in a small town like Lengeh. There was another option called Diplomat Hotel that looked a bit better but it was far away from the passenger terminal.

The hotel employee wants to take your passport but never give guys like this your passport because they will just leave it lying around on their desk in case police comes to ask who is in their hotel. Very insecure, anyone can grab the passport. They don't really understand how important your passport is. So have good passport copies with you and insist that they take a copy instead. Also a copy of the visa and any extensions. In the morning you can get your copy back. There are a few fast food restaurants and mini market shops close to the motel where you can eat.

In the morning wake up eary 6 AM, knock on the door left of the reception where the hotel employees sleep and give them your key. They will give you back your passport copy. Then walked to the passenger terminal. The gate is open now and someone sits there and checks your passport when you enter. The terminal was mostly full of Iranians (about 100 of them and I think only like 3-4 emiratis). I was the only person who was not an emirati or Iranian. I met a guy that spoke decent English and he told me that pretty much everyone was there to buy stuff from Dubai and then resell it in Iran. They bring their families because then they have bigger luggage allowances and can take more stuff back to Iran. Anyway the whole building was comfortably airconditioned. Everyone that arrives puts their luggage in a line in front of the luggage scanner.

Around 8 AM things started moving. Everyone rushes to the scanner so that they can be first. After putting your stuff through the scanner, you sit down in the next airconditioned room. They take your printed paper ferry ticket and give you a boarding pass. Sit down again. Then after a while, at 9 AM they open customs. Again everyone rushes there. The customs guy took my passport for a long time and processed other peoples passports "because you are a foreigner and they have to check things". They tell you to go sit further ahead in the next room but wait right behind the office for them to process your passport. Always keep an eye on your passport, you can't really trust anybody in the middle east to take care of that thing. Then after 20 min of standing there and asking them for my passport they finally stamped my paper visa and gave me back my passport. Then you can wait in the next airconditioned room. Around 10 AM, a bus came and everyone rushes to the exit. There is a guy there that scans your boarding passes. Women go on the bus first and after they are done bringing them to the ferry, the men get on the bus. It's better to be early in the line on this one so that you can get a better seat if you care. There are a few seats that have power sockets next to them. So you could watch some movies during the trip.

The ferry is a fast, modern catamaran with comfortable seats and good airconditioning. I'd say it was filled for about one third with passengers. It has no capacity for vehicles, only passengers and some cargo. The crew asked for my passport but again insist to only give copies to these guys. Show them your passport but never give it into their hands. They gave the copies back after a few hours.

The doors of the catamaran say that they must be sealed closed at all times during the ferry trip but this is the middle east so who cares about safety rules. You can go stand outside if you want but it was very hot and humid so you will sweat a lot. Even the wind does not cool you down at all. I looked on a GPS speedometer and the ship went around 50 km/h max. In the middle of the trip, they served a pretty decent chicken kebab with rice.

Finally at around 14.30 the ship arrived in Dubai's Port Rashid. The passengers disembark from the door in the middle of the passenger cabin, not from the end of the ship where you got on. It took about an hour for an airconditioned bus to finally arrive. It's best to be in front of the queue because otherwise you will have to wait a lot longer for the next bus to come. Things go pretty slowly in the Emirates. Customs was easy. They just stamp your passport no problem if you are from a European country. Then someone checked my bag. He was completely clueless and had to call his superior to confirm that my ibuprofen and carbon pills were not illegal drugs or something. The customs people are not emiratis, they are from all over the world like Africa and poor south asian countries. A lot of them speak difficult to understand, bad English.

That's it. You're in Dubai. I looked all around the terminal and asked around but didn't find an ATM. Around 5 guys all said "Brother, you need taxi?" but they are expensive. There are buses going from the terminal but you should have some Dirhams for them. So it's best to exchange some dirhams in Iran if possible. The emirates are very relaxed compared to Iran. After spending over half a year in Iran I was shocked to see people not drive like they want to murder you when you cross the road.