The crystal structure of the title compound has been determined by Patterson and Fourier methods using three-dimensional X-ray data and has been refined by a full-matrix least-squares procedure to R= 0.029 for 2 546 observed reflections. The crystals are hexagonal, space group P63 with a= 16.107(2), c= 12.378(2)Å, Z= 6. The transformation of the structure to that of anhydrous aluminum iodate (hexagonal, a= 8.97, c= 5.25 Å) is considered. The structure can be formulated as [Al(OH2)63+][IO3–]·[HI2O6–]·HIO3 and contains a very short non-bonded oxygen–iodine contact of 2.476 Å.