Those who can't afford a vacation in Dubai should perhaps think about heading to Kish in Iran instead. The island city in the Persian Gulf has everything that a holiday-maker's heart could desire: tax-free shopping, luxury hotels, coral reefs and even a Dolphin Park. The beaches are sandy, white -- and segregated by gender. Women go to women's beaches, men go to men's.

But the women's only beach may soon expand. The country plans to dedicate a whole island in northwestern Iran to exclusively-female holiday-making, reports the Tehran-e Emrouz newspaper.

"There will be no men on the Arezou island. Public transport, restaurants and other facilities will be staffed only by women," Agai, a municipality official told the paper.

Arezou is a female name which can be translated as "wish." The island will be on the Orumiyeh lake in Western Azerbaijan province and is intended to promote the area to tourists. Officials say that the segregation from men protects women's rights rather than restricts them.

Modesty laws in the Islamic Republic require women and men to remain covered in front of each other even when swimming. At females-only beaches, women can remove their headscarves and don swimming costumes instead. Whether visitors to Arezou island will be exempt from Islamic dress code due to the unisex environment, is unclear.

mkp/dpa/rts